UNDP Jobs - 50258- International Consultant

International Consultant - for Best Practice Guideline under JSF Project

Location :

Dhaka with field visits, BANGLADESH

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

15-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

60 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Bangladesh’s formal justice system remains relatively inaccessible for the vast majority of the public. Vulnerable groups, including women and children, ethnic minorities, the poor, and people with disabilities face particular difficulty in accessing timely and affordable justice. Large case backlogs, estimated at over 2 million cases, are slowly overwhelming the court administration and undermining access to justice. There is increasing acknowledgement that these are critical governance, access to justice and rule of law issues that need to be addressed. In particular, there is increased recognition among policy makers and senior officials that the justice system has almost reached a breaking point.

The causes of the state of the justice sector are multiple. Lack of capacity, external interference, corruption, outdated laws, incentives for delay, and complex procedures all combine to create a system which does not deliver speedy, affordable and trusted outcomes for the public. A lack of coordination and cooperation between justice sector agencies, which are heavily interdependent upon one another, is another major challenge.

The Justice Sector Facility (the Facility), established in July 2012, is implemented by the Law and Justice Division of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, with the support of UNDP and DFID. The project’s overall objective is to improve justice sector outcomes through strengthened communication, coordination and cooperation between agencies. The expected outputs of the Facility are:

Communication, coordination and co-operation between justice agencies enhanced in two district pilots through establishment of solutions for inter-agency case management;
Selected agencies have improved strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, delivery of government legal aid, and prosecution of cases; and
Strengthened cross-sectoral dialogue and sector-wide coordination mechanisms established.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives:

UNDP Bangladesh is looking for an experienced professional to provide technical expertise develop a best practice guideline hand book for criminal justice practitioners in Bangladesh. The Handbook will be an easy tool to be used as a reference resource, which explains the law and procedure followed during investigation, prosecution, trial and detention. The Handbook will focus on the human rights of victims, suspects and accused people as well as offer best practice ideas that could assist in speeding up the process of criminal trials. The assignment focuses on the production of “Best Practice Guideline Hand Book” through reviewing the current procedure and practice for settlement of the criminal cases in Bangladesh.

The establishment of “Best Practice Guidelines” for criminal justice practitioners will help to strengthen the criminal justice system in Bangladesh. This will contribute to efforts to speed up the process of criminal trials and also improve the human rights of victims, suspects and accused. The Guidelines will capture international best practice, and more importantly, strategies and tactics of successful and innovative justice sector practitioners in Bangladesh who are finding their own ways to tackle the case-backlog within current laws and regulations to uphold justice and strengthen the rule of law.

The Handbook is mainly for state employees in the criminal justice system, including:

Magistrates;
Police Investigators;
Prosecutors;
Prison Service;
District Legal Aid Committees;
District Judges;

These are not the only ‘users’ of the criminal justice system. Victims and witnesses, accused people and their lawyers, paralegals and non-governmental organizations are all part of the system. While the main focus is on state employees, the Handbook will also assist other users of the system and members of the public involved in criminal trials.

The Handbook will be developed in an inclusive and participatory manner alongside a working group of government officials supported by the JSF. The Group will help to ensure understanding of the need for the handbook, access to all relevant parties, knowledge and skills required to identify best practice, detailed knowledge of current blockages of the system and a practitioners understanding of the criminal justice system. It is hoped that the Group will later champion the use and official sanction of the Handbook across their institutions.

Proposed Structure - The Handbook will need to cover the following areas:

Background: about the handbook; introduction to the criminal justice process; introduction to the key players in the process; structure of the court system; and legal framework;
Human Rights: the link to the effectiveness of the system; the rights of suspects and accused; international human rights instruments, criminal procedure code; rights of juveniles;
Victims and witnesses: rights of victims and witnesses in Bangladesh law; international instruments; restorative justice;
Criminal proceedings, summons, admission of guilt and arrest, complying with rights of accused during arrest: screening of charges before issuing summons or warrant; arrest with and without warrant;
Search and seizure: Bangladesh law; what happens to seized property;
From arrest to first appearance: photos and fingerprints; medical examinations; questioning; test for when is bail allowed or not allowed;
Investigating cases: victims and witnesses;
First appearance, plea and bail: rights of the accused (unreasonable delay), presumption of innocence, right to lawyer, drawing up the charge, verifying the charge, plea of guilty, plea of not guilty, bail, adjournment of trial, preliminary inquiries;
Trial: stages of trial; rights involved; attendance; witnesses; adjournments; bail after conviction;
Sentencing, review and appeal;
Rights in detention;

The above terminology can, as needed, be adapted to best fit common legal parlance in Bangladesh. Each area will be expanded upon but a balance needs to be struck about the most relevant information to be included to ensure the document is workable.

