Expert on Investigation and Prosecution of Financial Crimes (Retainer)

In response to the request of the Government of Ukraine, UNOPS opened an office in Ukraine in 2017, which provides a broad spectrum of services to the Government and the people of Ukraine. Currently, the office is classified as an Operations Centre (UAOC), with a portfolio of projects exceeding USD 100 million, in the areas of rule of law, environment, energy efficiency, crisis recovery, good governance, human resources management, procurement, and logistics.

The European Union funded Project ‘Support for Rule of Law Reforms in the Areas of Police, Public Prosecution and Good Governance’ (hereinafter - Project) has the overall objective of supporting the strengthening of policing, prosecution and civilian governance in Ukraine and to align them with the best European and International practices. On matters of substance, the project relies on the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) to Ukraine.

The Project supports the creation of an efficient law-enforcement system respectful of human rights through the provision of necessary support to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police of Ukraine (NPU), the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors (QDCP).

The current assignment relates to the scope of the Project’s support measures for the PGO, aligned with the Justice Sector Reform Strategy, the Justice Reform Action Plan for 2015-2020 and directly supports implementation of priority areas identified in the Roadmap of Prosecutorial Reform. In particular, the Project will develop and deliver a series of specialised permanent training activities in the areas identified with the PGO and the National Prosecution Academy of Ukraine (NAPA) that is responsible for training of candidate prosecutors and prosecutors-practitioners. Where possible, both traditional format and e-learning will be applied, and user-friendly guidelines and handbooks will be produced.

This activity is fully in line with the Strategy of Professional Education of Candidate Prosecutors and Public Prosecutors since it is aiming to enhance teaching methods, curricula, and training materials of the existing training programmes and for introduction of new ones, if necessary.

Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, and with regular coordination with experts from EUAM and assigned representatives of the PGO and NAPA, the Consultant will provide practical specialized mentorship and design, implement, and evaluate training interventions aimed at capacity building within the staff of the Prosecution Service, the Prosecutors General’s Office of Ukraine and the NAPA in Kyiv. In the first instance, the Consultant will enhance the skills and knowledge of the course participants in the specialist area described below. In addition, the Consultant will provide train-the-trainer activities to a limited number of selected staff, focused on the specialist areas in order to build in-house capacity.

The Consultant will be expected to deliver expert advice and training in the specialist area: Investigation and Prosecution on Financial Crimes. Specifically, this will be done in two stages.

At the first stage, the Consultant will provide on-the-job (on-site) mentorship to the prosecutors assigned by the PGO. In particular, he/she will be stationed at the particular PGO’s unit for a period of up to 15 working days, to consider specific cases together with the prosecutors and provide practical advice on investigation of similar cases in the EU countries. The Consultant will be granted access to documentation as per regulations set in the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine. The Consultant will be briefed by the PGO on particulars of this assignment, expected results, and aspects on which the Consultant should focus, at the first meeting at the PGO. 

In essence, the mentorship will serve two purposes.  Firstly, the Consultant will work as an expert in this specialist field, providing advice on the key aspects of specific live cases with prosecutors, including the points to prove, the investigation strategy, the methods required to secure the evidence required, the assembling of the prosecution case and how to present complex, technical evidence in an accessible way to the Court, including how to coordinate the presentation of evidence by technical expert witnesses.  If there is an identified need to improve prosecutors’ knowledge of how specific financial crimes have been perpetrated, this should be considered part of the mentorship and also reflected in the Training Needs Analysis.

Secondly, the Consultant will use the mentorship period as part of the Training Needs Analysis so as to be able to base the key recommendations on a representative sample of real cases and be able to develop the specialist training course in context (albeit anonymized to avoid compromising ongoing cases).

At the end of the period of mentorship the Consultant will deliver a presentation of key recommendations, with examples, to the PGO, in a format of PowerPoint presentation, and will share materials, instructions, etc. which he/she will deem relevant based on communication with the prosecutors.

