UNDP Jobs - 21051- National Expert (Law Refrom)

National Expert (Law Refrom) - A2J Project (Only Bangladeshi Nationals are Eligible to apply) (Re-Advertisement)

Location :

Dhaka, BANGLADESH

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2011

Application Deadline :

25-Jan-11 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

Initially One Yesr With Possibilty of Extention

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

UNDP Bangladesh is supporting the Government to find innovative solutions to its development challenges based on the Country Programme Document (CPD) approved by the Executive Board for the period 2006-2010 with annual delivery target of $ 100 million. UNDP Bangladesh is organized into (1) Policy and Programmes (2) Operations unit. The Policy and Programmes Team consists of the following clusters: (1) Policy Support and Communications, (2) Poverty Reduction, (3) Local Governance, (4) Democratic Governance, (5) Peace and Development, (6) Climate Change, Environment and Disaster and (7) Results and Resources Management.

The A2J project was established in July 2007 and extended for two years in 2010. A2J is implemented by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs with the support of UNDP. The project aims to strengthen mechanisms for promotion and protection of Human Rights and the delivery of justice for all, particularly the poor and disadvantaged groups. It provides support to processes initiated by the Government such as the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and focuses on capacity development of law officers, the legal profession, and civil society groups working on Human Rights and Access to Justice. In the extension period the project is focusing on three strategic areas:

1. Building the strategic management capacity of the Ministry to improve service delivery
2. Improved access to legal aid
3. Improved administration of justice through legal and policy reforms including strengthened ADR mechanisms.

Under the supervision of the Project Manager (PM), the incumbent is responsible for leading and managing the A2J project in the area of Law Reform. In close cooperation with the PM the incumbent will provide technical advice and leadership of focal area, submit regular reports on project progress and situational report. Further the Law Reform Expert will identify and develop synergies and partnerships with other actors (national and international) on Law Reform issues at the strategic, technical and operational level and support national and regional authorities on the improvement to legal aid accessibility and availability in Bangladesh. The incumbent will also play a leading role in performing quality control function of project activities, including assessing impact and effectiveness, tracking outputs and results, and ensure timely and efficient delivery of project outputs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Lead the Law Reform component of the Project
Provide technical advice on law reform particularly in the area of administration of justice
Provide capacity building and training for stakeholders

Lead the Law Reform component of the Project

Provide management and oversight for the law reform component of the project;
Advise MoLJPA and UNDP on the overall implementation of the component of the project including reporting on progress with planned activities and expected outputs;
Manage implementation of the project component including financial resource management, coordination and administration, using established guidelines and process of UNDP and Government of Bangladesh to realise maximum performance and impact;
Ensure implementation of project outputs within his/her focus area portfolio;
Submit regular reports on project progress and situation reports; and
Perform any additional relevant tasks as requested by Project Manager.

Provide technical advice on law reform particularly in the area of administration of justice

Advice to the Government of Bangladesh on law reform proposals and options for improving the technical quality and implementability of draft laws;
Advice to the Government on law reform initiative to improve the administration of justice;
Advice to UNDP on the options for law reform and the legal and political strategies for realising reform; and
Support national and regional authorities with technical advice on specific national priority law reform.

Provide capacity building and training for stakeholders

Identification and Development of synergies and partnerships with other actors (national and international) on Law reform issues at the strategic, technical and operational level;
Developing and implementing training programmes in the area of legal drafting, legal representation and law reform for key national stakeholders;
Design and implement a capacity building programme for the Law Commission;
Engage in capacity and confidence building on issues pertaining to law reform with non-governmental actors, including consultative and participatory processes with national stakeholders, including women’s networks and legal professionals; and
Participate in inter-agency working groups and initiatives to promote law reform

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes UN's Values and ethical standards (tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation, impartiality)
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and sensitivity and adaptability
Demonstrates integrity by modelling in the UN's values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between people and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation, UNDP core ethics, impartiality.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example, excellent knowledge of capacity building theory and the application of methodology, good understanding of capacity assessment methodologies, excellent ability to identify significant capacity building opportunities, ability to get capacity building, excellent ability to demonstrate national capacities building (mastery of the tools and their application)
Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
Display understanding of the relevant contemporary ICT tools and continuously act towards personal capacity building

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Ability to engage with high ranking UNDP Managers, Government Officials and international donor community and provide policy advisory support services
Ability to identity opportunities, conceptualize and develop project reports
Ability to effectively support in strategic planning, results-based management and reporting :
Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioural/attitude change
Ability to undertake result based management and reporting

Management and Leadership

Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Builds strong relationship with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback, timely responses to queries
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
Demonstrates strong administrative skills and result oriented approach to work
Provides inspiration and leadership to project staff as well as all the partners.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Law or related discipline

Experience:

Minimum 3 years of experience leading a legal reform initiative, campaign or project;
Experience with preparing technical legal drafts or analysing legal drafting implications of policy proposals
Experience in building capacity or contributing to training programmes for legal experts.
Demonstrated experience in preparing or providing advice on law reform proposals preferably in the area of access to justice, human rights.
Strong computer skills.
Development project experience in Bangladesh and experience working with Government would be an asset

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English; and Bangla