Background
UNDP Global Mission Statement:
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.
UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement:
UNDP Afghanistan is supporting the Government to find innovative solutions to its development challenges based on the Country Programme Document approved by the Executive Board for the period 2015 – 2019. Key priority areas for UNDP assistance are strengthening accountable governance, justice and rule of law, equitable and inclusive development, and social equity, with special attention to women. UNDP Afghanistan seeks to achieve transformational change in an environment of high complexity and insecurity. Conflict sensitivity is applied throughout the programme, and is mainstreamed in all projects. Political, economic, and conflict analysis of the provinces where UNDP works will be undertaken through UNDP’s regional hubs at the sub-national level. This will have to be accompanied by greater use of national systems, focus on capacity development instead of capacity substitution and helping to phase out parallel structures, and strengthen approaches to regionalization.
Organizational Context
The Afghanistan Access to Justice (AA2J) has been designed as a successor project to the Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan project, which had operated since 2009. AA2J builds on the achievements and lessons learned from JHRA, and was designed in close consultation with all relevant stakeholders from the Afghan Justice and Rule of Law sector. The project has 3 outcome areas:
- Legal aid and awareness;
- Justice sector coordination with a particular focus on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW);
- Capacity development for the Ministry of Justice, particularly as regards human rights and legislative drafting.
By strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Justice; supporting enhanced coordination and cooperation between rule of law institutions, particularly focusing on the elimination of violence against women and through the provision of legal aid by the Legal Aid Grant Facility, the project will contribute to increased access to justice for target groups, including women, children and detainees in selected provinces and at district level in Afghanistan. The project contributes directly to the targets of the broader Rule of Law and Human Security portfolio, and works in close coordination with other projects in this cluster.
Output one focuses on increasing access to justice through the provision of legal aid to the poor, legal awareness raising and support to Law Clinics to strengthen clinics’ and students’ capacity to provide the needed legal services and acquisition of practical skills by the law and sharia students.
Under AA2J’s predecessor project Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan (JHRA), UNDP supported several Law Clinics as pilot activities. Other development agents, such as Asia Foundation, International Development Law Organization and GIZ are engaging with Law Clinics. Law Clinics in Afghanistan are formally recognized in the Legal Aid Regulation. Article 4(7), defines Law Clinics as “those centres, where law, Sharia and official religious schools (Madrasa) students are providing legal aid under the supervision of a legal provider or an advocate”. In Article 15 of the same Regulation, Law Clinics are identified as one of the institutions that are expected to provide legal aid services. Law clinics have been introduced in Afghanistan quite some years ago, but no harmonized model has emerged so far. As a result, different universities have a totally different approach, and there is no real consensus on pedagogy, and no structured framework to exchange experiences. Furthermore, there are no guidelines from the government.
At a recent law clinic conference in Kabul all universities agreed with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to include law clinic in their curricula and give an academic credit for law clinic work and move forward with standard models of criminal, family and general clinics. This offers new opportunities for standardization and development of a network through which universities can share experiences and build on curricula while having freedom to adapt to their contexts. UNDP will build on this new momentum by supporting 4 university clinics in a pilot to develop clinician’s manual to serve as a core teaching and reference material for the agreed law clinic model in Afghanistan, which can then be made available to other universities as a tool. The framework and guidelines shall clearly defines the composition, structure, management, programmatic activities, teaching and training techniques and the different law clinic models.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work and Deliverables:
During the assignment it is proposed that the consultant will undertake the following (subject to any amendments agreed between consultant and UNDP following submission and agreement on methodology):
(Pre-deployment) submit methodology for agreement with UNDP;
Conduct consultations with (senior) Government officials particularly representatives of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) , Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), heads of Law and Sharia Departments, heads of Law Clinics, Independent Legal Aid Board, Afghanistan Independent Bar Association, legal aid providers and other stakeholders as may be deemed necessary;
Facilitate a workshop in Kabul with teachers and students from law clinics, government officials and CSOs to facilitate agreement on the content of the manual, division of responsibility between the clinics as to which university will draft which chapters, common development of main contents of the chapters etc.;
Work bilaterally with Balkh, Nangarhar, Herat and Helmand university (remote and with at least one visit to each with the exception of Helmand) to work with students and staff to help them draft their chapters;
Consolidate the inputs from the universities and based on this, ddevelop a manual for law clinics in line with the international standards and national legislation, indicatively covering but not limited to the following (list to be finalized based on methodology submitted by consultant and agreed by UNDP):
Definition, meaning and objectives of education in law clinics;
Steps for establishment of law clinics;
Composition and structure of law clinics;
Law clinic models and how they function;
The roles and responsibilities of law clinics;
Administration and management of law clinics;
Law clinic requirements and clinical prerequisites;
Teaching and training methods;
Programme and curriculum development process and techniques;
Interview skills, legal writing, trial simulations and moot techniques;
Guidelines for Law clinics and law students when providing legal services;
Law Clinic ethical requirements and code of conduct;
Various standardized templates to be used in law clinics;
Basic lesson plans covering the core curriculum areas of family law and criminal law;
Resource mobilization.