The Consultant will present the flow and substance of mentorship, as well as its results in a report to PRAVO Police.

In the process of this interaction the Consultant will get to know specifics of Ukrainian regulations as related to resolving the cases – this knowledge will be essential for the Consultant in the course of delivery of his/her outputs at the second stage of this assignment (development of training courses).

At the second stage, the Consultant will be developing a specialised training course. The following steps will be followed:

1. Finalisation of the detailed training need with representatives of the beneficiary organisations.
2. Development of the training package in such a way that it can be first delivered by the Consultant as a training intervention to the beneficiary organisations and secondly, handed over to the beneficiary organisations so that it can become part of in-house training.
3. Development of the skills and knowledge of selected local staff within the beneficiary organisations with the aim of these staff members delivering and further developing the training package.
4. Provision of reference materials. The final format will be the subject of discussion with the beneficiary (e.g. manuals or on-line reference materials for a learning zone).

The training course will be developed in line with the following particulars:

Specific subjects - Legislation covering offences, coercive measures, freezing and confiscation; Relevant judgements from the Ukrainian Supreme Court; Money laundering, fraud, tax and other financial crimes; Financial investigations and asset recovery; Tools for International cooperation in criminal matters.

Target audience - Public prosecutors from the regional and local prosecution service, but also from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Number of participants - In the first instance, it is intended to train 25 staff per semester at the premises of the NAPA in Kyiv. Staff can be made available for up to five working days per course.  An additional activity for the consultant will be to work with a limited number of identified staff in order to develop in-house expertise in this field for the planning and delivery of training in the future.

Preferred learning style for the course – The course should be an appropriate mix of theory and case studies in order to allow course participants to apply legal knowledge and experience onto practical cases, from investigation to prosecution.

Delivery language – The goal is for training to be delivered in Ukrainian. However, the initial project and training for trainers can be delivered in English and interpretation to Ukrainian can be used (this will be covered by the PRAVO Police). Ultimately, all materials will be translated into Ukrainian (the responsibility of the PRAVO Police).

The quality control of the deliverables of the Consultant is conducted by Programme Manager.

The services are expected to be delivered according to the schedule agreed with the NAPA, tentatively in October 2019 – May 2020:

(1) On-the-job mentorship (15 days):

-   The tailored practical advice is provided to the assigned prosecutors at the PGO and a summary of recommendations is presented at the de-briefing session at the PGO. The recommendations should be structured to include the points to prove, the investigation strategy, the methods required to secure the evidence required, the assembling of the prosecution case and how to present complex, technical evidence in an accessible way to the Court, including how to coordinate the presentation of evidence by technical expert witnesses. These recommendations should be incorporated into the analysis of training needs. The report is submitted to the Programme Manager;

(2) Preparing for the training course development (10-15 days):

-   The Ukrainian legal and regulatory framework is analysed, and training needs assessment is conducted (methodology for the needs assessment to be agreed with PRAVO Police in advance), the report on needs assessment is submitted to the Programme Manager;

(3) Training course development (35-40 days):

-  The training programme is developed based on findings of the analysis and assessment; the training programme is agreed with the national stakeholders and Programme Manager; the programme is submitted to the Programme Manager.

(4) Training Event (5 days):

-  At least two monitoring tools are applied for collecting and analysing data on the knowledge and skills of the trainees (pre-assessment and post-evaluation);

- Post-training evaluation is submitted to the Programme Manager; recommendations for the national programme are developed, discussed with national stakeholders and submitted to the Programme Manager;

- The post-training evaluation confirms the enhanced skills and knowledge of personnel in the basic terms, concepts and techniques in the specialist areas, which is confirmed by the recipient.  

Report on results of the Training Programme prepared and submitted to the Programme Manager; the report should include the analysis of the results of pre-assessment and post-evaluation.

