UNDP Jobs - 58000- International Consultant on Review of Legislation

International Consultant on Review of Legislation and Policies and Mainstreaming the Human Rights Based Approach

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

06-Aug-2015

Application Deadline :

22-Jul-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

August 2015 – December 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 40 working days

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

The Republic of Moldova is a State-Party to the majority UN and CoE human rights treaties. The National Human Rights Action Plan for 2011-2014 contains commitments to protect and advance specific human rights taking into account the recommendations of the UN treaty bodies and a number of UPR recommendations. Related priorities and commitments are established under the UN-Moldova Partnership Framework (UNPF) 2013-2017. Reform of the National Human Rights Institutions is prioritized at the highest level of government. The Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office are the two major national human rights institutions in the Republic of Moldova (RM) working specifically on the issues of equality, non-discrimination and human rights protection and promotion.

In May 2012, the Parliament of the RM passed the Law on Ensuring Equality, stipulating the establishment of the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (Equality Council) to ensure protection against discrimination and ensure equality of all persons who consider themselves to be victims of discrimination, as well as revise individual complaints and deliver decisions on them. As a newly established institution, the Council is in need of institutional strengthening and capacity building in human rights, equality, case management, as well as maximization of its impact on human rights and diversity.

In April 2014, the Parliament of the RM passed a new Law on the Peoples Advocate (Ombudsperson). As a result of a number of institutional weaknesses, the Ombudsperson Office remains insufficiently known among the public-at-large, and not sufficiently powerful to act as Moldova’s main human rights institution. Therefore it is in need of institutional capacity building and mainstreaming of human rights based approach into its work, as well as support towards maximization of its impact on human rights and diversity.

The overall objective of the project “Supporting National Human Rights Institutions as per International Treaty Bodies and UPR Recommendations” is to contribute to the effective protection and promotion of human rights, equality and non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova with particular attention to women, minorities, marginalised and vulnerable groups. The project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, co-funded and implemented by the UNDP Moldova and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with the Ombudsperson Office and Equality Council.

Duties and Responsibilities

The scope of the work of the International Consultant will consist in providing expertise in relation to the analysis of sectorial policies and legislation of the RM as to ensure their compliance with human rights and equality principles and further elaborating proposals for mainstreaming the human rights based approach, as well as ensuring follow-up training on these methodologies of the relevant staff members of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office.

In order to achieve the objective the International Consultant shall:

Work closely with the relevant staff of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office to identify their specific needs in developing the “Methodology for reviewing already existing and newly proposed sectorial policies, strategies and legislation to ensure their compliance with human rights, equality and diversity principles and further human rights mainstreaming” (from hereinafter Methodology);
Draft a clear, accessible and usable Methodology, in consultation with the relevant staff of the Equality Council, Ombudsperson Office and other involved authorities, if necessary;
Contribute to the elaboration of relevant methodologies and/or guidelines regarding the compliance with human rights, equality and diversity principles and further human rights mainstreaming within sectorial policies and strategies drafted by other public institutions;
Prepare, organize and lead one hands-on, interactive training on the use of the Methodology for relevant Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office staff;
Provide support to relevant staff of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office on applying the Methodology for review of already existing and newly proposed policies and laws;
Where necessary, hold consultation meetings with relevant governmental bodies and stakeholders;
Work closely with the National Consultant contracted for the purposes of the assignment;
Where relevant, work closely with other Consultants contracted within the project;
Develop and provide activity reports and other narrative progress reports as specified in the deliverables for the assignment;
Undertake other related tasks for the purposes of the assignment.

