Background

Guinea-Bissau has been in a vicious cycle of political instability since its independence, which primarily stems from a series of intertwined causes, including lack of access to justice and impunity. Despite the consecration of fundamental political, civil, economic and social rights by the Constitution, laws are barely implemented or enforced, resulting in limited and inequitable access to quality justice services for the population and an overall decline in confidence in the modern state system of justice institutions.

The State is unable to fulfil its mission to guarantee justice and security throughout the territory, particularly in rural areas and especially for women and children/youth. Since the independence, there has been a coexistence of both the formal justice system, based on the official law inherited from the colonizers, and forms of traditional justice system, based on customary law - which was recognized during the colonial period. The Formal Justice System is costly, slow and still widely discredited by the public, being viewed by many as manipulated and corrupt, serving only the needs and interests of the most powerful.

As a result, and for historical and cultural reasons, a large part of the population uses Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism. Most conflicts are settled by local institutions in charge of solving conflicts, including the family, the heads of district, the village chief and/or the tribal chiefs. Especially in rural areas, traditional systems of customary law and practices are still very much present in communities. In fact, traditional norms, rather than state law, are applied in the majority of cases and is often the only functioning justice mechanism to which people have access and rely on in many localities. For this reason, the customary systems are crucial for justice delivery in Guinea-Bissau, but they often issue decisions that are in violation of regional and international human rights norms and are discriminatory against vulnerable groups, namely women and children.

Aware of its limitations and need to preserve social peace while strengthening the rule of law, national authorities have drawn up a National Program for the Justice Reform (2015-2019), focusing on a strategy aimed at the in-depth transformation of the justice sector. Among other aspects, this program provides for the strengthening and legal recognition of ADR mechanisms to facilitate the population's access to justice. Henceforth United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is providing support to the implementation of the Justice Reform through a PBF (United Nations Peacebuilding Fund) funded project, focusing on ADR and Restorative Justice (RJ). In this context UNDP aims to mobilize technical expertise to elaborate the ADR/RJ draft law.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the assignment

The objective of this assignment is the elaboration of the ADR/RJ draft law.

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant, in partnership with a local expert, under the general supervision of UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and the technical supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser for Justice, is expected to perform the following activities:

• Review available documents/ laws to better understand the project, the context and objectives of this consultancy;
• Legal review of the ongoing legislation – both international and Bissau-Guinean - in terms of conflict resolution instruments: ADR and RJ;
• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing draft law proposals in Guinea-Bissau in terms of ADR;
• Prepare and conduct interviews/discussions with key justice sectors stakeholders – Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Magistrates, Lawyers, the Bissau-Guinean Bar Association, CAJ’s technicians, etc. – both at central and regional level;
• Prepare an all-inclusive draft law on ADR/RJ;
• Organize a workshop to present and validate the draft law proposal and gather inputs for its finalization with relevant stakeholders;
• Final draft law;
• Propose adequate follow-up initiatives;
• Etc.

Deliverables

The following products are expected:

• A concept note – with a clear methodology and timeline proposal;
• An ADR/RJ Draft Law;
• Organize and conduct a validation workshop;
• A final version of the draft law, including the validation workshop’s inputs;
• A final report.

Duration of the assignment

The assignment should be conducted within one month – 25 working days.

Competencies

• Strong analytical and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products;
• Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of the task at stake and knowledge on the management field;
• Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs;
• Ability to focus on impact and results for the client, promoting and demonstrating an ethic of client service;
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs;
• Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly;
• Strong presentation skills in meetings with the ability to adapt for different audiences;
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Strong capacity to communicate clearly and in a concise manner;
• Strong inter-personal, negotiation and liaison skills;
• Excellent writing, research, analysis and presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• At least a master’s degree in law.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of proven experience working with/in the justice system;
• Strong experience in drafting/reviewing laws and legal codes;
• Strong and specific knowledge on ADR and RJ legislation at the international level;
• Strong knowledge and experience on the challenges and relationships between the traditional and formal justice systems;
• Knowledge and demonstrable experience in the rule of law field and access to justice, including cross-cutting issues such as human rights, gender and capacity development; and rights-based approaches is considered an asset;
• Demonstrable experience in developing countries; Knowledge of Guinea-Bissau’s general country context is desirable;
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages as well as web-based management systems.

Language:

• Proficiency in Portuguese is Mandatory;
• Proficient spoken and written French and/or English is considered an asset.

Guidelines for the application:

Required documents:

• A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the tasks, describing the tools and workplan proposed for this assignment;
• A financial proposal;
• A personal CV including past experiences in similar projects and at least 3 professional references.

Lump sum contracts: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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 points;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Evaluation criteria:

• Education background - 10 points;
• Experience as defined in the ToR - 20 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR - 10 points;
• Understating of the ToR - 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach - 25 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) - 20 points.