Republic of Moldova

Part-time National Consultant/Legal expert to support the Ministry of Education in the implementation of the on-going reforms

Vacancy Number: Pr12/00205

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	08 Oct 2012, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	14 Oct 2012, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	31 Oct 2012
Reference to the project:	Transitional Capacity Support for the Public Administration of Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	up to 8,5 months
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted on-line or by email to vacancies-moldova@undp.org, no later than  08 October 2012. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: marin.eladi@undp.org and/or silvia.apostol@undp.org. Please notice that this address is for information requests only, please do not send or copy your application package to this address.   Please notice that, in line with TCS Project rules, which guard against subtracting capacity from the civil service, current civil servants are barred from applying for this position. The former civil servants are eligible to apply not earlier than in a year after the separation from civil service.
Supporting Documents: Termes of Reference Individual Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

The project “Transitional Capacity Support for the Public Administration of Moldova” was designed upon the request of the Government of Moldova to enhance capacities of the Moldovan Central Public Administration in order to accelerate the reform process and achieve Moldova’s short- and medium term development goals. The project seeks to address urgent short-term capacity needs of the public administration, through provision of Capacity building consultants (CBC), at a time when Moldovan central government institutions face serious financial and human resources gaps. In addition to helping the Government pursue critical reform priorities, the intervention is designed to catalyze the on-going implementation of central public administration reform. It is coordinated and managed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and State Chancellery of Moldova and will complement on-going work by other donors.
The Moldovan diaspora and non-governmental sector, including the private and civil society sectors, would be the main source for such consultants, who can be employed on an open competitive basis for a defined period. CBC would be engaged and their TORs defined in a way that would protect the integrity of the civil service work to strengthen its intrinsic capacity. The project needs to guard against subtracting capacity from the civil service. In most cases, the sub-projects will be composed of national consultants – professionals who provide advice, coaching, and skills that are not expected to be performed on a permanent basis by the civil service.

The Government Program “European Integration: Freedom, Democracy and Welfare" (2011-2014) envisages that the educational system of the country needs to be brought in line with the EU standards and requirements alongside three main pillars: pre-university education; higher education and research; and induction and continuous training of civil servants. In line with these strategic objectives, the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education),  the central authority of public administration charged with the development and implementation of the state policy in education, has the mission of developing and promoting the state policy in education in line with the international standards of social and economic development, developing education strategies, ensuring continuous modernization and alignment with the European education system, and providing access to education, research and professional development for all citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

The implementation of the reforms at the pre-school, elementary, secondary, upper secondary and tertiary levels, in line with the best practices in the region and the EU, involves a series of complex legal issues, including the evaluation, elaboration, and amendment of the existing legal framework. Acknowledging the complexity of the involved work, as well as the shortage of existing resources in this area, the Ministry of Education requests the support of an experienced legal advisor to assist with the elaboration of the respective legal documentation, in support of the educational reforms.

Scope of work

The main scope of this consultancy assignment is to provide legal advice to the Ministry of Education with the evaluation, elaboration, and amendment of the existing legal framework related to the implementation of the reforms in the education sector, in line with the the EU standards and the national norms on the legislative techniques.
In order to achieve these proposed objectives, the National Consultant will be responsible for:

•    Analysis of the existing Regulation regarding the organization and implementation of the selection procedure of director position;
•    Support in the elaboration of the Regulations regarding the transportation of pupils to and from the educational institutions;
•    Elaboration of recommendations regarding changes to the Regulations for the road transportation;
•    Legal screening of the cooperation agreements to be signed between the professional schools and the development partners in order to improve the vocational/technical level of education;
•    Undertaking other legal research and analyses related to the implementation of the education reforms, including reviewing relevant normative acts, documents and providing comments;
•    Drafting memoranda, internal legal opinions and other appropriate briefing documents;
•    Participating in the preparation and drafting of legal and normative acts related to the implementation of education reforms

Requirements for experience

I. Academic Qualifications:
•    University degree in law or related field; Master degree in the legal field will constitute an advantage;

II. Years of experience:
•    Minimum 3 years of experience in legal advisory field;

III. Competencies:
•    Experience in providing legal advice to Moldovan public institutions;   
•    Experience in drafting legal instruments (including bills, regulations etc.) and conducting multi-party stakeholder consultations;
•    Strong knowledge of the Moldovan Government setup and good knowledge of legislation and legal regulations on government operations (constitution, government law, civil service act, public procedural law);
•    Experience and knowledge of  European best practice knowledge on legislation with specific focus on acquis – communautaire would be an advantage;
•    Excellent communications, organizational and team working skills;
•    Proficiency in Romanian, English and Russian;
•    Computer proficiency, including knowledge of MS Office products (Word, Excel, Power Point).

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 requirements (please provide brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item);
2. Financial proposal;
3. Personal CV (or Personal History P11 Form) including past experience in similar projects and contact details (phone number and e-mail address) for at least 3 references;
4. Examples of written work (e.g. reports; documents; analysis etc).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall in USD and specify a total amount (including fees, taxes, mobile phone costs etc). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  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.  

 

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