Republic of Moldova

International Consultant on review of legislation and policies and mainstreaming the Human Rights Based Approach

Vacancy Number: Pr15/01026

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	22 Jul 2015, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	06 Aug 2015
Reference to the project:	Supporting National Human Rights Institutions as per International Treaty Bodies and UPR Recommendations
Expected Duration of Assignment:	August 2015 – December 2015 (up to 40 working days)
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button or at https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=58000 no later than 23:59, 22 July 2015. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: natalia.voronova@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference (ToR) Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

The Republic of Moldova is a State-Party to the majority UN and CoE human rights treaties. The National Human Rights Action Plan for 2011-2014 contains commitments to protect and advance specific human rights taking into account the recommendations of the UN treaty bodies and a number of UPR recommendations. Related priorities and commitments are established under the UN-Moldova Partnership Framework (UNPF) 2013-2017. Reform of the National Human Rights Institutions is prioritized at the highest level of government. The Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office are the two major national human rights institutions in the Republic of Moldova (RM) working specifically on the issues of equality, non-discrimination and human rights protection and promotion.

In May 2012, the Parliament of the RM passed the Law on Ensuring Equality, stipulating the establishment of the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (Equality Council) to ensure protection against discrimination and ensure equality of all persons who consider themselves to be victims of discrimination, as well as revise individual complaints and deliver decisions on them. As a newly established institution, the Council is in need of institutional strengthening and capacity building in human rights, equality, case management, as well as maximization of its impact on human rights and diversity.

In April 2014, the Parliament of the RM passed a new Law on the Peoples Advocate (Ombudsperson). As a result of a number of institutional weaknesses, the Ombudsperson Office remains insufficiently known among the public-at-large, and not sufficiently powerful to act as Moldova’s main human rights institution. Therefore it is in need of institutional capacity building and mainstreaming of human rights based approach into its work, as well as support towards maximization of its impact on human rights and diversity.

The overall objective of the project “Supporting National Human Rights Institutions as per International Treaty Bodies and UPR Recommendations”is to contribute to the effective protection and promotion of human rights, equality and non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova with particular attention to women, minorities, marginalised and vulnerable groups. The project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, co-funded and implemented by the UNDP Moldova and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with the Ombudsperson Office and Equality Council.

Scope of work

The scope of the work of the International Consultant will consist in providing expertise in relation to the analysis of sectorial policies and legislation of the RM as to ensure their compliance with human rights and equality principles and further elaborating proposals for mainstreaming the human rights based approach, as well as ensuring follow-up training on these methodologies of the relevant staff members of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office.

In order to achieve the objective the International Consultant shall:

• Work closely with the relevant staff of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office to identify their specific needs in developing the “Methodology for reviewing already existing and newly proposed sectorial policies, strategies and legislation to ensure their compliance with human rights, equality and diversity principles and further human rights mainstreaming” (from hereinafter Methodology):
• Draft a clear, accessible and usable Methodology, in consultation with the relevant staff of the Equality Council, Ombudsperson Office and other involved authorities, if necessary;
• Contribute to the elaboration of relevant methodologies and/or guidelines regarding the compliance with human rights, equality and diversity principles and further human rights mainstreaming within sectorial policies and strategies drafted by other public institutions;
• Prepare, organize and lead one hands-on, interactive training on the use of the Methodology for relevant Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office staff;
• Provide support to relevant staff of the Equality Council and Ombudsperson Office on applying the Methodology for review of already existing and newly proposed policies and laws;
• Where necessary, hold consultation meetings with relevant governmental bodies and stakeholders;
• Work closely with the National Consultant contracted for the purposes of the assignment;
• Where relevant, work closely with other Consultants contracted within the project;
• Develop and provide activity reports and other narrative progress reports as specified in the deliverables for the assignment;
• Undertake other related tasks for the purposes of the assignment.

 For detailed information, please, refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights, Public Law or other relevant field;

Years and sphere of experience:

• At least 7 years of proven professional experience in analysis of policies, strategies and legislation in line with the International Human Rights standards in the CEE and CIS region;

Competencies:

• Demonstrable knowledge of the Human Rights Based Approach and its application in legislation, policies and practices;
• Demonstrable extensive knowledge of legislation and policy drafting/preparation processes in the Republic of Moldova is an asset;
• Working experience or academic knowledge of National Human Rights Institutions is an asset;
• Demonstrable experience preparing and carrying out trainings and/or capacity building activities;
• Effective communication and strong analytical skills;
• Fluent knowledge of English for the purposes of the assignment;
• Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.

 Personal qualities:

• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting  differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
• Responsibility;
• Punctuality;
• Attention to detail.

The UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information in English to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Cover letter:

• Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work, including a list of assignments and/or analytical documents, reports, methodologies, presentations, capacity building activities, or other task related documents the applicant has elaborated or contributed to;
• Providing a brief methodology (max. 3 pages) on how they will approach and conduct the work.

2. Financial proposal as a lump sum in US Dollars, preferably split per each deliverable (which includes the fee, and all travel costs for mission to Moldova). For detailed information on travel requirements, please, refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference;

3. Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form/P11) including records of past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained, including names and contact details of 3 reference persons. 

Financial proposal

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 instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the Terms of Reference. 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).

Payment will be made based on achieved deliverables, including a final report submitted to the UNDP Moldova Justice and Human Rights Programme Analyst.  

Travel

All envisaged travel costs (e.g., tickets, accommodation, meals, other relevant expenses) 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 IC 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.

 

Disclaimer In case of discrepancies between the text published on the website and the contents of the supporting documents, the provisions, instructions and conditions included in the supporting documents (published as Adobe Portable Document Format files) shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the English version and the Romanian and/or Russian versions of text, documents or other content published on this webpage, the English version shall prevail.

Notice UNDP, as a matter of practice, does not charge any application, processing or training fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions as to vacancy announcements you may have received, please refer to this website. UNDP is currently aware of fictitious vacancy announcements that are being circulated through the internet, the purpose of which is to get people to register for a training and send in a fee. If you believe that you have received such a notice, please forward it, and any other related information you have received, to scamalert@undp.org. Since logos, emblems, names and addresses can be easily copied or reproduced, you are advised to take particular care in applying for vacancies, including undertaking all appropriate measures to protect against the unauthorised use of any personal information you may have provided as a result of the scam.