UNDP Jobs - 63810- Individual Consultant-Human Rights Due Diligence

Individual Consultant-Human Rights Due Diligence

Location :

Islamabad , Pakistan, PAKISTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2016

Application Deadline :

24-Feb-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 Months

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

Human rights serve as an overarching principal framework to guide all of the policy and programmatic engagement of the UN. This relates to the internal programming practice as well as in relation to partners – their selection and conduct vis-à-vis the human rights standards.

The policy to apply human rights-based approach (HRBA) or to ‘mainstream’ human rights in the UN programming stems from the Secretary General’s reform agenda It directs programming objectives towards the advancement of human development and human rights. The HRBA stipulates that the development process promoted by the UN ought to be equitable, participatory, aligned with the principles of transparency, accountability and the rule of law. The overarching human rights law principle of do no harm is contained in the UN Human Rights due Diligence Policy, which regulates the UN’s engagement with the security sector vis-à-vis their human rights record.

The operational side of the UN’s work is significantly less regulated. The UN needs to ensure that none of its resources (payments, salaries, financial transfers based on short or long-term agreements) are directed at those, who violate human rights. The link between the UN’s human rights-based approach and the “UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, relies on the UN procedures and operations compliant with the human rights principles in amongst other: vetting of contractors, selection of vendors and recruitment of staff.

To support Office of the Resident Coordinator and the UN Pakistan Operations Management Team with devising of human rights due diligence policy towards vetting of vendors and long-term partners, the Consultant will work closely with the RCO and the UNCT on the implementation of UN Pakistan’s human rights strategy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Main objectives, responsibilities and description of the proposed work:

Developing human rights due diligence protocols for vetting of LTA partners;
To coordinate the development of a strategy towards human rights based operations in UN Pakistan;
Provide comments on operations procedures and documents and advise agencies how to amend them to conform to human rights principles.

Scope of work, responsibilities and description of the proposed work:

Desktop review of the current procedures for vetting of the potential partners for LTAs across UN entities in Pakistan;
Development of country-level Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for assessing and vetting of the potential partners with view at assessing their human rights records; establishing benchmarking and assessment criteria on human rights;
Development of protocols on making recommendations for change based on the human rights assessment and for the appropriate follow-up.
Developing education modules for procurement trainers (train-the-trainer) working with both UN administrative officers as well as with vendors on human rights issues;
Establishment of a database of assessment data local private sector partners;
Advisory services with regards to legal arrangements on the retention of non-violations of partners in the LTAs for the period of collaboration with the UN and beyond;
Develop a presentation for the UNCT and other partners on the human rights due diligence initiatives.
Design the outline of and contribute to the organization of the conference on the UN human rights vetting protocols, corporate social responsibility and the UN guiding principles on business and human right.

Competencies

In-depth knowledge of procurement operations, including procurement policies on human rights;
Understanding of UN reform process, procedures and instruments desirable;
Excellent organization and inter-personal skills to effectively cooperate with different individuals at varying professional levels;
Ability to react fast, meet deadlines and work under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in business or public administration, human rights, international law or related area is required
A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

A minimum of 7 years work experience in UN operations or programming;
Prior experience collaborating with UN human rights institutions and employing UN human rights programming methodologies and tools including human-rights based needs assessments and programming, Special Procedures et cetera is desirable;

Language:

Excellent writing and oral presentation skills in English;