TCND-Legal advisor and support

While the NID programis in the process of procuring and developing a national digital ID system, Ethiopia currently lacks the enabling laws and regulations to support an effective, robust, inclusive and well-governed national ID system. Accordingly, the program office is now procuring the services of the advisor or a consortium of Advisor (Consultant) to support the program in the preparation of the supporting legal framework based on international best practice for the Digital ID System to conduct public stakeholder consultations with both the public and private sectors and generally undertake the tasks and provide the deliverables contemplated in these Terms of Reference (ToRs).

Addis Ababa

The Consultancy is for a period of 6 months starting from the date of the signature of the contract.

1. Background
The National Identity (NID) Initiative
The Government of Ethiopia is implementing a digital National ID Program (NIDP) initiative focused on rolling out an identification system that is aligned with international best practices, including the Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development.

Led by the National ID Program and supported by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT), NID is a five-year program (2021 – 2026) set to introduce a new nation-wide foundational digital ID that will gradually serve all Identity use-cases in the nation — to offer an inclusive, residence-based and digital identification system, and ultimately support Ethiopia’s digital transformation agenda. The NID initiative will be implemented in various phases, including an initial pilot period, to enable lessons learned and technical iterations prior to a scale-up and nation-wide roll-out throughout Ethiopia. The pilot phase will be complete in the first quarter of 2022, after which transition to the main country roll-out will take place. Technology-wise, an Ethiopian custom-version of the Modular Open-Source Identification Platform (MOSIP) will be used as the ID Management System.


Duties and responsibilities:
Under the direct supervision and Coordination of digital center of excellence, Chief of technology and Innovation Section the consultant will assume the following duties and responsibilities
1. Prepare initial draft versions of the required legislations proclamations, directives and regulations, reflecting best practice, including without limitation, (a) finalize a draft ID enabling law in both English and Amharic languages and (b) ensure the law is compatible with other existing and draft laws such as Personal Data Protection. (c) Provide legal analysis of all relevant aspects of identity laws, regulations and a wide range of multi-discipline and legal matters that may arise by benchmarking international practice.
2. Support NID program to conduct public consultations with government and non-governmental stakeholders in Ethiopia and on-line on the draft laws and other legal outreaches.
3. Based on the comments received from the public institutions and inputs from public consultation, prepare a final draft version of the laws in both English and Amharic language; and
4. Embed one full-time legal advisor who will be responsible for legal communications between stakeholders and the NIDP program team, join meetings, draft MoUs and contracts, review international and local procurement documents and advise on the process as well as handling the program’s other legal responsibilities. Duties may include preparing contracts and documentation (Draft and review MoUs and other legal documents, agreements, contracts and attend court hearings) and providing a variety of legal support.
5. Work together with an international legal advisor (provided by NID Program) to ensure that any proposed legislation remains compatible with, and is informed by the international context. The consultant should also familiarize themselves with the Project, the Policy, the outputs of other consultants (including, without limitation, the gap analysis already produced) , the current legal and regulatory framework, the views of major stakeholders and conduct such other necessary due diligence with respect to the elaboration of the supporting legal framework for digital ID;
6. Liaise with non-governmental organizations, including civil society organizations (CSOs) and international development partners for appropriate legal matters and inputs pertinent to NID.
7. Facilitate legal related workshops, meetings, and other logistical issues specific to legal activities.
8. Develop, as requested, technical briefing papers and presentations on key legal issues.
9. Review legal briefs, arguments, evidence and present to senior management.
10. Represent the NID Program in court and other institutions that have judicial nature.
11. Draft and produce regular progress reports and event-based reports as requested

Academic Qualifications: Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in legal aspects of digital identification, e-commerce, digital authentication, cyber-security, data protection, access to information or other relevant area is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience: A minimum of 12 years of experience in legal aspects of digital identification, e-commerce, digital authentication, cyber-security, data protection, access to information, and related issues is required.
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.