Overview
The Rule of Law and Access to Justice Officer will provide advisory and technical support on thematic area workstreams to support the implementation of access to justice initiatives in Mykolaiv Oblast and target areas. Regular duty travel to local communities (hromadas) is required.
Key Responsibilities
- Contribute to effective Project planning, implementation and monitoring in the area of access to justice, including drafting of relevant Project documents (memos, briefs, talking points, meeting debriefs, minutes), monitoring frameworks, analytical reports.
- Conduct desk reviews and research on best practices regarding women’s and men’s access to justice in Ukraine and internationally; analyze statistical data and draft conclusions and recommendations.
- Monitor legislative and policy developments (national and regional strategies/action plans) relevant to access to justice.
- Prepare analytical papers on access to justice reforms, decentralization, and implementation at local level.
- Provide technical review and inputs to research commissioned by the Project on access to justice, rule of law, community security, and youth engagement.
- Coordinate and oversee the implementation of the Project small-grants facility by assessing proposals and ensuring the quality of outputs produced by beneficiaries.
- Support national institutions in developing and implementing action plans to strengthen access to justice for women and men.
- Pilot innovative or alternative forms of access to justice within the national legal framework.
- Support the management in developing TORs, concept notes, fundraising briefs and other documentation to operationalize and steer programmatic initiatives and activities.
- Contribute to Project donor reports and on M&E activities.
- Liaise with Project partners and facilitate communication on Project-related activities including organizing joint thematic learning and networking events on access to justice topics, focusing on the needs and experiences of women and men.
- Develop and maintain close working relationships with local Civil Society and community groups, including those working on the issues of gender equality, to facilitate project implementation, as well as identify issues, risks, priorities, and opportunities that support effective project monitoring and implement small grant activities.
- Initiate, support and coordinate establishment of local and regional networks of civil society, security and justice service providers and local administrations representatives for regular exchange of the best practices and lessons learned in women’s and men’s access to justice.
- Create and facilitate a strong connection and experience sharing on expert level and organizational level with national and foreign organizations and networks working on access to justice.
- Strengthen capacities of local, regional and national actors on access to justice focusing on the situation of women and men, including judicial mediation.
- Ensure systematic collection and analysis of monitoring data disaggregated by sex, age and other identifiers.
- Monitor the key interventions of the project on access to justice particularly for vulnerable groups such as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), veterans, girls and boys, elderly persons, and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
- Identify trends using project mapping and available data sources, synthesize and document best practices and lessons learned that are generated from the project and implementing partners.
- Contribute to external communication, including press releases, information notes, news articles, blogs, and social media content.
- Assist with ensuring the Programme contributes to the promotion of gender equality by reaching, involving, and benefiting both women and men.
- Use the principles of gender-responsive communications in line with the UNDP corporate standards.
- Be aware of relevant gender issues and concerns in the field of expertise.
- Support the promotion of team culture of gender equality and zero tolerance to any sexual misconduct in the team through leadership and personal example.
- Demonstrate respect for gender equality in professional interactions, identify and address sexism and gender discrimination.
- Assist with informing and briefing personnel and partners about corporate sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse policies.
Required Experience
- Minimum 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in the field of access to justice, law enforcement, legal aid, or rule of law or related area.
- Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
- Demonstrated professional experience in implementing access to justice or rule of law initiatives at national, oblast, or community level.
- Proven experience in coordinating or managing justice related projects, including preparation of analytical reports, briefs, monitoring frameworks, or small grant oversight.
- Experience in building partnerships or facilitating cooperation with justice sector actors, local authorities, civil society, or community groups.
- Practical experience delivering or supporting capacity building for justice, legal aid, police, or community level actors (e.g., trainings, workshops, mentoring, knowledge products).
Qualifications
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Law, International Relations, Political Science, Social Science or related field is required; or
- A first-level degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