Deliverables:

Study on applying the Human Rights Based Approach in review of national legislation and policies including a review of best practices using regional and international examples submitted (max 10 pages) - up to 8 working days;
First draft of Methodology presented to Ombudsperson Office, Equality Council, UNDP and other relevant governmental bodies and authorities, if necessary; (max 20 pages) - up to 10 working days;
Final Methodology presented to Ombudsperson Office, Equality Council, UNDP and other relevant governmental bodies, if necessary - up to 10 days;
One two-day training for staff of Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office organized and conducted - up to 5 working days;
Support for elaboration of relevant methodologies and/or guidelines regarding the compliance with human rights, equality and diversity principles and further human rights mainstreaming within sectorial policies and strategies drafted by other public institutions provided - up to 5 working days;
Final report on consultancy undertaken submitted to UNDP - up to 2 working days.

The deliverables can be amended or specified for the purposes of the assignment. For detailed information, please, refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Organizational Setting

This is a part-time consultancy. The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNDP Moldova Justice and Human Rights Programme Analyst, as well as in consultation with the OHCHR Human Rights Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova.

The International Consultant will undertake two missions to Moldova:

First mission for 5 days in August - September 2015 for purposes of discussions of the needs of the Ombudsperson Office and Equality Council, meetings with relevant stakeholders and presenting the draft methodology;
Second mission for 5 days in October-November 2015 for the purposes of delivering the training.

The rest of the assignment will be completed home-based for the amount of days specified in the deliverables.

Competencies

Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
Demonstrable knowledge of the Human Rights Based Approach and its application in legislation, policies and practices;
Demonstrable extensive knowledge of legislation and policy drafting/preparation processes in the Republic of Moldova is an asset;
Effective communication and strong analytical skills;
Responsibility;
Punctuality;
Attention to detail.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights, Public Law or other relevant field;

Experience

At least 7 years of proven professional experience in analysis of policies, strategies and legislation in line with the International Human Rights standards in the CEE and CIS region;
Working experience or academic knowledge of National Human Rights Institutions is an asset;

Language

Fluent knowledge of English for the purposes of the assignment;
Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.

Application instructions

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information in English to demonstrate their qualifications:

Cover letter:

Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work, including a list of assignments and/or analytical documents, reports, methodologies, presentations, capacity building activities, or other task related documents the applicant has elaborated or contributed to;
Providing a brief methodology (max. 3 pages) on how they will approach and conduct the work;
Financial proposal as a lump sum in US Dollars, preferably split per each deliverable (which includes the fee, and all travel costs for mission to Moldova). For detailed information on travel requirements, please, refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference;
Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form/P11) including records of past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained, including names and contact details of 3 reference persons.

Evaluation Criteria

Initially, applicants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights, Public Law or other relevant field;
At least 7 years of proven professional experience in analysis of policies, strategies and legislation in line with the International Human Rights standards in the CEE and CIS region.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on the following methodology:

A two-stage procedure will be used in evaluating the candidates:

Technical evaluation (max 300 points) – 60%;
Financial evaluation (max 200 points) – 40%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% score of the technical evaluation (at least 210 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Criteria for scoring and maximum points obtainable

Technical Scoring:

Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights, Public Law or other relevant field (Master – 30 pts., PhD – 40 pts.);
At least 7 years of proven professional experience in analysis of policies, strategies and legislation in line with the International Human Rights standards in the CEE and CIS region (7 years – 30 pts., 7-10 years - up to 50 pts., more than 10 years – up to 70 points);
Fluent knowledge of English for the purposes of the assignment, knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset (English – 10 pts, Russian, Romanian – 5 pts each).

Interview:

Demonstrable knowledge of the Human Rights Based Approach and its application in legislation, policies and practices – up to 60 pts;
Demonstrable extensive knowledge of legislation and policy drafting/preparation processes in the Republic of Moldova – up to 20 pts;
Working experience or academic knowledge of National Human Rights Institutions – up to 30 pts;
Demonstrable experience preparing and carrying out trainings and/or capacity building activities – up to 40 pts;
Effective communication and strong analytical skills – up to 20 pts).

Financial Scoring:

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 200

S – score received on financial evaluation;
Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Note

For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied, as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.