National Consultant - Coordination and Liaison Officers at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

We are recruiting to fill the following vacant positions below:

Job Title: National Consultant - Coordination and Liaison Officer

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Additional Category: Governance and Peacebuilding
Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Post Level: National Consultant
Starting Date: (date when the selected candidate is expected to start)    01-Jul-2016
Duration of Initial Contract: 6 Months
Expected Duration of Assignment: 6 Months - Full time

Background
Support and Capacity Building to NAPTIP on strengthening law enforcement response and victim support' NGAZ54:

• Trafficking in persons (TIP), especially women and children, in Nigeria, is intrinsically related to a number of factors.
• Predominant among these are poverty, large family size, lack of educational opportunities, lack of employment and low status of children and women.
• Other factors facilitating trafficking in persons include ignorance on the part of families and children of the risks involved in trafficking, the high demand for cheap and submissive child labour in the informal economic sector, the desire of youth for emancipation through migration, institutional lapses such as inadequate political commitment, and limited capacities among the law enforcement officers that impede traffickers and accomplices from being effectively investigated, prosecuted and punished for their acts.
• Nigeria has demonstrated commitment to combating TIP, including by introducing improved policy and institutional measures. In 2015, significant achievement was made in legislation with the Presidential assent to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 on March 26, 2015, which repealed the former Act and establishes the National Agency For The Prohibition Of Traffic In Persons (NAPTIP).
• NAPTIP has wide-reaching and cross-cutting functions in addressing trafficking in persons, including prevention, awareness raising and sensitisation, victim/witness support and protection, investigation, prosecution, rehabilitation, and coordination of anti-trafficking efforts.
• Based on the foregoing, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is partnering with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in implementing the project ‘Support and Capacity Building to NAPTIP on strengthening law enforcement response and victim support  – NGAZ54’ funded by the Government of Switzerland.
• The overall objective of the Project is to improve the organizational, operational and management capacities of law enforcement officers, counselors and social workers to deal with cases of TIP and SOM in Nigeria, in particular in the fields of access to justice and victim support. The project will contribute to and complement the EU Funded project ‘Promoting Better Management of Migration in Nigeria by Combating and Reducing Irregular Migration that occurs, inter alia, through TIP and SOM’.

Strengthening National Response to Security Threats through Enhanced Border Control in Nigeria’ NGAZ57:

• Border control is a necessity for States to monitor, control and secure their territories against illicit flows of goods, drugs, contraband, weapons, terrorist funding as well as people.  Controlling national borders can however become a daunting task for countries confronted with severe security challenges, such as terrorism.
• As part of efforts to support the established mechanisms of border surveillance, the project ‘Strengthening National Response to Security Threats through Enhanced Border Control in Nigeria’ is being implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with funding from the Government of Japan.
• The objective of the project is to support Nigeria’s border control efforts aimed at preventing illicit trafficking in the North-East geopolitical zone of the country, which is the most affected by the ongoing terrorist insurgency.
• The project aims to achieve this through the training of border control officers from the five key Law Enforcement Agencies involved in land border management and control in the country.
• The officers to be trained will be selected from five land border-areas from the North-East geo-political zone of the country bordering Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin Republic. The states and border posts are: Adamawa State (Belel and Sarti Gurin borders); Borno State (Gamboru and Banki borders); Yobe State (Tulutulo border) and Taraba State (Gembu border).
• The capacity building would ensure adherence to the rule of law and continuous support for improvements in cross border control efforts through a mentorship approach.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of UNODC CONIG Representative and under the supervision and guidance of the International Project Coordinator, the National Project Officer will be working on and supporting the day-to-day implementation  and management of the projects in line with the Project Documents and will have the following duties and responsibilities:

