Background

Background and rationale

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 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, most conflicts are settled by local institutions in charge of conflict resolution, including the family, the heads of district, the village chiefs and/or the tribal chiefs and, more recently, the Legal Aid Centers (CAJ). Especially in rural areas, traditional systems of customary law and practices still are very much present in communities. In fact, traditional norms, rather than the State law are applied in the majority of cases, hence customary systems are crucial for justice delivery in the country. In this sense, and as foreseen in the Justice Reform Programme (2015-2019), the development of a legal framework that contextualizes and recognizes traditional justice’s role – clarifying its scope of intervention - is of the utmost need.

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant, which will work with 2 national consultants, under the overall supervision of the UNDP’s Representative Resident, the technical supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser for Justice, and in close collaboration with the national stakeholders, is expected to perform the following activities:

• Review available documents/ national legislation, and consult with UNDP senior management, and rule of law and justice team members to better understand the context and objectives of this consultancy;
• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the existing international legislation on traditional justice, legal boundaries of traditional justice frameworks, etc.;
• Prepare and conduct interviews/discussions with key stakeholders in the justice sectors – Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Supreme High Court, Magistrates, Bar Association of Guinea-Bissau, Traditional and Religious leaders, civil society organizations, Tabanka’s Committees, local opinion-makers, etc. – both at central and regional level;
• Prepare a legal framework on traditional justice;
• Organize a workshop to present and validate the legal framework proposal with relevant stakeholders;
• Finalize the draft law with inputs coming from the workshop;
• Propose adequate follow-up initiatives;
• Etc.

Competencies

Consultant Profile

• 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 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, human rights or similar areas.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of proven experience working in/with the justice system;
• Demonstrable experience in drafting bills, laws and revising legal Codes;
• Strong knowledge and experience on the challenges and relationships between the traditional and formal justice systems and its legal boundaries;
• Acquaintance and involvement with development programs/projects/activities, especially with UNDP is desirable;
• Knowledge and demonstrable experience in the field of rule of law, human rights, access to justice and gender issues; including with UNDP is considered an asset;
• Demonstrable experience in developing countries; Knowledge of Guinea-Bissau’s social context and/or rule of law and justice sector is strongly desirable;
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages as well as web-based management systems.

Language:

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

Guidelines for 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.

For terms of reference please go to: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=52602