Background

Promotion and protection of human rights and equality, strengthening justice and development of democratic governance is at the core of the UN work in Moldova. In these areas, the UN is aiming to ensure that difficult and complex reforms aiming to strengthen government institutions and the justice sector remain on track, and that support is provided to move from policy and legislative formulation to practical implementation.

The public institutions in Moldova face many different challenges, including e.g. a politicised climate affecting all public institutions; the absence of an embedded “human rights culture” and prevalence e.g. of discriminatory perceptions in society. It is generally recognized that these mechanisms remain weak and in need of strengthening both institutionally (in terms of mandates, infrastructure and resources) and among their staff (in terms of professional capacity, especially when it comes to undertaking the specialized functions of these institutions), and this, therefore, forms the rationale for this component. In addition to this, there is an obligation in the law for the civil servants to take at least 40 hours of training per year.

Therefore, the Strengthening Technical Capacities of the National Institutions for the Human Rights Protection and Promotion Project is seeking to support the implementation of the relevant human rights reforms, plans and commitments, in order to ensure that the capacities of the national human rights institutions are strengthened, so that they are able to perform their key functions on the human rights monitoring, reporting, promotion and protection. The overall objective of the project is to improve human rights protection and rule of law in the Republic of Moldova through strengthening institutional capacities of key actors in relation to justice and vulnerable groups.

The project seeks to strengthen the capacities of public institutions, which have a mandate in areas relating to human rights, criminal justice, governance and anti-corruption, in performing their key functions. These institutions include the Human Rights Centre (Ombudsperson Office) and the National Torture Prevention Mechanism, the Equality Council, the Ombudsperson in Psychiatry, the National Anti-Corruption Centre, the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, the National Legal Aid Council, the upcoming Monitoring Mechanism on the CRPD implementation, the National Institute of Justice, and the Constitutional Court. In addition to this, key ministries (Health, Social Protection and Education) will be involved in order to strengthen the “governance” and “human rights” components.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is envisaged as playing a key role in relation to the implementation of the whole programme. The NIJ is uniquely positioned to bridge programme`s components in terms of involvement of the target groups as specialised training institution. The NIJ will serve as a logistic platform for the planned capacity building activities, as well as will ensure the anchoring of the programme to ensure its sustainability during and beyond the programme duration.

The Project’s primary bulk of activities focuses on designing and implementation of a systematic training/coaching programme for core staff of the above-mentioned institutions. The aim will be to enhance their technical capacity to perform effectively in relation to their core functions and mandates as well as to mainstream human rights.

The capacity building activities envisaged by the Project will combine off-line and on-line approaches. The traditional (off-line/in person) training activities will be supplemented by eLearning instruments. E-courses are valuable contemporary tools which have a long-lasting multiplication potential. The application of internet-based tools will allow ensure sustainability of the traditional (in person) training course, to keep and share the knowledge products produced, and ultimately institutionalise and allow further teaching through the NIJ and/or other interested entities following the end of the Project.

In addition, a key priority for the Project is to design and implement effective methods of eLearning that would increase the capacity of NIJ to provide necessary and efficient professional training to judges and prosecutors, as well as to other justice related professionals (lawyers, mediators, bailiffs, etc.).

One of the main findings of the NIJ’s capacity assessment on eLearning, conducted with Project’s support, is that “NIJ’s eLearning solution is immature but also suffers from a lack of cohesion and strategy”. Various elements are in place, but the practical implementation is dysfunctional. The assessment further recommends that “any strategy to be developed has to be based on the idea that a functional eLearning solution has as unique objective the optimization of the training/learning activities of the NIJ and its success could be evaluated only in terms of students’ results and satisfaction. Each intermediary objective has to be subordinated to the principal one as an eLearning solution has no relevance outside and without the training/learning activities”.

To achieve these tasks, the Project requires expert input and support on eLearning issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this assignment is to provide expert assistance to the Project and its partners in developing and implementing the eLearning concept in professional training throughout the Project activities.

Under the Project Component 1 (Strengthening capacities of the human rights, equality, governance and anti-corruption public institutions in performing their key functions), the Consultant will provide expert input and support in deploying eLearning solution(s) to maximize the impact of management and human rights training programme, developed and delivered to the national institutions with a human rights mandate, targeted by the Project.

