Consultant – Developing Information Material Legal Aid (UNODC) – Sri Lankans only

There is a need for protection and resilience building of the civil society in Sri Lanka within a rapidly shrinking operating space. The project targets especially women grassroots organisations and human rights defenders at the forefront of conflict prevention with the help of government allies. It intends to do so through an integrated support programme platform contributing to address their protection, financial, legal, skills and creative concerns to increase their capacity to pursue their work by improving their coping and resilience mechanisms by providing increased knowledge and capacities among women to take leadership and protect rights of vulnerable and marginalized; increased CBOs involvement within their communities to understand access to justice opportunities to protect rights of women and marginalized communities; and improving the capacity of state authority, legal aid providers and CBOs to provide assistance to vulnerable and marginalized victims and witnesses.

The key problem is identified as lack of capacity of actors working at grass root level to support and provide legal aid and access to justice and protection for various rights violations and conflict escalation. Through the planned activities, UNODC is directly addressing (1) issues related to access to justice by grass root level organizations specially women led organizations and (2) various protection aspects of victims and witnesses of crime and how they should be provided with rights based approach to voice their status in addition to providing them necessary protection space.

This project aims to take an innovative integrated approach to conflict mitigation by addressing the civil society’s capacity, performance and compliance as a vehicle to enable their sustainability and self-resilience, which will contribute to their protection and sustainability during challenging times. The approach which consists in establishing a support platform led by the UN through UNODC implementing directly services dedicated to and for the civil society actors – as opposed to the traditional schema of the civil society implementing for the UN – is a new area of intervention in Sri  Lanka, particularly when working for and with women led groups, networks and human rights defenders.

This initiative is developed at a critical time when Sri Lanka is experiencing a drastic shift in its political context due to a change of Government  further compounded by the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both contributing to reverse major gains made through the recent peacebuilding efforts. It aspires to contribute to address the resumption of fear among civil society actors by establishing an innovative UN led dedicated support platform implementing and providing services for civil society actors.

The project is implemented by UNODC Regional Office for South Asia (Subprogramme 5 of its Regional Programme for South Asia (2018-2021). UNODC Regional Office for South Asia covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and has been working closely with Governments of South Asia to counter drugs, crime and terrorism in all its manifestations. Over the years, the Government of Sri Lanka has been UNODC’s active partner in the planning and implementation of its Regional Programme for South Asia 2018-2021 and local projects. UNODC’s integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to prison reform is reflected in this project.

Overall Objective of the Consultancy:

The overall objective of this assignment is to support project implementation in Sri Lanka in developing information material for guidance to legal aid. This includes supporting capacity-building activities of legal aid sector at various levels including grass root level organizations.

Under direct supervision of the National Programme Officer of the UNODC Programme Office in Sri Lanka and Criminal Justice Expert in UNODC ROSA, the consultant will undertake the following activities:

(1)        Develop information material for guidance to legal aid;

(3)        Develop material needed for trainings for grass root level organizations and deliver 10 training workshops on legal aid situation in Sri Lanka; and

Expected tangible and measurable output(s): 

The Consultant will develop material and deliver workshops on the current status of legal aid in Sri Lanka for the enhancement of rights-based approach for fundamental rights violations.

Dates and details of deliverables/payments:

Deliverable  / Output  / Working days

1) Implementation plan / Document that describes how workshops will be conducted, topics to be included and annotated agenda / 2 days

2) Develop information material for guidance to legal aid /  Workshop material with power point presentations and finalized agenda / 10 days

3) Develop material needed for trainings / Delivery of 10 workshops / 10 days

The payment will be made in a single installment upon completion of all deliverables described in this Terms of Reference.  

Note:

• Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone etc. would not be reimbursed.
• Please note proposals without the financial proposal will not be considered.

Timeframe:

This Consultant is expected to dedicate 22 working days for this assignment from June till September 2021. The payment will be made in a single installment upon completion of all deliverables described in this Terms of Reference.  

Reporting and communication:

The consultant will report to National Programme Officer of the UNODC Programme Office in Sri Lanka and Criminal Justice Expert in UNODC ROSA.

•     Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UNs values and ethical standards;

•     Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN;

•     Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

•     Strategic vision and strong technical and analytical capabilities;

•     Excellent organizational and management skills;

•     High level of self-management capacity and proactive self-drive under very low supervision

•     Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;

•     Strong written, interpersonal and oral communication skills.

(a) Education

A masters’ degree in law, criminal justice in combination with relevant working experience. A first-level degree or equivalent, with two additional years of working experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.

(b) Work Experience

• At least 12 years of experience in the field of legal aid, fundamental rights, fundamental rights filing procedure, formal and informal justice sectors/ procedures and some experience in South Asian context;
• Excellent understanding of the emerging issues related to non-custodial measures in the penal reform sector;
• Experience of having worked within the justice sector.
• Knowledge of and practical experience in conducting assessments and base line assessments.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, PowerPoint, Teams, etc.).
• Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English and Sinhala.

Award of the contract:

The contract shall be awarded to the individual whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to the criterion outlined in the TOR.
• Having received the highest score of a predetermined set of technical and financial criterion specific to the solicitation and based on cumulative criterion.

Technical Criteria weight – 70 marks

• Educational Qualification – 10 points
• Experience in project implementation in drug demand reduction and/or the rule of law and criminal justice field – 20 points
• Experience in research/assessments – 20 points
• Experience of South Asian development context and working with the government and development partners in the region (in particular within Sri Lanka) – 20 points.

Financial Criteria weight – 30 marks

Technical and Financial Proposals to be submitted separately.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

HOW TO APPLY

The application should contain:

• Updated CV to include qualifications/competencies and relevant past experience in similar projects and contact details of 2 professional referees who can certify your competencies, professionalism, quality of writing, presentation and overall suitability to this TOR
• Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a combination of factors including cover letter, the credentials on offer and brief interview (optional) and the offer which gives the best value for money for the UNDP.
• Please send the Financial Proposal separately to the following e-mail address: [email protected]  stating the vacancy number/position  in the subject line.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL   

All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee:        LKR (_________________________________________) Or

All Inclusive Daily Fee:    LKR (_________________________________________)

Amount in words:   LKR (_________________________________________)

Link for Financial Proposal Template

Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

Note: Payments will be based on invoices on achievement of agreed milestones i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR and certification of acceptance by the UNDP. The applicant must factor in all possible costs in his/her “All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee” including his/her consultancy and professional fee, travel (economy class flights is required to and from the Duty Station) honorarium, board and lodging, and any other foreseeable costs in this exercise. No costs other than what has been indicated in the financial proposal will be paid or reimbursed to the consultant. UNDP will only pay for any unplanned travel outside of this TOR and Duty Station on actual basis and on submission of original bills/invoices and on prior agreement with UNDP officials. Daily perdiums and costs for accommodation/meals/incidental expenses for such travel shall not exceed established local UNDP DSA rates.

For an Individual Contractor who is 65 years of age or older, and on an assignment requiring travel, be it for the purpose of arriving at the duty station or as an integral duty required travel under the TOR, a full medical examination and statement of fitness to work must be provided.  Such medical examination costs must be factored in to the financial proposal above. Medical examination is not a requirement for individuals on RLA contracts. 

Contact information for queries related to the Request for Proposals:

For any clarification please contact: [email protected]