Scope of work and expected outputs / deliverables - The consultant will lead the working group of Bangladesh Government officials through the following stages:

Research phase: The consultant will be expected to undertake extensive background reading to ensure understanding of the Bangladesh legal system, especially the criminal procedure code and court rules of business;
Field work: The consultant will be expected to visit three Districts (pre-identified by JSF) to undertake key informant interviews about criminal justice processes, common blockages to the system and innovative practices being undertaken in the district. Various case-studies will be collected to be used in the final Handbook;
Drafting and fact checking: High-quality drafting will ensure that complex legal issues are communicated using simple and straightforward language. The working group will consult closely to ensure accuracy of all procedures and practices;
Internal dissemination and “trial”: An inter-agency workshop will be held focusing on District level practitioners. The Draft Handbook will also be shared with UNDP pilot sites for JUST, JSF and PRP. This will boost understanding of the Handbook and provide a final testing ground for the Handbook. Final comments and ideas can be considered at this point;
Final fact checking and drafting:The consultant will lead the drafting process. The working group will lead in fact-checking and ensuring references are accurate. The consultant shall also finalize the handbook illustrations, design and layout as well as be in charge of printing costs;
External Presentation: To be arranged by UNDP. Team leader, experts and the working group will need to be present in Dhaka;

Deliverables:

Framework report (contents and case-studies);
Draft Best Practice Guidelines;
Final report: Best Practice Guidelines Handbook;
Presentation(s) on Handbook at internal and external sharing sessions;
Conduct internal dissemination of the draft Handbook and a trial to test the guidelines;

Supervision and Performance Evaluation:

The Chief Technical Advisor of the Justice Sector Facility Project will supervise the activities of the consultant on a regular basis and evaluate the performance and approve the deliverables/outputs.

Timeframe and deadlines:

The evaluation will be conducted from the 1st November 2014 to 28th February 2015 (60 working days). The following table sets out the deliverables expected and the corresponding timeframe:

Inception report and detailed action plan by the end of 1st week;
Research phase by the end of the 2nd week;
Field work by the end of the 2nd month;
Drafting and fact checking by the end of the 3rd month;
Final Fact checking and drafting by the end of the 5th month;
Eternal presentation by the end of the 6h month;
Internal dissemination and “Trial” to test the guidelines within six months after the final draft has been presented.

Reports:

Submit reports and other documents on the provision of specified deliverables.

Inputs:

JSF project of UNDP will provide office space (no computer). While travelling to field necessary vehicle supports would be provided from the Project of UNDP. UNDP JSF team will assist to arrange various meetings, consultations, and interviews and ensure access to key officials as mentioned in proposed methodologies;
In addition to this, UNDP will bear the cost of arranging consultation meetings and debriefing sessions and other events as required;

Tentative Payment Schedule:

First Installment 25% upon compltion of inception report and detailed action plan;
Second Installment 35% upon submission of the draft handbook to be used for testing;
Third Installment 30% upon submission of final report and acceptance of UNDP Contract Administrator;
Final Installment 10% upon testing trial of the guidelines within 6 months after the final draft has been presented.

Competencies

Independent and flexible;
Ability to work under pressure in a challenging and complex environment;
Excellent communication skills;
Strong analytical and time management skills;
Creative and result-oriented; and
Client-oriented;
Demonstrated fluency in written and spoken English.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master’s degree in a relevant field of study (e.g. law, development studies, political science, international relation, public policy, justice, human rights).

Years of experience:

The consultant must have experience in leading similar initiatives;
The consultant will have substantive knowledge and experience (at least 10 years) in access to justice and the rule of law;
The consultant must have experience in developing learning and education materials, handbooks or instruction manuals for members of the criminal justice system;
Experience working in South Asia on access to justice issues would be an added advantage;
Previous experience working in hybrid teams encompassing local expertise, including oversight and quality control.

Language Required:

Fluency in speaking and writing in English.

Evaluation of the Candidates - Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis: The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for Financial Evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks)

Experience in undertaking similar initiatives (25 marks);
Substantive knowledge and experience (at least 10 years) in access to justice and the rule of law (20 marks);
Experience in developing learning and education materials, handbooks or instruction manuals for members of the criminal justice system (25 marks);

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula: p = y (µ/z), where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Documents to be included when submitting the Proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal: (if applicable for your requirements);
Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable).