I. Position Information
Job Title:Project Officer, Access to Justice Project Duty Station: Hargeisa, Somalia Reports to: Project Manager, Access to Justice Contract Type: Service Contract Level/Grade: SC5/III
II. Organizational Context
UNDP Somalia’s Programme is strongly focused on post conflict recovery and consolidation of peace. It is composed of three main Programme portfolios: (i) Rule of Law and Security (ROLS); (ii) Governance and (iii) Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Livelihoods (PRSL)
The ROLS Programme has three main components: Access to Justice, Civilian Police and Armed Violence Reduction. The overall goal is to strengthen rule of law and security through the creation and development of a competent police and judiciary, bolstered by security initiatives to reduce armed violence. With regards to rule of law, the Programme will continue its focus on matched progress in civilian police, access to justice and armed violence reduction. Integral to this strategy is the recognition that when progress is lacking in one of these areas it has a detrimental effect on the sustainability of achievements in the others.
Over the past several years, the Access to Justice component has strengthened institutions through training and infrastructure rehabilitation. These initiatives were complemented by an approach which included legal empowerment and confidence-building of the Somali public, including legal clinics, legal aid, translation and awareness raising at community levels.
The Access to Justice component will place greater emphasis on access to justice for poor and vulnerable groups particularly women, children, minorities and IDPs, utilizing past experiences to engage and support traditional justice mechanisms, in addition to support for legal aid and legal clinic services. There is also strong potential to integrate better the three sources of Somali law: customary law, Shari’ a and secular law with support from ROLS. The Project will prioritize initiatives that support the prevention and prosecution of sexual and gender based violence cases; and strengthening of institutions and civil society to monitor the situation of human rights in the country and make recommendations to address such issues.
Under the overall supervision of the UNDP Head of Sub Office and the direct technical guidance of the Access to Justice Project Manager, the project officer will be tasked with supervision of Access to Justice initiatives in Somaliland. He/she will oversee implementation of activities in Work-plans agreed with counterparts and may be called upon to assist in supporting other projects in the Rule of Law and Security Programme. The incumbent will support ongoing UNDP ROLS Access to Justice initiatives in Somaliland, and carry out activities related to the implementation of strategies to strengthen access to justice and training of law professionals. The incumbent will be responsible for supervision of National Access to Justice Staff. He/she will also support national planning processes, national capacities and project formulation. The Incumbent will be expected to work with UNDP Partners to ensure issues relating to gender, juveniles, IDPs and vulnerable groups are mainstreamed into all legal aid programmes.
The Project officer supervises and leads project support staff and coordinates activities of the projects’ staff in Somaliland. The Project officer works in close collaboration with the sub-office operations and project teams, programme staff in other UN Agencies at the sub-office level; Government officials, technical advisors and experts and civil society ensuring successful UNDP programme implementation. The Project Officer will work in close collaboration with the Access to Justice Team at headquarters. III. Functions / Key Results Expected Summary of Key Functions
- Management and Coordination of Access to Justice Activities
- Provision of Technical support for implementation of Projects
- Support Project Coordination
- Support Knowledge Building and Management
Knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the
Provide effective project management support at field level in line with the Access to Justice project objectives by focusing on the achievement of the following results:
• Provide direction in full collaboration with the Project Manager to project staff at the field level based on the policies and strategies of the project and make recommendation to project management on ways to increase project impact; • Manage agreements signed by UNDP and the civil society/partner NGOs; • Support the recruitment, evaluation and capacity building of project staff; • Ensure cohesion, coordination and appropriate sequencing of activities and interventions through the development of a consolidate team work plan; • Support project staff and coordinate their activities to attain the objectives of the project work-plan, monitor and report progress through weekly coordination meeting with project staff; • Implement the monitoring and evaluation framework, support the development of indicators and data collection, coordinate the analysis of project outputs and work with the team to develop and recommend corrective actions; • Support project staff to identify areas of collaboration and synergies between the project and other sectors of activities within UNDP, with the UN agencies, NGOs and government programmes and projects; • Support the implementation of the communication strategy for the project; • Encourage and promote active and full participation of local stakeholders in the project in order to promote ownership and empowerment; • Promotes identification and submit to management synthesis of best practices and lessons learned from the project for organizational sharing and learning; • Ensuring that programme resources are used in a balanced way (according to approved work plans) that confirms the application of the Human Rights Based approach and contributes to peace building; and • Maintaining regular contact with the UNDP Project Management (in Nairobi) for information sharing and problem solving. This includes undertaking regular monitoring visits to project sites, ensuring project documents are in compliance with UNDP policies and procedures and reporting on Project progress and constraints; • Prepare quarterly reports including achievement in each outcomes, challenges, corrective actions, lessons learned, partnership and coordination, operations.
