Vacancy: OHCHR - Team of one International and one National Consultants to conduct a legal analysis on the decisions issued by the Equality Council and by the domestic courts on discrimination cases, UNDP Moldova

OHCHR - Team of one International and one National Consultants to conduct a legal analysis on the decisions issued by the Equality Council and by the domestic courts on discrimination cases

Vacancy Number: Pr16/01260

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	07 Apr 2016, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	14 Apr 2016, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	18 Apr 2016
Reference to the project:	Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Expected Duration of Assignment:	18 April – 15 June 2016
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online only, by following the “Apply online” button or at http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=65060, no later than 07 April 2016. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: elena.darii@one.un.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: Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Terms of reference Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) represents the world's commitment to universal ideals of human dignity. It has a unique mandate from the international community to promote and protect all human rights.

Since July 2008 OHCHR has deployed a Human Rights Adviser to support the work of the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UN RC) in the Republic of Moldova, in September 2015 replaced by a National Human Rights Coordinator. OHCHR in Moldova led by the National Human Rights Coordinator supports and advises the UN RC Office, United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Moldova, Government, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), civil society and community groups in strengthening human rights and human rights based approach to development.

During 2015-2016 the OHCHR office in Moldova in full cooperation with UNDP Moldova are implementing the joint project “Supporting National Human Rights Institutions as per International Treaty Bodies and UPR Recommendations”, with the financial support of the Norwegian Government. The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the effective protection and promotion of human rights, equality and non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova. The project seeks to catalyze the emergence of the strongest possible independent national human rights institutions for Moldova – the Ombudsperson Office and the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (hereby referred as Equality Council) – and to increase their focus around core strategic human rights goals to maximize their impact.

Scope of work

The team of experts composed of 1 (one) International Consultant and 1 (one) National Consultant shall work under the direct guidance of OHCHR/UNDP Project Managers and Equality Council responsible staff and to perform the following tasks:

Draft and submit for approval the methodology for the analysis of the 2 components: (i) analysis of the decisions of the Equality Council and (ii) analysis of court decisions on discrimination cases;
Conduct consultations with the Equality Council and, depending on the case, other relevant actors, regarding the procedure and decisions issued by the Equality Council and by the courts on discrimination cases, in order to collect information from primary sources relevant for the analysis;
In consultation with the Equality Council and OHCHR/UNDP, select a relevant set of decisions (issued by the Equality Councils and domestic courts on discrimination cases) for further analysis;
Conduct the analysis guided by the two components, as specified above, and provide concrete and usable recommendations for further improvement of the regulatory framework and the practice of the Equality Council and domestic courts within the framework of the complaints mechanism on discrimination issue;
Discuss the first and final drafts of the analysis with the Equality Council and OHCHR /UNDP and make the necessary adjustments;
Discuss the findings and recommendations with other relevant actors identified by the consultants together with the Equality Council and OHCHR/UNDP.

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

Requirements for experience

The International and National Consultants must possess the following minimum qualifications:

International Consultant:

Academic Qualifications:
- Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights or other relevant field;
Years and sphere of experience:
- At least 5 years of proven professional experience in legal research and analysis pertaining to non-discrimination legislation, human rights and equality or other human rights relevant field, including experience in the CEE/CIS region;
Competencies:

Proven experience and knowledge of non-discrimination and equality principles, including research, analysis and drafting analytical reports in the area of equality and non-discrimination;
Knowledge and experience working with National Human Rights Institutions, especially non-discrimination bodies with a similar mandate to Equality Council in Moldova;
Experience/knowledge of processes of issuing decisions within a National Human Rights Institution with a complaint mechanism is a strong advantage;
Knowledge of non-discrimination legislation and international human rights commitments of the Republic of Moldova is an asset;
Effective communication, strong analytical and reporting skills;
Knowledge of English, both written and spoken, for the purposes of the assignment. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is a strong 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.

UN in 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 legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

National Consultant:

Academic Qualifications:
- Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Law, Public Administration, Human Rights or other relevant field;
Years and sphere of experience:
- At least 2 years of proven professional experience in legal research and analysis pertaining to non-discrimination legislation, human rights and equality or other relevant human rights field;
Competencies:

Proven experience and knowledge of non-discrimination and equality principles, including research, analysis and drafting analytical reports in the area of equality and non-discrimination;
Knowledge of non-discrimination legislation and international human rights commitments of the Republic of Moldova;
Knowledge and experience working with/on National Human Rights Institutions, especially Equality Council in Moldova, would be a strong advantage;
Knowledge/experience of issuing the decisions processes within the Equality Council and the domestic courts;
Effective communication, strong analytical and reporting skills;
Knowledge of English and Romanian, both written and spoken, for the purposes of the assignment. Knowledge of Russian is an advantage.

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.

Documents to be included

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

1. Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including past experience in similar projects and provide a brief methodology on how they plan to approach the analysis (maximum 1, 5 page);

2. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc. );

3. Duly completed and signed P11 Form, and at least 3 contacts for references.

Financial proposal

Each candidate will be required to submit an aggregated financial offer (“aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of the task), which includes proposed consultancy fee, travel costs, visa costs (if required), per diem (for accommodation, meals and local transport / communication. The consultant will be provided with the necessary administrative and logistical support to enable them deliver on the expected outputs.

Payment will be disbursed in one installment upon submission and approval of all deliverables and certification by the OHCHR Program Coordinator that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

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 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.

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