Conduct one workshop in Kabul to validate the draft manual;
Conduct one training of trainers in the 4 pilot universities on the contents of the manual.
Deliverable/Outputs; Estimate duration to complete and payment percentage:
Deliverable 1;
Assignment methodology submitted by consultant and approved by UNDP.
Deliverable 2: 10 days; 30%
Facilitate a consultative conference for law clinic stakeholders to generate ideas.
Deliverable 3: 20 days; 30%
A comprehensive Law Clinics manual developed.
Deliverable 4;
Facilitate a conference to validate the Law Clinics manual.
Deliverable 5;
Facilitate one training for Law Clinics, AIBA, MOJ, lawyers, and university representatives. Conference and training reports submitted.
Deliverable 6: 10 working days; 40%
- Submission and acceptance of final report with lessons learnt and recommendations.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Maturity combined with tact and diplomacy;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
Functional Competencies: Knowledge Management and Learning
Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
Ability to conduct required research, analyze and produce the law clinic manual/frame work;
Excellent analytical aptitude, communication, writing and presentation skill;
Commitment and enthusiasm for development work;
In-depth knowledge of access to justice and legal issues in Afghanistan;
- Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Special skills requirements
Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in a multi-cultural and multiethnic environment;
Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Demonstrated ability to speak and write professionally in English;
Excellent writing skills;
- Ability to work independently with strong sense of initiative, discipline and self-motivation.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
Master’s Degree or equivalent, in Law (LLM). A Bachelor’s Degree in law with a Bar qualification can serve in lieu of the Master’s Degree in Law.
Experience:
Minimum of 7 years of experience in the areas of rule of law development, legal aid or justice sector reforms in developing country contexts. Experiences in post conflict countries will be preferred;
Extensive knowledge and experience in setting up, teaching and/or managing Law Clinics in universities is essential;
Experience in establishing, teaching in, managing and/or providing technical support to law clinics in developing country contexts is highly desirable;
Excellent experience in drafting legal training manuals and/or facilitating the development of training manuals is highly desirable;
Knowledge and practical experience in designing and delivering legal trainings to big groups of senior government officials and legal professionals;
Knowledge and/or experience of the Afghanistan legal system and/or legal education in Afghanistan is desirable;
- Experience in comparative analysis of law clinics in post conflict and developing countries is desirable.
Language:
Fluency in written and spoken English is a requirement. Knowledge of Dari, Pashto is highly desirable, but not must.
Working arrangements
Institutional Arrangement:
The consultant will be provided with office space in the AA2J office and will visit the MOJ and AIBA offices as required for the duration of his/her assignment with UNDP
Monitoring and reporting arrangements:
The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Head of Rule of Law Unit and AA2J Project Manager and under the direct supervision of the AA2J Legal Aid & Awareness component manager.
Duration of the Work
The whole assignment is foreseen for a period of 40 working days, stretched over a period of 3 months (out of which consultant will spent 30 days in Afghanistan and 10 days at home). In any case all work needs to be completed by 31 January 2017.
Duty Station
- Kabul, Afghanistan (with one trip to Balkh, Nangarhar and Herat; in each province the consultant will spend up to 2 days) and Home based.
Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:
The consultant shall submit a price proposal as below:
Daily Fee – The consultant shall propose a daily fee which should be inclusive of his/her professional fee, local communication cost and insurance (inclusive of medical health and medical evacuation). The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 40 working days;
For an International Consultant a Living Allowance (LA) shall be paid – The consultant shall propose the Kabul applicable rate of USD 162 per night for his/her stay at the duty station. The number of nights for which the LA shall be payable under the contract is 41 nights. UNDP will organize transportation and provide DSA for the consultant’s field visits to Balkh, Herat and Nangarhar. An international consultant is NOT allowed to stay in a place of his/her choice other than the UNDSS approved places. UNDP will provide MORSS compliant accommodation in UNOCA to the consultant. The accommodation payments shall be made directly by the consultant;
Travel and Visa – The consultant shall propose an estimated lump sum for home-Kabul-home travel and Afghanistan visa expenses. This applies to international consultants only.(UNDP will be responsible for organizing travel between Kabul and Balkh, Herat and Nangarhar and providing related DSA).
The total professional fee, shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables.
Evaluation Method and Criteria:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
Cumulative Analysis;
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.
* Technical Criteria: weight 70%
* Financial Criteria weight 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points;
Technical Proposal (30 marks)
Technical Approach & Methodology (20 marks) – This explain the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach;
- Work Plan (10 marks) – The Applicant should propose the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan.
Qualification and Experience (40 marks) [evaluation of CV]
General Qualification (15 marks);
Experience relevant to the assignment (20 marks);
- Experience of working for projects funded by UNDP (5 marks).
Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:
Interested international consultants (Procurement) must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:
Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
Technical Proposal:
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
- A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment and work plan as indicated above.