UNODC Consultant – Project Specialist, Inception phase

Background

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is committed to achieving health, security and justice for all by tackling threats from illicit drugs, organized crime and terrorism worldwide. In South-Eastern Europe, the overarching strategic framework under which UNODC provides technical assistance is the UNODC Programme for South-Eastern Europe (RPSEE).

The RPSEE supports jurisdictions in South-Eastern Europe in achieving national and regional priorities on drugs, crime, corruption, terrorism, and criminal justice  based on an integrated approach that facilitates the region’s aspirations for European integration under the umbrella of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sub-Programme 3 of the Regional Programme focuses on priority actions in the area of anti-corruption and asset recovery, identified in cooperation with the governments in the region and through a dialogue with national, regional and international partners.

Within the framework of this Sub-Programme, UNODC has recently launched the project “Strengthening the Capacity and Coordination of Judiciary and Law Enforcement Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Effectively Address Corruption and Organized Crime”.  This project will engage the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Centers for Training of Judges and Prosecutors (JPTC), the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (APIK) and a range of other stakeholders to strengthen the capacity of criminal justice practitioners to detect, investigate, prosecute and adjudicate corruption and organized crime in BiH. The project will focus on building capacity and partnerships, strengthening the regulatory framework, sharing knowledge and learning from Italian and other best practices.

During the inception phase of the project, which is currently ongoing, the project’s implementation framework, including work plan, will be reviewed and finetuned. The consultant will provide technical support to the project team during this period.

Purpose of the assignment:

The purpose of the assignment is to support the successful completion of the inception phase of the project “Strengthening the Capacity and Coordination of Judiciary and Law Enforcement Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Effectively Address Corruption and Organized Crime”.

The consultant will establish working relations with key stakeholders, conduct consultations, and collect relevant data, including legislation, internal procedures, established administrative practices, statistics, and available reports, to assess the current state of play in relation to the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UNODC Regional Specialist, and in cooperation with the Deputy Regional Representative, the consultant will accomplish the following tasks to achieve the above-mentioned objectives:

• Thorough desk research and initial information gathering, to conduct the assesment of the current situation (including review of outputs of previous and current projects, existing legislation, internal procedures and practices, other relevant documents etc.).
• Draft an overview of the current state of play with respect to the project.
• Support the project team to identify all partners to be consulted and toconduct consultative meetings with all revenant stakeholders.
• Based on the desk research and consultations, fine tune the project workplan.
• Draft a final inception report with a detailed work plan for 6 months and indicative workplan for the rest of the project.
• Perform other duties as requested, for the successful completion of the inception phase.

Deliverables and Timeline:

Payments will be made upon satisfactory completion and/or submission of outputs/deliverables. Please note that last payment must coincide with the end of the contract and must be identical to payment phases in the engagement of consultant/IC request.

Indicators to evaluate the consultant’s performance 

All deliverables will have to be submitted electronically in English. All deliverables should meet the satisfaction of the supervisor-UNODC Regional Specialist according to the following indicators:

• quality of materials developed and drafted;
• technical competence;
• timely completion of assigned tasks.
• all deliverables should be drafted in English

Competencies

• Consistently ensures timeliness and quality of project work.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.
• Evidence of ability to express ideas clearly; to work independently and in teams.
• Ability to summarize and systematize complex information and identify priorities for follow up activities.
• Shares knowledge and experience.
• Focuses on results and responds positively to feedback.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling ethical standards.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in law, criminology or another related field, is required. A first level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;

Work experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in providing legal advice or technical assistance in corruption prevention and asset recovery.
• Previous experience in working with High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, law enforcement and prosecutorial services and/or on projects related to technical support to law enforcement and judiciary is highly desirable.

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Fluency in B/C/S.

• CV in English language containing date of birth, contact information (home address, phone number, e-mail) and timeline of work experience (including description of duties).
• Offeror’s Letter (PDF format) confirming Interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment (Table B: Breakdown of Costs by Deliverables). OL can be downloaded from the following link: . The Offeror’s Letter shall include financial proposal specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement with a breakdown of costs, including travel expenses.

Additional Information

Individual Contract (IC) will be applicable for individual consultants applying in their own capacity. 

Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be applicable for applicants employed by any legal entity. Template of RLA with General Terms and Conditions can be found on:

. In the case of engagement of Civil servants under IC contract modality a no-objection letter should be provided by the Government entity. The ‘no-objection’ letter must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status (if applicable) and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. If the previous is not applicable ‘leave-without-pay’ confirmation should be submitted.

Engagement of Government Officials and Employees

Government Officials or Employees are civil servants of UN Member States. As such, if they will be engaged by UNDP under an IC which they will be signing in their individual capacity (i.e., engagement is not done through RLA signed by their government employer), the following conditions must be met prior to the award of contract:

(i)    A “No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is received from the Government employing him/her, and;

(ii)   The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the IC.

The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises and well as other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities, whether or not the Government ownership is of majority or minority status.  

UNDP recognizes the possibility that there are situations when the Government entity employing the individual that UNDP wishes to engage is one that allows its employees to receive external short-term consultancy assignments (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.), whereby a status of “on-leave-without-pay” is not required. Under such circumstance, the individual entering into an IC with UNDP must still provide a “No-objection” letter from the Government employing him/her. The “no objection” letter required under (i) above must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. The said document may be obtained by, and put on record of, UNDP, in lieu of the document (ii) listed above.