Background

The South Sudan Justice System grapples with prolonged and arbitrary detention of accused persons.  As stability continues to be felt in the country, public confidence has increased in the justice system evidenced by a rise in the number of people seeking justice. This however places a strain on the system that already struggles with a weak civil service and limited human and financial resources. As a result, there is a high number of pre- trial detainees leading to congestion in the prisons which equally places a financial strain on the prisons institutional budget, violates the human rights of the inmates and subjects them to long term socio and economic consequences such as loss of their livelihoods, social connections, property, and deterioration in health.

Inmates in prison who are on pretrial detention do not always have legal representative to assist them navigate the criminal justice system. This includes those on trial for offences that attract death penalty. Furthermore, there is no comprehensive legal aid system in South Sudan. Most legal aid is provided by civil society organizations with support of the international community. However, prisoners are often not beneficiaries as the focus is often placed on providing legal aid for survivors of gender-based crimes. Consequently, this contributes to the inability of inmates to have adequate information needed to effectively represent themselves in court even for minor cases. The limited awareness of their constitutional rights to bail, bond, appeals, claims to entitlements, mitigation and review of sentences exposes them to unnecessary confinement during and after the litigation process.

Paralegal support is a key penal reform strategy that has seen many empowered inmates successfully defend themselves in court, request for bonds and bails and even challenge legal procedures that violate the rights of individuals especially inmates. Within South Sudan’s context, UNDP through the Access to Justice and Rule of Law Strengthening program, seeks to support the National Prisons Service of South Sudan to develop and implement a pilot paralegal programme at the Juba Central prison with a view to improving access to fair justice for pretrial detainees, reducing decongestion and cases of prolonged detention. This will build on the gains of the community legal aid programs, support to mobile courts, and other programs aimed at strengthening security and justice institutions to provide speedy justice and protection of human rights. 

The National Prisons Service of South Sudan (NPSSS) through the support of UNDP seeks to engage an international consultant to facilitate the development of the pilot paralegal initiative with the appropriate strategies and mechanisms for its successful implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective 

The objective of the consultancy is to develop a pilot paralegal initiative for the prisons in South Sudan that can be scaled up. The initiative will be grounded on the international instruments on legal aid, human rights standards and good practice from the region.

Scope of Work 

Under the guidance of the Director of Legal Affairs of the NPSSS, the consultant will work with the selected team of officers, inmates and UNDP to design a strategy based on the identified legal needs of inmates and challenges affecting their access to timely and quality justice and subjecting them to prolonged detention. Specifically, the consultancy will entail the following areas:

• Develop a strategy on the legal aid initiative detailing the scope, methodology or approaches and its sustainability;
• Conduct a desk review of the existing legal framework and relevant legislation and regulations, including international, regional and national legal instruments;
• Review key policies, strategies and other literature relevant on legal aid provision for the establishment and operationalization of the initiative;
• Consult key stakeholders in the prisons, police, judiciary and prosecution to gain the support and ownership of the program;
• Develop a Monitoring & Evaluation framework to monitor the progress of the programme
• Establish linkages with Voluntary legal organizations and support groups e.g. South Sudan Law Society, FIDA, the Bar Association for referral of cases that need legal representation
• Present the draft strategy at a key stakeholders’ workshop to seek views and consolidate the feedback on the review of the initiative and recommendations provided;
• Review inputs and incorporate the feedback in the strategy for the legal aid initiative.

Expected Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for the following key deliverables:

• Develop an inception report outlining an interpretation of the TORs and methodology and Work Plan to discharge the consultancy;
• A draft strategy on the paralegal initiative in Juba Central Prison and;
• The final strategy

Commitment to Quality Work

The consultant shall use an evidence-based approach and ensure the highest standard of work and timely deliverables at every stage of this assignment. In particular, the consultant shall ensure clarity of objectives and process during the engagement with NPSSS and other stakeholders; and ensure that the content and format of the knowledge and documents shared meets the highest standard.

Duration

This assignment is for a total of 40 working days with effect from 25 February 2022 and must be completed by or before 25 April 2022.

Remuneration

The consultant will be paid the agreed amount in two lump- sums upon the satisfactory delivery of the first and last deliverables mentioned in Section 4 above.

Competencies

• Excellent communication and writing skills in English is required
• Takes responsibility for action and manages constructive criticisms
• Displays mastery of subject matter
• Proven ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines, delivers on time and within cost and quality standards
• Proficiency and proven experience in the use of Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Demonstrable experience in the development of prisons based and community- oriented legal aid strategies
• Strong knowledge and work experience in managing paralegal programmes
• Hands on experience in East African countries, with an understanding of the legal systems and practice is required
• Experience working for or with developing country governments, especially in post-conflict countries.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent in Law, security studies, Social Sciences, Public Administration or Policy Development related field is required

Experience

• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in the field of legal support to security sector reforms, of which at least 5 relates to engagement with the key government criminal justice actors
• Demonstrable experience in the development of prisons based and community- oriented legal aid strategies
• Strong knowledge and work experience in managing paralegal programmes
• Hands on experience in East African countries, with an understanding of the legal systems and practice is required
• Experience working for or with developing country governments, especially in post-conflict countries.

Language

•  Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Institutional arrangements

• The consultant will be supervised by the NPSSS in consultation with the UNDP’s Access to Justice, Security and Human rights Strengthening Programme Project Manager and Chief Technical Advisor.

Technical proposal comprising of the following:

• A summary description of the proposed strategy and how the strategy will ensure the achievement of the objectives (Max 1 page).
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all prior experience with similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references

Consultancy Evaluation Criteria
Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.
 
Technical evaluation criteria
Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience is outlined below:

Relevant Educational Experience (10%):

• A minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent in Law, security studies, Social Sciences, Public Administration or Policy Development related field

Relevant Work Experience as per TOR Requirements (30%):

• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in the field of legal support to security sector reforms, of which at least 5 relates to engagement with the key government criminal justice actors.
• Demonstrable experience in the development of community- oriented legal aid strategies.
• Strong knowledge and work experience in managing paralegal programmes.
• Experience in East African countries, with an understanding of the legal systems and practice is required.
• Experience working for or with developing country governments, especially in post-conflict countries’ reconstruction is considered an asset

 
Competencies, Skills & language (20%):

• Excellent communication and writing skills in English is required.
• Takes responsibility for action and manages constructive criticisms.
• Displays mastery of subject matter.
• Proven ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines, delivers on time and within cost and quality standards.
• Proficiency and proven experience in the use of Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required.

Proposed Methodology (10%):

• A summary description of the proposed strategy and how the strategy will ensure the achievement of the objectives (Max 1 page)

NOTE: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation will be requested to submit financial proposals and considered in the Financial Evaluation.
 
Financial evaluation (30 points)

• All technically qualified proposals will be scored up to 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula: p = y(x/z)

Where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• x = Price of the lowest priced proposal
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal (30%).
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

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.