Background

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project now seeks to recruit a consultant to work with the Legislature of Liberia to support awareness raising and development in relation to:

• Law-making processes, legal analysis and legal research, in particular regarding electoral and supporting legislation;
• Legislative oversight processes, in particular through support for the House Committee on Elections & Inauguration (HCEI) and the Senate Committee on Autonomous Commissions and Agencies (SCACA).

The consultant will work with Members, their personal staff and the staff of the Legislature in advancing the amendments through the Senate and House of Representatives.  The consultant will also be tasked with designing and implementing information dissemination activities to help the committee members’ share with their constituencies and the general public at large the crucial provisions of the amendments to the Elections Law.

The consultant will work closely to support the two aforementioned committees to more effectively discharge their duties to oversee the work of the NEC. The consultant will support the relevant committees to develop an outreach strategy (mapping of key actors to engage, calendar and methodology to conduct informational hearings on the amendments to the elections law, to enable a more inclusive process of understanding and appreciation for the electoral reform process

In delivering the consultancy, the consultant will:

• Work in very close partnership with the Members of the Legislature – in particular, the Presiding Officers as appropriate, the JLMC, and the members of the relevant committees;
• Work closely with the staff of the Legislature, in particular the heads of the Central Administration and the Legislative Information Service; 
• Engage closely with the NEC, in particular the staff working on electoral reform;
• Engage with the Executive Branch in relation to the enactment of relevant electoral reform legislation, as appropriate;
• Work closely with the UNDP Liberia Country Office.

• Work with 2 legislative elections committees to complete the process of advancing & adopting the amendments in both the Senate & House of Representatives: 1 month; 30% of total contract sum;
  
• Assist NEC & Legislature to conduct 5 information sessions with CSOs, Legal Community, Political Parties & other key stakeholders on adopted amendments to the election law: 1.5  month; 30% of total contract sum;
  
• Work with CSO to conduct radio shows with key legislators and NEC officials on adopted amendments in the election law: 1 month; 30% of total contract sum;
  
• Produce a final Report for submission to the UNDP Liberia Country Office on future work following on from this consultancy: 0.5 month; 10% of total contract sum.
  

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.

• Communication and interpersonal skills required for collaboration with election administration as well as various electoral stakeholders;
• Ability to prioritize work and produce the required outputs in the given timeline;
• Ability to advise effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Substantive knowledge and experience working in the electoral support and democratic governance;
• Strong oral and written communication skills;
• Excellent training and presentation skills;
• Excellent drafting and analytical skills.

• Fluency in written and spoken English is compulsory.
  

Required Skills and Experience

• A minimum Masters degree in law.

• At least 7 years of relevant professional work experience, in particular in the area of electoral support or law reform.
• Extensive knowledge and work experience of electoral administration and management with specific experience in legal assistance;
• Experience in assisting the Election Law Reform process;
• Experience in Drafting regulations and guidelines for election process in African region;
• Experience in advisory role, especially knowledge of Liberian electoral legal framework is advantage;
• Understanding of political economy, conflict analysis and relevant strategies for implementing crisis sensitive responses to political governance issues;
• Demonstrable experience undertaking similar consultancies for international development organizations, preferably UNDP.

Language:

• Fluent in spoken and written English.