UNDP Jobs - 13559- Consultant: Engineer

Consultant: Engineer

Location :

Kabul , Afghanistan, AFGHANISTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

17-Nov-2009

Application Deadline :

01-Dec-09 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

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 is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

Following continuous engagement in supporting Afghanistan’s justice sector since 2002, UNDP Afghanistan’s justice sector support activities are incorporated in a new project titled the Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan Project (JHRA). The JHRA Project draws on the lessons learned through two previous UNDP justice projects – Strengthening the Justice System of Afghanistan (SJSA) and Access to Justice at the District Level (AJDL). The JHRA Project will replace both the SJSA and AJDL Projects, and will continue many activities piloted by these projects, while also adding several new activities identified as key priorities by Government partners.

The district level work of the justice project aims to improve access to justice at the district level in Afghanistan and strengthening the citizens’ capacity to claim their rights by utilizing the existing justice delivery systems and simultaneously enhancing the capacity of justice delivery system actors to perform and deliver in compliance with the rule of law and human rights standards. The AJDL Project adopts the Human Rights Based Approach. Project activities include awareness raising and rehabilitation works of existing Justice Facilities at provincial and district levels.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the incumbent will be:

Serving as a member of the project team in conducting needs assessments and evaluations at the provincial and district levels;
Preparing scope of works, BOQs and estimated budgets for justice facilities to be rehabilitated by the project;
Reviewing refurbishment proposals submitted by contractors to ensure their coherence and cost effectiveness;
Supervising refurbishment works and providing technical assistance/ support to contractors to ensure quality and timely implementation of activities;
Reviewing request for payment and advising whether payments should be processed or not;
Ensuring that justice institutions and departments benefiting from AJDL project refurbishment activities partake in deciding on refurbishment needs and are involved in acceptance of works;
Documenting experiences, best practices, challenges and lessons learned;
Submitting progress and final reports to the supervisor;
Participating in meetings, committees, working groups, etc, as directed by the supervisor.
Serving as a member of the project team in conducting needs assessments and evaluations at
the provincial and district levels;
Participate in meetings with provincial and district level justice authorities to find out the rehabilitation needs of the justice facilities in the districts.
Participate in conducting the district level assessment surveys in order to technically identify the rehabilitation needs of justice facilities.
Technically evaluate the condition of buildings recommended for the rehabilitation to determine whether it is viable to rehabilitate them.
Prepare design, estimation and costing of the rehabilitation activities for each district level structure.
Prepare detailed assessment report for each district visited.
Preparing scope of works, BOQs and estimated budgets for justice facilities to be rehabilitated by the project;
Prepare bid documents and technical specifications and Scope of Works for each rehabilitation project according to the engineering norms.
Prepare different types of bids such us ITB, RFQ, RFP in accordance with UNDP procurement roles.
Provide the costing for rehabilitation activities for the identified justice facilities.
Reviewing refurbishment proposals submitted by contractors to ensure their coherence and cost effectiveness;
Review all received bids from the bidders and technically evaluate the bids according to the pre-established criteria.
Financial evaluation of all received bids according to UNDP procurement policy.
Supervising refurbishment works and providing technical assistance/ support to contractors to ensure quality and timely implementation of activities;
Monitor and supervise all site works.
Provide technical guide and assistance to the contractors in regards to the agreed quality and quantity of works.
Supervise the contractor’s performance according to the work plan to ensure on time completion of the projects.
Provide detailed and technical monitoring/supervision reports to the supervisor.
Reviewing request for payment and advising whether payments should be processed or not;
Review payment request and make sure that the payment requested by the contractor are in compliance with the works done in the sites.
To provide certification of works undertaken by contractors.
Ensuring that justice institutions and departments benefiting from AJDL project refurbishment activities partake in deciding on refurbishment needs and are involved in acceptance of works;
To keep good coordination with relevant government authorities and ministries, provincial directorates both at national and district level.
To make sure that the relevant government authorities on each level are involved in acceptance of works.
To keep amicable cooperation and relations between AJDL and UNDP with relevant government authorities.
Documenting experiences, best practices, challenges and lessons learned;
To properly record and file all documents related to projects activities in the site.
To document best practices of the conducted activities, draft and present lessons learned report upon the supervisor’s request.
To keep record of technical, coordination, risk related and other challenges and difficulties encountered during the implementation stage of the projects to mitigate those in the future.
Submitting progress and final review reports to the supervisor;
To provide and submit progress review report of each site and project to the supervisor and keep supervisor update from the project implantation.
To provide detailed final review reports to the supervisor when the works are completed.
Participating in meetings, committees, working groups, etc, as directed by the supervisor;
To represent AJDL in the coordination meetings and technical working groups.
To share required information on AJDL rehabilitation activities to avoid duplication.
To participate in technical working group meetings to benefit from knowledge and experience of other agencies, institutions and organizations involved in similar activities.
Perform other duties and responsibilities as directed by the Project Manager.

The key results will contribute to achieving Access to Justice at the District Level project goals and is therefore linked to the objectives of the UNDP Country Programme Action Plan. In particular, the key results will contribute to CPAP output “Access to justice by the disadvantaged increased through the application of human rights- based approach; Human rights culture and protection mechanisms enhanced”. The project will also have contributed to the creation of strategic partnerships among development partners and stakeholders in improving access to justice and building the rule of law in Afghanistan. The expected overall impact of the results of National Access to Justice/Rehabilitation Officer inputs will be a more targeted development impact on the justice system infrastructure at the district level, as well as more enhanced technical and institutional capacity of the national justice authorities to implement similar type of the activities in Afghanistan.

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;

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning;
Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Good knowledge of Civil Engineering.
ability to manage the implementation of rehabilitation activities.
Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change
Excellent Engineering and Monitoring skill

Management and Leadership:

Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University degree in civil engineering.

Experience:

At least 5years of experience in implementing / supervising construction and rehabilitation facilities, with UN, USAID or International Agencies, in Afghanistan, familiarity with Justice facilities rehabilitations norms, practices desirable

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English, Dari and Pashtu desirable

Other requirements:

Good communication, negotiation and reporting skills.
Good computer skills (Excel and word, computer assisted designer)
Submission of Applications :

Interested and qualified International candidates should apply on-line through the UNDP Jobs site at http://www.undp.org.af/Jobs/index.htm

Please ensure that you upload your UN Personal History Form-P11 (available at http://www.undp.org.af/Jobs/index.htm) in the relevant field of the on-line applications.

Incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date 1 December 2009 will not be given consideration. Please note that only applications who are short-listed will be contacted.

For more detailed information about UNDP Afghanistan please visit our website at www.undp.org.af

Candidates, who are currently holding UNDP or UN Agencies contracts, are asked to declare the type contract and duration, in their application”.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.