(5) Train-the-trainer event (5 days)

-  At least two monitoring tools are applied for collecting and analysing data on the knowledge and skills of the trainees (pre-assessment and post-evaluation);

- Post-training evaluation is submitted to the Programme Manager; recommendations for the national programme are developed, discussed with national stakeholders and submitted to the Programme Manager;

- The post-training evaluation confirms the enhanced skills and knowledge of personnel in the basic terms, concepts and techniques in the specialist areas, and the development of suitable basic training skills by which to deliver the training package to future students, which is confirmed by the recipient.  

Report on results of the Training Programme prepared and submitted to the Programme Manager; the report should include the analysis of the results of pre-assessment and post-evaluation.

(6) Final Report on results of the Training Programme (10-20 days):

-  Written report on the final results of the training programme for dissemination in mass media prepared and submitted to the Programme Manager;

-  Final Report on results of the Training Programme submitted to the Programme Manager;

-  Training result/recommendation for national programme developed in the format of in the Power Point Presentation (not less than 11 pages) and submitted to the Programme Manager. presented to the stakeholders at the meeting/round table.

Deliverables:

1. Completing on-the-job mentorship and presentation of the report to PRAVO Police. Deadline – to be completed within one month from the start of assignment, tentatively – by 1 November 2019 (20% of the lump sum).

2. Finalization and submission and approval of the needs assessment, assessment tools and training programme. Deadline – within the following 2.5 months, tentatively – by 15 January 2020 (40% of the lump sum).

3. Delivery of the training event and train-the-trainer activities and pre-and post-evaluation of the participants’ skills. Deadline – within the following month, tentatively – by 15 February 2020 (20% of the lump sum).

4. Submission and approval of the Final Report on results of the Training Programme. Deadline - within the following 2 months, tentatively – by 15 April 2020 (20% of the lump sum).

While working on this assignment, the Consultant is expected to be solely responsible for the quality of outputs. In case of any issues or delays arising, he/she will immediately inform the Programme Manager. Communication with the Programme Manager on work progress should be on a weekly basis. The Final report should include the achievements, lessons learned, and recommendations for national training programme. During the training event and presentation of the reports, the Consultant will closely coordinate with national partners.

Impact of Results

The outputs delivered by the Consultant will essentially contribute to the implementation by the Project of the ongoing Support Package ‘Prosecution’ whose Recipient is the PGO. The outputs are aligned to the most urgent needs of the national partners as well as with the priorities of the reform processes in Ukraine.

As a result of passing the training course, prosecutors will receive specialised knowledge and practical solutions in investigations based on the EU best practices and the international standards.

The train-the trainer activity will increase capacities of the NAPA’s teaching personnel to design and deliver a training programme related to financial crime and newly-developed course materials and guidelines will complement teaching material already available at the NAPA.

Eventually, the delivery of the full scope of the planned activities will contribute to increased efficiency in the functioning of the prosecution service in Ukraine, as well as improving public trust in the institution.

• Secondary education/High school diploma is required.
• University degree (Bachelor’s or Master’), preferably in in security sector or Rule of Law or other related discipline, will be considered an asset and may substitute for some of the required years of experience.

• Proven technical experience in engaging to conduct the courses in institutional development, law enforcement, Rule of Law or security and justice sectors is required as follows 7 years with master's degree, 9 years with bachelor's degree, 8 years with technical/professional licence, 11 years with technical/professional diploma, 13 years with high school diploma.
• 5 years of proven experience in evaluation, mentoring and coaching is required.
• 5 years of investigating financial crimes.
• Experience in supporting complex governance, security, and rule of law projects with multiple stakeholders is preferable.
• Experience in coordinating bilateral and multilateral agencies to implement governance projects in the countries is preferable.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to write technical reports and prepare and present concise reports in English is required;
• Experience working in a project-based environment is required.
• MS Office skills are required.
• Excellent communication and team network skills are required.

• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential; working knowledge of additional UN or regional languages (Ukrainian or/and Russian) will be considered as an asset.

Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA) 
Contract level: International Specialist Level 3 (ICS11 equivalent)
Contract duration: Short-term ICA – up to 100 working days 

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx 

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time.
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

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With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.