Background

The Maldives is a small-island developing state attempting to build on considerable economic and human development gains, but simultaneously challenged by deep socio-economic, environmental and governance issues. As part of the democratic transition, a new constitution was ratified in 2008. In recent years a number of important achievements have occurred in democratic governance, rule of law and human rights in Maldives. Overall, however, important challenges remain, particularly with regard to the development of effective and inclusive governance institutions and processes, consolidation of the rule of law, and evolution of an informed civil society and an independent, professional media thus all remain in their formative stages.

As part of the transition there has been ongoing efforts to strengthen the justice sector – the legal framework, capacity development in the institutions, access to justice, public awareness and civil society strengthening are all being actively addressed. In this regard, UNDP has been a key partner in the justice sector reform efforts. Its technical assistance to the drafting of new legislations such as the Penal Code goes back to 2004-06 and UNDP supported the rollout of the new Penal Code upon ratification in 2014.

While the Penal Code implementation is in progress, on 18th April 2016, the Parliament passed the long-awaited Criminal Procedure Code which was ratified by the President on 2nd May 2016 and came into effect after eight months from the date of ratification. However, due to delays in conducting necessary trainings and other preparatory activities, an amendment was passed to further delay the implementation of the Code until July 2017.

Enactment of the Criminal Procedure Code is a major milestone achieved in strengthening criminal justice sector and would be a major supportive legislation for the successful implementation of the Penal Code. Hence, the rollout of Criminal Procedure Code is among the most immediate challenge to justice sector institutions at this point in time. A successful rollout will help to build public confidence in the justice sector and an ineffective implementation will have the opposite effect.

Against this background, UNDP conducted a desk-review of the Criminal Procedure Code and has developed a rollout plan with the support of an international expert. Based on this plan, further support of an international expert is currently sought to provide technical support to key justice sector institutions in rolling out the Criminal Procedure Code by developing necessary training materials and conducting trainings for key national institutions. In this regard, the present consultancy is to support capacity building of the judiciary through training on Criminal Procedure and development of a bench book. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direction of the Supreme Court of the Maldives, the Maldives Judicial Academy, and the UNDP CO, the international expert will provide technical support in rolling out the Criminal Procedure Code.

The tasks to be undertaken by the expert include the following;

1. Reviewing the Criminal Procedures Code, the roll-out plan and other relevant documents and develop Training modules for Judges.
2. Facilitation of  a Training Of Trainer’s (TOT) on Criminal Procedure for Trial and Appeal Judges based on the Training modules.
3. Development of a Bench-book on Criminal Procedure for Trial and Appeal Judges

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables;

1. Timeline: A detailed timeline inclusive of the following key milestones:  (1) a preliminary period of consultation (2) the design phase for training materials giving sufficient time for incorporating stakeholder feedback (3) delivery and dissemination of trainings (4) Phasing out UNDP support
2. Development of Training modules: Develop training modules on criminal procedures for Judges
3. Training of Trainers (TOT) programme:  Based on the training modules conduct a TOT programme for Judges
4. Development of a Bench Book: Development of a bench book on criminal procedure incorporating feedback from the Supreme Court and the Judicial Academy

The following table shows an indication of the duration for the deliverables;

The consultancy is to commence immediately.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant is expected to work with the Maldives Judicial Academy. The consultant will be accountable to the Project Coordinator of Result Area 2, IGP, for each deliverables as stipulated in the proposal. Regular meetings will be held with ARR and Programme Analyst of IGP as needed. A briefing and debriefing meeting will be organized with UNDP senior management at the beginning and end of assignment.

Duty Station: Maldives and home-based 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies

• Inter-personal skills;
• Exceptional analytical skills, solution oriented program design skills;
• Research and evaluation skills including ability to synthesize information;
• Excellent oral, and effective presentation and report-writing skills;
• Ability to work under with minimum supervision, while meeting deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability of timely completion of assignments;
• Excellent social and communication skills;
• Strong facilitation skills;
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings;
• Good working knowledge of information technology;
• Excellent Managerial and analytical skills;
• Proven co-ordination and networking skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A minimum of a Master’s Degree in Law or equivalent experience

Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in the criminal justice sector including experience as a judge or a prosecutor
• Experience as a judicial trainer and in designing and delivering training programs on criminal law and criminal justice for judges and prosecutors
• Experience in supporting criminal justice reform in developing countries is required
• Experience in the region or similar context is an added asset
• Experience working in Shariah based legal system is desirable.

Language Requirements

• Fluent in written and spoken English is required