Background

Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoGRD&C) has implemented 7 years (2009-2015) project tilted 'Activating Village Courts Project in Bangladesh' in 351 unions of Bangladesh with the financial and technical support of UNDP and European Union (EU). The success of the piloted AVCB project has motivated the UNDP, EU and GOB to increase the scale of the project in Bangladesh and launched 2nd phase of AVCB project (2016-2019) in January 2016 targeting 21.6 million more rural people of 1,080 unions of Bangladesh. The Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoGRD&C) has been implementing the project with the financial and technical support of European Union (EU), UNDP and Bangladesh Government. The overall objective of the project is to contribute in improving access to justice for disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Bangladesh through establishing village courts in 1,080 unions of Bangladesh. The specific objective of the is to make local authorities more responsive to local justice needs and offer appropriate legal services in the form of well- functioning village courts and to empower local people, especially women, the poor and vulnerable groups to seek remedies for injustices and to resolve their disputes at the local level in an expeditious, transparent and affordable manner.
One of the output of the project is to increase evidence-based and knowledge management of village courts. Under this output, the project has planned to conduct different in-house studies/researches to document the evidence of the success of the project (efficiency and effectiveness of village courts, quality of VC’s decision-making process, village courts and women empowerment, etc.) including documentation of lessons learned. The interns will be attached to these in-house studies/researches and provides supports the AVCB II in drafting research design & data collection tools, data collection, data analysis and drafting different reports. Through this process, the intern will get practical knowledge about justice system of Bangladesh, restorative justice, village courts and its impact on people’s lives and communities etc. which will lead to building an academic discourse on village courts.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

The Intern will report to National Project Coordinator and work under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Research and Evaluation Manager. S/he will assist in conducting research, compilation and collation of information and data, generating reports based on need-based studies to the M&E and Knowledge Management Unit of AVCB II Project. S/he will also work in close coordination with the implementing partners, project team members, LGD and UNDP.  S/he will be responsible for the followings duties:

• Gather knowledge about village courts, its functions, and AVCB II project by reviewing different document, literature and field visits; 
• Monitor village courts performance and prepare monitoring reports;
• Contribute to developing a concept note of different studies/research; 
• Develop and finalize data collection (both quantitative and qualitative) tools sharing with relevant stakeholders;
• Prepare field visit /data collection plan;
• Conduct field visit and collect data using both qualitative and quantitative methods;
• Data management and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data and produce draft reports;
• Documents the lessons learned of the project through field visits and studies;
• Keeping a record of all relevant research and relevant document.

Deliverables

• Detailed work plan for assignment period;
• Draft concept note/study design including rationale, sampling and methodology;
• Data collection plan/field visit plan;
• Questionnaire of the study;
• Database of the responses;
• Draft study report; 
• Monitoring/Field visit Report;
• Back to Office Report (BTOR).

Competencies

Competencies:

• Promotes UN’s values and ethical standards (tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation, impartiality);
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Management and Leadership:

• Work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills; 
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Provides inspiration and leadership to project staff as well as all the partners.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Capability to engage in team-based management, an experience of leading workshops and being a resource person;
• Ability to undertake results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to oversee timely project implementation and to provide the necessary troubleshooting to keep project implementation on schedule;
• Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development;
• Excellent communication skills (written and oral);
• Sensitivity to and responsiveness to all partners;
• Respectful and helpful relations with all UN/UNDP staff.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualification Requirements:

• Must have enrollment in postgraduate level in a university or equivalent or higher programme in Social science, Statistics, Economics, Law etc. and shall have outstanding academic credentials in the undergraduate level. Only those students who will return to their studies upon completion of their internship assignments are eligible. Letter of enrollment from the university will be requested from the selected applicants);
• Fluent over communicating in both English and Bangla in terms of writing and speaking;
• Good planning skills demonstrated through good time management, capacity to plan, and deliver tasks on time;
• Willingness to participate in all aspects of UNDP programme activities;
• Strong computer skills, particularly of MS Word, and e-mail applications;
• Should have own laptop.

Terms and conditions:

• Internship assignments are available on a full-time basis. Location of Internships may be offered at AVCBII project office or any UNDP Office at Dhaka;
• Intern will work with a view to gather substantive learning and professional development and will report to his/her supervisor to get constructive feedback regarding his or her performance;  
• This Internships are NON-PAID and a minimum of three months of commitment on behalf of the applicants is required, in return, UNDP commits to assign at least 1 staff member to act as a mentor to the intern and to ensure that interns are exposed to meaningful and adequately challenging professional tasks; 

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