UNDP Jobs - 34379- Project Officer, Access to Justice Project, South

Project Officer, Access to Justice Project, South Central Somalia

Location :

Mogadishu, SOMALIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

29-Dec-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SC-9

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months (with possibility of extension)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 months (with possibility of extension)

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 Somalia’s Programme is strongly focused on post conflict recovery and consolidation of peace. It is composed of two main Programme portfolios:

Governance and Rule of Law
Poverty Reduction and Environmental Protection

The GROLS Programme has six main components: Access to Justice, Civilian Police, and the Joint Programme for Local Governance, Somali Institutional Development Programme, Constitution and Armed Violence Reduction. The overall goal is to strengthen rule of law, governance and security. Integral to this strategy is the recognition that when progress is lacking in one of these areas it has a detrimental effect on the sustainability of achievements in the others.

Over the past several years, the Access to Justice Project has strengthened institutions through training and infrastructure rehabilitation. These initiatives were complemented by an approach which included legal empowerment and confidence-building of the Somali public, including supporting legal clinics, legal aid, support to long term legal education as well as awareness raising at community levels. The Access to Justice Project is engaged in building and improving the capacities of the criminal justice system. This is of particular importance given the prevalence of piracy in Somalia. To that end, the Project is implementing a Piracy Trials Programme in Somalia designed to strengthen the Judicial system as a whole to establish a minimum international standards for the prosecution of piracy and other international crimes. This programme also focuses on improving decision making processed across the criminal justice chain with a focus on adjudication of serious crimes including sexual and gender based violence.

Under the overall supervision of the UNDP Access to Justice Area Project Manager the incumbent will implement, manage & monitor activities in Work-plans agreed with counterparts and may be called upon to assist in supporting other projects in the Governance, Rule of Law and Security Programme. The incumbent will support ongoing UNDP ROLS Access to Justice initiatives in the South Central region of Somalia, and carry out activities related to the implementation of strategies to strengthen access to justice and training of law professionals. The incumbent will be working closely with Access to Justice Staff and members of the Governance and Rule of Law Team in Mogadishu. He/she will also support national planning processes, national capacities and project formulation. The Incumbent will be expected to work with UNDP Partners to ensure issues relating to gender, juveniles, IDPs and vulnerable groups are mainstreamed into all programmes.

Furthermore, the incumbent will be responsible for guidance to project team and ensuring cross-unit cooperation and coordination, therefore the Project Officer must be able to develop and maintain viable working relationship with colleagues across the organization and with stakeholders, and be able to work with them in a responsible client orientation and problem solving mode. The Project Officer works in close collaboration with the Access to Justice team, Programme and Operational teams, counterparts and government officials to ensure that project management is carried out according to schedules and UNDP rules and regulations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Management and Coordination of Access to Justice Activities in South Central region of Somalia and the day to day management and delivery of the Project’s components.
Building partnerships with governmental and non-governmental counterparts at the field level
Project level coordination
Project’s knowledge building and management

Functions / Key Results Expected

Daily management of project field activities and in particular:

Provides technical advice to legal aid partners and establishment of additional legal aid and legal empowerment initiatives in prioritized regions of Somalia;
Guides partner agencies in developing strategies, outputs, timeframes and budgets for implementing project strategies;
Guides the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Services Council, Supreme Court and Attorney General’s Office in long-term sustainable reform of their respective offices including through technical advice, advocacy and support to their respective offices;
Advises in the implementation of Court Reform Initiatives including the supervision of Case Management System and Mobile Court Activities together with roll out of court and legal reform activities in South Central Somalia including technical advice, capacity building as well as administrative, financial and logistical support;
Provides technical advice and facilitation to initiatives UNDP is undertaking with respect to sensitizing customary/traditional mechanisms to basic human rights and gender;
Provides technical advice & management to initiatives to increase the quality of legal education in South Central Somalia as well as access to education for Women and Minorities;
Represents at coordination forums and meetings on justice and related issues including the Protection Working Group, Justice and Corrections Working Group, Gender Based Violence Working Group and other related forums;
Drafts and compiles progress and impact reports, project and programme documents and proposals;
Monitoring the execution of agreements signed with partner organizations including government and NGO’s. including preparation, drafting and proof reading of agreements with national counter-parts for A2J activities in South Central Somalia;
Managing the implementation of A2J activities in other regions as requested;
Submission of weekly and monthly progress reports in a timely manner.

Building partnerships with governmental and non-governmental counterparts at field level, and in particular:

Coordinating and liaising with the national counterpart on issues related to the A2J activities;
Developing and maintaining partnerships with key stakeholders, identifying and recommending possible synergies;
Establishing the identification of partners (Expression of Interest), assessing the capacity of partners, and formulating and following up on Request For Proposal (RFP) processes;
Assessing the capacity of partner organisations and institutions, developing capacity building plans and implementing them through mentoring, trainings and workshops.

Actively promotes and facilitates project level coordination

Produces quarterly updates of progress, issues and constraints against work plan;
Undertakes regular monitoring and data collection of project activities;
Builds strong relations with the national counterparts;
Facilitates capacity building;
Provides technical expertise to other projects in the area of Access to Justice project;

Providing input in project’s knowledge building and management by focusing on achievement of the following results:

Guidance to the executing agencies on routine implementation of projects, tracking use of financial resources;
Advice to Project staff on UNDP administrative and reporting, in particular, on budgetary issues;
Organization of training for the Project Staff and partners on financial management;
Synthesis of lessons learned and best practices in project and project finance;
Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Impact of Results:

The key results will have an impact on the efficiency of the Access to Justice Project and Rule of Law and Security Programme. Works undertaken will increase the timely delivery of projects, ensure they meet with UNDP Procedures and regulations and strengthen the capacity of the Projects as a whole. The incumbent’s own initiative is decisive in results of work and timely finalization.

Furthermore, the key results will impact on the implementation of the UNDP CPD 2011 – 2015, specifically “OUTCOME 2: Somali women, men, girls, and boys benefit from more inclusive, equitable, and accountable governance, improved services, human security, access to justice, and human rights” and Outcome 4 relating to gender.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favouritism

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:

Ability to organize and coordinate results-oriented strategic and thematic evaluations. Knowledge and understanding of evaluation and development evaluation in particular.
Good knowledge of current development issues particularly those pertinent to UNDP’s Practice Areas. Ability to conceptualize issues and analyse data.
Good technical skills in measurement and evaluation, including grasp of methodological and operational dimensions and the ability to link corporate and country level issues.
Ability to coordinate the work of the team.
Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit

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 openness to change and ability to manage complexities
Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
Sound understating and experience of working in Arab and/or African contexts and of building trust with national counterparts.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters Degree or equivalent in law or related field with 2 years of experience.
A first level university degree with a combination of relevant academic qualifications and 4 years’ relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

Minimum of 2 years with an advanced degree or 4 years relevant professional with a first level university degree experience in related field, preferably a qualified lawyer;
Knowledge of the Somalia Justice System is a requirement and work experience in Somalia.
Previous experience working in the UN or International NGO is preferred;
Experience working in legal aid is desirable but not a requirement;
Experience with informal justice and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms is desirable Work experience within the UN or an NGO is an asset.

Language requirements:

Fluency in English and Somali required.
Knowledge of Arabic is desirable.

Other Requirements:

This is a non-staff contract under the Service Contract modality of hiring of the UNDP. Individuals engaged under a Service Contract serve in their individual capacity and not as representative of a government institutions, corporate body or other authority external to UNDP. The incumbent shall not be considered as staff of UNDP, the UN common system or the government and are therefore not entitled to any diplomatic privileges or any other special status or conditions.