- Provides effective management and coordination to the access to justice project, focusing on the achievement of the following results:
• Provision of technical advice and support to UNDP-supported partners and establishment of additional initiatives in prioritized regions of Somaliland; • Provision of technical advice and support to access to justice project activities, including long term legal education, mobile courts, judicial monitoring inspection scheme, legal aid, engagement with traditional leaders to enhance access to justice for vulnerable groups; monitoring of existing agreements; identification of capacity building initiatives to better support & building linkages with Government, UN, Civil Society and Community Actors; • Ensures effective implementation of of Court Reform Initiatives and Mobile Court Activities together with Roll Out of Court and Legal Reform Activities in Somaliland including technical advice, capacity building as well as administrative, financial and logistical support; • Technical advice and support to Initiatives UNDP is undertaking with respect to sensitizing customary/traditional mechanisms to basic human rights and gender • Provides input to initiatives to increase the quality of legal education in Somaliland as well as access to education for Women and Minorities. • Provides substantive support the Ministry of Justice and Justice Actors in implementation of a 3-5 year national justice strategy
Provide technical support for the implementation of projects to increase access to justice, including: • Develop indicators for measuring improvements in access to justice, case and court management at the output and outcome level. • ensures proper monitoring and evaluation, including of rehabilitation initiatives at prioritized judicial infrastructure; • Undertake regular monitoring visits to project sites and reporting on project progress and constraints; • Ensures proper management of budgets and ensures strict application of UNDP rules and regulations • Ensures project level coordination including work-planning, monitoring and reporting against work-plans and relations with counterparts; • ensures effective provision of services to counterparts; • Liaising with the Project support unit on financial management of the project activities; • Ensure projects are coordinated with Civilian Police and Armed Violence Reduction as well as initiatives undertaken by the UNDP Governance and Livelihoods Programmes. • Provision of technical advice to key justice actors and UNDP implementing partners to efficiently implement UNDP-supported initiatives
Ensure administration and financial management support to the Access to Justice project and partnership agreements by focusing on achievement of the following results:
• Consolidate budget based on the project work-plan; • Consolidate and organize, in collaboration with Operations Unit, Expression of Interest (EOI) and other procurement processes on behalf of the project, analyze partners applications and recommend partnership in accordance with UNDP processes; • Oversees partnership arrangements with local partners; • Provide leadership in oversight of effective provision of services to counterparts including fair and transparent procurement, efficient logistics and sound financial management; • Liaise with operations staff in sub-office and project administration assistant in Nairobi on all operational matters and financial expenditures and transactions; • Ensure strict and consistent application of UNDP rules and regulations.
- Ensures provision of knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following results: • Promotes identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned from the project for organizational sharing and learning. • Ensure team work and effective coordination and knowledge sharing IV. Impact of Results The Team Leader supports knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following outputs: • Consolidated work-plan per outcome including budget; • Learning work plan established and executed for individual team members and the team; • Timely submission of quarterly report; • Established database on approved partner agencies; • Established positive image of the project. V. Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability • Treats all people fairly without favoritism
Functional Competencies: Knowledge Management and Learning
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
Development and Operational Effectiveness
• Ability to organize and coordinate results-oriented strategic and thematic evaluations. Knowledge and understanding of evaluation and development evaluation in particular. • Good knowledge of current development issues particularly those pertinent to UNDP’s Practice Areas. Ability to conceptualize issues and analyze data. • Good technical skills in measurement and evaluation, including grasp of methodological and operational dimensions and the ability to link corporate and country level issues. • Ability to coordinate the work of the team. • Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit
Management and Leadership
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities • Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills • Sound understating and experience of working in Arab and/or African contexts and of building trust with national counterparts.
VI. Recruitment Qualifications
Education: • Masters Degree or equivalent in law or related field with 5 years of experience.
• A first level university degree with a combination of relevant academic qualifications and 7 years’ experience in law may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience: • Minimum of 5 years with an advanced degree or 7 years professional with a first level university degree experience in the Justice Sector or related field, preferably a qualified lawyer; • Knowledge of the Somalia Justice System is a requirement. • Previous experience working in the UN or International NGO is preferred; • Experience working in legal aid is desirable but not a requirement; • Experience in project management with proven ability for leadership is desirable; • Experience with informal justice and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms is desirable • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (Ms. Word, Excel, etc) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (Ms. Word, Excel, etc) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages
Language Requirements: • Fluency in English and Somali required.
“Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit electronic application by visiting http://jobs.undp.org/.
No comments: