Background

The Maldives as a young democracy has witnessed positive reforms and remarkable progress in democratic governance, rule of law and human rights. While these are a positive indication of the nation’s economic growth and development journey, it still has a long way to go as the nation continues to face various socio-economic and governance-related challenges.

The country remains in its formative stages with regard to effective and inclusive governance institutions and processes, consolidation of the rule of law and access to justice. While the need for capacity building of governance institutions is certain, lack of public awareness about the constitution and the role of judiciary further adds to the complexity of the situation.   Any reform - democratic, judicial or legal will be most effective when combined with efforts to increase public awareness and knowledge on rights of individual as well as responsibilities of institutions formed under the constitution towards the citizens. An informed civil society is integral to allow for a participatory decision-making process, a key tenant in democratic governance.

UNDP through its Integrated Governance Programme (IGP) continues to support work towards strengthening justice sector, legal framework and capacity building of governance institutions alongside efforts to promote access to justice and an empowered civil society. There is a strong need to continue targeted efforts to promote civil society engagement and fully realize the powers of citizens as defined by the constitution.

To this end, UNDP in collaboration with the Attorney’s General Office is seeking the support of a local consultant to develop initial written content for a public awareness campaign on the constitution and role of the Justice Sector.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the AGO and UNDP, the consultant is expected to develop content for an awareness campaign, including information on constitution, constitutional rights, roles of the justice sector including the judiciary. The tasks to be undertaken by the consultant under the Terms of Reference include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following; 

1. Conduct a desk review of existing legal framework, relevant legislations/regulations, relevant assessments, consultation reports, and practices in the country and submit an inception report including outlines for the proposed advocacy content and methodology to be adopted in line with international norms, standards and best practices;
2. Participate in consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders including but not limited to the judiciary (Department of Judicial Administration JSC), Prosecutor General’s Office, Bar Council of Maldives and civil society organizations;
3. Based on the consultation meetings, policy directives from AGO and UNDP and based on the inception report, submit the first draft of the content to be developed;
4. Conduct consultation meetings with relevant CSOs to discuss and refine content;
5. Revise the content based on comments received from stakeholders;
6. Conduct a final consultation meeting for the content with relevant stakeholders;
7. In collaboration with AGO and UNDP, identify ways forward on the implementation of the advocacy campaign including mitigation measures for any challenges we may encounter.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

All documents shall be submitted as stipulated below and all documents will be submitted as drafts and upon review by the AGO and UNDP, the consultant shall revise the draft documents. Once, the revised documents are accepted by the AGO and UNDP, they will be termed as final documents for the consultancy.

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables;

• Inception Report: The inception report should be based on the desk review of relevant literature, existing legal framework and relevant legislations/regulations and practices in the country. It should also include outlines for the proposed advocacy content and methodology to be adopted in line with international norms, standards and best practices. A final inception report is to be submitted based on stakeholder consultation meetings and comments from AGO and UNDP.
• Advocacy Content: The first draft of the content should include identified key messages and guidance notes for the creative consultants who are to design the content. The first draft of content is to be submitted based on the consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders, relevant legislations and regulations, policy directives from AGO and UNDP and based on the inception report.
  • The final draft of the content should reflect all suggestions and comments received from AGO, UNDP and relevant stakeholders. All content should be validated through a final consultation meeting.
• Rollout plan: The plan should cover implementation of the advocacy campaign including a detailed dissemination plan and mitigation measures for any challenges we may encounter.
• Final Report:  The final report should highlight the progress, challenges, lessons learned and proposed way forward.

The following table shows an indication of the duration for the deliverables:

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant is expected to work with the AGO and UNDP. The consultant will be accountable to the Programme Officer of IGP, for each deliverable as stipulated in the proposal. Meetings will be held with the AGO and UNDP as required. A briefing and debriefing meeting will be organized with UNDP management at the beginning and end of the assignment.

Duration of the Work

This assignment will approximately take 5 - 6 weeks (37 working days) and is expected to start in February 2021. The consultant should come up with a clear timeline while submitting the proposal taking into consideration the estimated time durations for each deliverable as stipulated above.

Duty Station: Home-based

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to conduct research and analysis and strong synthesis skills
• Builds strong relationships with stakeholders, focuses on impact and result for the stakeholders and responds positively to critical feedback; consensus-oriented
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Regional and National Knowledge is highly desirable
• Ability to write reports particularly for International Funded project
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in development studies, law, gender studies or relevant discipline. 

Experience 

• A minimum of 2 years of experience working in the justice sector or development sector
• A minimum of 2 years of experience in developing public awareness content with proven experience in developing content on the same thematic areas.
• Should have substantive knowledge and experience in constitutional rights and role of the justice sector with diverse expertise in social sciences. 
• Demonstrated ability of timely completion of assignments.

Language requirement

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Dhivehi is required

Application process

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A letter indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy
• Submission of an updated detailed Personal CV or P11 form which can be downloaded from  http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc. The CV must capture all past experience from similar projects.
• Details of similar work/proof of work undertaken by the consultant
• At least three to three references from recent previous jobs and three references contact details including phone number and email
• Financial proposal indicating Daily consultancy fee in Maldivian Rufiyaa.

Note: Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into one single file.