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Review the off-line/in person training programme on management and human rights, developed and delivered by a third party contractor, provide an assessment and recommendations on the transformation of the off-line/in person training into eLearning tools in order to assure the sustainability of the training programme;
• Interact with the management and human rights training provider to identify and develop the most suitable eLearning solution(s);
• Apply the Instructional Design techniques to transform the off-line/in person course into a flexible eLearning solution;
• Draft technical requirements/specifications for the eLearning solution(s) to be deployed in line with the best practices in the field;
• Draft technical criteria for the evaluation of offers/proposals to be inserted into the procurement documentation;
• Provide prompt answers to the technical questions submitted by the potential offerors in the framework of the procurement processes;
• Be member of the procurement evaluation committee, set-up by the Project, and sign the evaluation reports;
• Assess the technical parts of the submitted offers and provide clear-cut comments and justification for the rejected offers/proposals;
• Ensure the monitoring of the progress on development of contracted eLearning solution(s);
• Facilitate the interaction between the Project and provider contracted to deliver the eLearning solution(s);
• Assess the functionalities of the eLearning solution(s), delivered by the contracted offeror, against the proposed technical solution(s);
• Provide advice on other eLearning related topics.

Under the Project Component 2 (Strengthening capacities of the National Institute of Justice), the Consultant will contribute to strengthening the NIJ’s capacities to provide eLearning content to its users.

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Conduct a desk review of NIJ’s institutional development assessment(s) from the eLearning perspective (prerequisites, opportunities, obstacles, etc.), eLearning related assessment, other relevant national regulatory and strategic framework;
• Evaluate the impact of technology-enhanced learning methods on the provision of professional trainings and other continuing professional development (CPD) courses and programmes in the activity of NIJ;
• Provide recommendations on the best use of eLearning to achieve the NIJ’s institutional goals (with specific recommendations on various types of courses and training programmes that may be practiced by the NIJ);
• Assist NIJ in addressing the eLearning capacity gaps identified through the assessment exercise, draft a corrective action plan and provide assistance in the implementation thereof;
• Provide input and expert advice on integration of eLearning in NIJ’s strategic development plan for the next 3-4 years, propose implementation actions;
• Constantly interact with NIJ representatives to tailor the assistance to the real needs of the institution;
• Develop user manuals on ILIAS LMS, adapted to the needs of NIJ trainers and trainees;
• Draft a methodology on development and upload of e-courses in NIJ’s LMS;
• Mentor and coach NIJ trainers on using eLearning tools, including preparing and uploading e-courses, designing scenarios for professional development, undertaking pedagogic redesign, etc.;
• Instruct and support NIJ’s trainers in using the LMS ILIAS;
• Provide training program on instructional design, use of authoring tools, other relevant topics to NIJ staff and trainers;
• Draft technical requirements for three e-courses for NIJ to be developed in line with the best practices in the field;
• Draft technical criteria for the evaluation of offers/proposals to be inserted into the procurement documentation;
• Provide prompt answers to the technical questions submitted by the potential offerors in the framework of the procurement processes;
• Be member of the procurement evaluation committee, set-up by the Project, and sign the evaluation reports;
• Assess the technical parts of the submitted offers and provide clear-cut comments and justification for the rejected offers/proposals;
• Ensure the monitoring of the progress on development of contracted eLearning solutions;
• Facilitate the interaction between the Project and provider contracted to deliver the eLearning solutions;
• Assess the functionalities of the eLearning solution, delivered by the contracted offeror, against the proposed technical solution;
• Provide in-person or remote advice on other eLearning related topics.

The effort estimate is 150 working days throughout August 2016-April 2018, including 100 working days in Moldova. Regular missions to Chisinau, Moldova are envisaged under this assignment.

Competencies

• Advanced abilities in designing and/or providing on-line trainings and educational programmes. Designing and/or providing on-line courses and trainings for legal professions is an asset;
• Advanced capacities to deliver trainings on eLearning related topics;
• Proven understanding of specifics of adult learning and the place and role of eLearning in this process;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations; in particular, is respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
• Responsibility;
• Creativity;
• Flexibility;
• Punctuality.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Pedagogy, Social Sciences, Informational Technologies, Human Rights, Law or other relevant field; 

Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in carrying out needs assessments, providing on-line trainings, developing social platforms, e-learning elaboration, implementation and/or evaluation;
• Proven experience in working with the international or local organizations on similar assignments (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset);

Language:

• Good command of oral and written English is required;
• Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian language is an asset.

Application instructions:

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

1. Technical Proposal: 
   1. explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work;
   2. providing a brief methodology (max. 3 pages) on how the work will be approached and conducted;
2. Personal information (Personal History Form /P11) including records of past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained with three references;
3. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount).

Note:

For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Noticeas well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract and P11 form,published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section: http://www.undp.md/jobs/jobdetails/1347/