• Support the implementation of the projects; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and proposes corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and tracks follow-up actions; participates in the evaluation of the projects;
• Support substantially the development project work plans and ensures their timely delivery in close consultation with beneficiary institutions and other team members to ensure full coordination and synergy as well as maximization of project resources;
• Support the coordination and liaison with relevant sections of UNODC Headquarters in Vienna, national partners and relevant staff (hereunder the International Consultant related to the training aspect for NGAZ57) of UNODC Country Office in Nigeria on the planning and implementation of project activities and results as well as Monitoring and Evaluation;
• Takes into cognizance local considerations and realities for proper and effective support for the implementation of project activities;
• Identifies, verifies, and vets various entities and individuals as a precursor to carrying out various activities on training for Law Enforcement Agencies, Counselors and Social Workers and rehabilitation and empowerment of trafficked persons;
• Support substantively for establishing and nurturing appropriate relationships for activities that have considered local structures, practices, sensitivities, and gender dynamics as it relates to training for Law Enforcement Agencies, Counselors and Social Workers and rehabilitation and empowerment of trafficked persons;
• Support the daily management of the project activities in accordance with the financial requirements of the project and the UN financial rules and regulations, especially as pertains to procurement;
• Ensure that all necessary information (substantive and financial) for project implementation, including the formulation of reports, budget expenditure analysis, are prepared and presented to the Country Representative in a timely manner and that their quality and details are up to UN standard, and where applicable, providing all the necessary support information;
• Ensures that all project reports from state and non-state partners that s/he is overseeing are prepared in a timely manner and that their quality and detail are up to standard;
• Support substantively the creation and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system of project activities in relation to training and rehabilitation and empowerment of trafficked persons;
• Documents best practices and lessons learnt in a manner that can be shared and disseminated to various stakeholders and that provides gender desegregated information;
• Prepares and submits all required substantive and financial reports in line with UNODC procedures and quality standards;
• Carries out programmatic and administrative tasks necessary for the achievement of expected results of the projects; provides substantive inputs to related funding proposals and technical briefings; and coordinate the possible revisions of the projects in close consultation with the donor and the counterparts;
• Follow-up on communication with beneficiary institutions, including drafting of official letters, request for technical assistance, and the process of identification of participants and national experts, including trainers, for activities under the project;
• Perform additional related tasks as may otherwise be assigned.

Institutional Arrangement:

• The consultancy is located in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Office in Abuja, Nigeria (CONIG).
• Under the overall guidance of UNODC CONIG Representative and under the supervision and guidance of the International Project Coordinator, the National Project Officer will be working on and supporting the day-to-day implementation of the projects 'Support and Capacity Building to NAPTIP on strengthening law enforcement response and victim support' and to provide substantial support and back up for the project ‘Strengthening National Response to Security Threats through Enhanced Border Control in Nigeria’ .
• S/he will work closely with the project teams to ensure full coordination between the various TIP and SOM projects and with counterparts and will support efforts designed to expand CONIG’s TIP and SOM portfolios.

Expected tangible and measurable outputs:

• Detailed work plans of the activities to be undertaken with specific timelines, verifiable indicators, activities, outputs and outcomes as well as assumptions and risks;
• Report on identification and selection of trafficked victims in Lagos and Edo states as project beneficiaries;
• Report on empowerment of trafficked victims in Lagos and Edo states (NGAZ54);
• Training syllabus and support for the 4-weeks certified course for counselors and social workers (NGAZ54);
• Support for the development of training syllabus and training conducted on border surveillance and investigation of land borders in compliance with the rule of law and human rights, on investigation of border related offences, on Integrated Cooperation for case management and referral in joint border control and management in response to security threat including terrorism(in close cooperation with the International Consultant and UNV on NGAZ57);
• Support for the development of training needs assessment instruments (questionnaires) developed and applied for selected participants in all the training (in close cooperation with the International Consultant and UNV on NGAZ57);
• Reports of all the training conducted (in close cooperation with the International Consultant and UNV on NGAZ57);
• Support for a Concept Note highlighting the development of inter-agency cooperation through identifying areas of common legislation, areas of operation, agency mandates and goals so as to support the drafting of basic Memoranda of Understanding or  similar agreements to support inter-agency cooperation and a unified response to the application of  border controls (in close cooperation with the International Consultant and UNV on NGAZ57); 
• Planning and reporting of Technical and Steering committees meetings;
• Monthly report of consultancy services;
• Final consultancy reports.

Competencies

• Excellent knowledge in facilitating training, developing relevant training materials, tools and capacity building packages in collaboration with partners;
• Strong client awareness,client orientation and government advisory skills;
• Excellent knowledge in issues affecting human rights especially in developing nations and awareness in latest development on methodologies and capacity development methods in social research and human rights;
• Strong drafting skills in English.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Advanced university Degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Law, Business Administration, Social Sciences or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years experience working in the field relating to anti human trafficking;
• Experience on the operations of key government institutions and civil society organizations working on rehabilitation and empowerment support to trafficked persons in Nigeria;
• Professional working experience in technical assistance projects with UN or other International NGO;
• Indication of demonstratable use of MS Word, Excel, Power Point, PDF, etc is required

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in English, with excellent drafting skills, is essential. Knowledge of other main languages in Nigeria would be an advantage.

Application Closing Date
30th June, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online