Background

Albania experienced remarkable economic growth in the past decade. Reforms have been launched in all sectors of the economy as well as in basic services such as education, health and increasingly for social care, insurance and other protection systems. Nevertheless, government structures cannot respond adequately to the needs of marginalized and vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities who face multiple barriers to social inclusion.

United Nations Support to Social Inclusion in Albania Programme (UNSSIA), with a view to ensure that government policies and programmes are consistent and coherent in achieving the maximum possible effect for the social inclusion of people at risk, seeks to support the development of capacities of Albanian institutions at central and local levels for advancing the national social inclusion agenda.

Support for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has a special focus in the programme. The policy level work targets mainstreaming disability issues in the common policies, legislation and programmes, while capacity support interventions address a wide range of government and non-government partners at national and local level to be able to carry out the country’s commitment towards more inclusive policies for people with disabilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in December 2012.

CRPD clarifies the obligations on State parties to promote, protect and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities. In the meanwhile, the disability issues constitute a serious development challenge in Albania that requires urgent response.

Article 13 of the CRPD on access to justice is a key provision which aims to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants in all legal proceedings, and requires from State Parties to promote appropriate training for those working in the field of administration of justice.

This provision implies among other the implementation of jurisprudence on persons with disabilities in compliance with international obligations.  Albanian civil servants, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, social workers and other practitioners working with persons with disabilities are not familiar with international jurisprudence that deals with persons with disabilities. Particular attention is drawn on the case law of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECtHR). Such lack of knowledge could bring about a failure to protect against people with disabilities and could give rise to a breach of the ECtHR and CRPD obligations by Albania.

The accurate implementation of laws requires solid knowledge, when specific practical cases arise, and are brought to the attention of the authorities and practitioners to be resolved. 

To support the strengthening of capacities of Albanian institutions and NGOs working on the rights of persons with disabilities, UNDP/UNSSIA programme has supported the compilation of ECtHR standards as applied to specific factual situations in various European countries. The goal has been to improve the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities by the Albanian authorities in compliance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.

To ensure that judges, prosecutors, Magistrates, lawyers and judicial police employees, when faced with problem areas covered by ECtHR, refer to this case-law Compilation to receive answers whether their actions or omissions are in full compliance with a set of minimum legal standards, UNDP/UNSSIA in cooperation with the School of Magistrates envisage organizing, based on this document, a series of capacity building activities as well as providing a training of trainers for a group of individuals  selected among training.

UNDP/UNSSIA programme will recruit two national consultants to design and conduct this capacity-building intervention. In this work the services of a training facilitator are required. To this end, UNDP/UNSSIA is inviting interested individuals to apply for the position of the national consultant for facilitating the training on the ECtHR jurisprudence on persons with disabilities.

Tasks 

Under the supervision of the UNDP Programme Analyst for Social Inclusion, and the direct supervision of the National Programme Manager for the UNSSIA Programme, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

1. Become familiar with the  Compilation of European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence on the rights of persons with disabilities;
2. Support the design of the training curricula, outline and agenda for the groups of intended participants by documenting and coordinating the process. The training shall aim at conveying the key aspects of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with a special focus on the case law of the ECtHR on persons with Disabilities as developed in the Compilation prepared by UNDP/UNSSIA programme.
3. Support the trainer consultants in assisting the School of Magistrates with establishing a calendar for the training delivery, knowing that it is preferred to develop 14 one-day training sessions for participants to be grouped on the following basis: the students of the School of Magistrates (one session without replication), the staff of the First Instance Courts (one session replicated for 5 different groups), the staff of the Appeal Courts at regional level (one session replicated for 6 different groups), the staff of the Serious Crime Court and Administrative Appeal Court (one session replicated for 2 different groups). These training sessions will be regularly joined by other law professionals such as prosecutors or staff from the judicial police, etc.  The facilitator’s support shall consist in establishing the lists of participants, booking their agenda and keeping the correspondence with them regarding notifications and confirmations as well as anticipating with the logistic arrangements for the training sessions.
4. Facilitate the conduct of the 14 one-day training sessions for the groups of various professionals by demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to the needs and requests of participants. The facilitation shall include preparation of folders with training materials and resource documents, tracking records of the training sessions’ proceedings and help with logistic arrangements.
5. Support the trainer consultants in selecting and screening, jointly with the School of Magistrates, those individuals (max. 15) who are interested to be trainers on the jurisprudence related to persons with disabilities, hence, available to get further training for this purpose. The facilitator’s support shall consist in establishing the lists of participants, booking their agenda and keeping the correspondence with them regarding notifications and confirmations as well as anticipating with the logistic arrangements for the training.
6. Support the design of a training of trainers curricula, outline and agenda knowing that it is preferred to provide a three-day training to the selected group of trainers.
7. Facilitate the conduct of the three-day training for the group of trainers.  The facilitation shall include preparation of folders with training materials and resource documents, tracking records of the training’s proceedings and help with logistic arrangements.
8. Prepare a draft report providing a description of the work done, training delivery and achievements, summary of discussions, conclusions, lessons learned, evaluation and recommendations for actions and follow-up, including training module outline, agenda, tools such as power points presentations/ exercises/ case study.
9. Share the draft report with the two other consultants and finalize it after including the reviewers’ feedback.
10. Prepare an assignment report describing the expert’s work.

Deliverables:

• Inception report including the suggested work plan and timeline.

• The facilitation of 14 training days for the staff of the judiciary system.

• The facilitation of the 3-day training for the group of trainers.

• A report, in English language,  providing a description of the work done, achievements and the training delivery, summary of discussions, conclusions, lessons learned, evaluation and recommendations for actions and follow-up, and including training module outline, agenda, tools such as power points presentations/ exercises/ case study.

• An assignment report.

  All outputs will be agreed with and approved by UNDP/UNSSIA team.

Time-lines/Schedule

The consultant will be engaged for 30 workdays as per the above description of the assignment.  The assignment is expected to be completed within seven months from the contract signature. Expected starting date is June 6th, 2016. The inception report shall be submitted within two weeks from the contract signature.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Display disability, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to work and adapt to a dynamic working environment.
• Strong inter-personal, communication and presentation skills;
• Excellent report drafting and writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education/Academic qualification:

• Postgraduate degree in law.

1. Work experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience as lawyer, judge, prosecutor, attorney,  including a 10-year work experience in teaching law;
• Deep understanding of human rights jurisprudence demonstrated through years of experience in this area;
• Specific knowledge and experience on disability issues;
• Significant experience in designing and conducting training for various stakeholders;
• Experience with  government and international organizations;
• Relevant experience with UN Agencies would be appreciated;

Language requirements:

• Full working knowledge of Albanian and English

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultant will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

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

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70

Criteria A: Expertise in human rights, related jurisprudence and disability issues – max points: 30

Criteria B: Expertise in training design and delivery – max points: 25

Criteria C: Educational background – max points: 15

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30

Application procedures

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

•    Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;

•    Filled P11 form for SC and ICs;(blank form can be downloaded fromhttp://www.al.undp.org/content/albania/en/home/operations/jobs.html;  please upload the P11 instead of your CV ;

•    Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form...

•   Financial Proposal* - The financial proposal shall include the total lump sum and a breakdown of this lump sum amount  (consultancy daily rate expressed in ALL, travel cost, per diems and any other possible costs).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee estimate based on man-days, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal in ALL. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores. UNDP retains the right to contact references directly.  Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Qualified individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.