International Senior Expert in the field of transitional justice, with specialization in Rule of Law studies
Alert
Vacancy
1. Background
The OSCE Presence in Albania (hereinafter ‘the Presence’) is implementing the extra-budgetary project “Building capacities of Albanian institutions and professionals in the field of Transitional Justice.”
The project aims at a sustainable structure of research and teaching on Transitional Justice in Albania, thereby strengthening the foundations of democratic debate and democratic institutions in the country, supporting the wider movement of 'dealing with the past', and incorporating social, institutional, judicial and human rights aspects in line with international Human Rights standards and OSCE commitments.
By involving the public, including academics, students and civil society in a discussion on rule of law and human rights violations under the communist regime, by fostering the conduct of research on transitional justice as a whole and by ensuring sustainability of results though the development of a Master’s Programme on Transitional Justice, the project will lead to a better-informed and facts-based discourse on how Albania deals with the human rights violations of its past, how it can learn from other societies going through a period of transition, and how it can further consolidate democracy and rule of law.
The Project will focus on four main interlinked components:
i) the development of the structure and curricula for the Master’s Programme at the University of Tirana, ii) building capacities of the academic staff of the University of Tirana to teach transitional justice topics , iii) supporting the roll out of the first two-year Master’s course iv) offering academic conferences, workshops and seminars, as well as equip with resources (books, journal subscription, publication of researches) to further deepen the knowledge related to transitional justice among the academia, civil society, and general public.
Under component (ii), the Presence will hire six senior international experts to deliver three online training seminars for around 16 academic staff (including lecturers and assistant lecturers) of the master’s programme, in the field of social sciences, law and history. The training seminars will provide the trainees with the concepts, tools and skills that are needed to deliver the courses planned in the programme. The training will be focused on core courses, theoretical and methodological courses.
Under component (iv), for the purpose of supporting and fostering the academic debate on transitional justice, leading to a better-informed and facts-based discourse on the Albanian communist past, the Presence, in close co-operation with the University of Tirana, will issue a call for abstracts/papers for an academic conferences on dealing with the past, and is looking for peer-to-peer reviewers to serve as members of the conference’s review committee.
2. Objective
The Presence’s Rule of Law and Human Rights Department is looking for one International Senior Expert in the field of transitional justice, with specialization in Rule of Law to deliver one three-day online training seminar for around 7 academic staff, and to review abstracts/papers for a conference in transitional justice and dealing with the past. The international expert will work remotely.
3. Tasks
Under the guidance of the Project Manager, the expert will:
1) Analyse the draft modules pertaining to the legal track of the Master’s Program as provided by the Presence, and namely “Transitional Justice and Public International Law” and “Transitional Justice and Rule of Law”; 2) Participate in a conference call organized by the Presence’s to discuss the structure, content and format of the consultancy service as well as the teaching methodology; 3) Compile a draft programme of a three-day online training of 12 (twelve) hours, tentatively from 9:30 to 13:30, for the academic staff of the Masters’ Programme in Transitional Justice. For each day, the program should be structured in sessions of one hour each. Each session or group of sessions should address a specific topic. Each session or group of sessions should address a specific topic. The training must be based on the modules mentioned above on item 1) as well as on the inputs provided in the conference call under item 2). The training should include at least subject matters such as - Introduction to Transitional Justice: Concepts, Goals, Origin, Mechanisms and Developments; - Rule of Law, Transitional Justice, and the Impact of Transitional Justice on the Rule of Law; - Rule of law and Transitional Justice: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - “Internationalized Constitutions”, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law; - Strengthening the domestic rule of law with the aid of international law: the role of the domestic courts in transitional settings; The training should include a theoretical part and as well as part devoted to questions and answers pertaining to teaching methodologies and challenges in teaching transitional justice subject matters; 4) Prepare hand-out materials for training participants in the field described under items 1) and 3) above; 5) Train the academic staff of the Master’s Programme in Transitional Justice based on the programme under item 3) above as approved by the project manager; 6) Collect feedback and recommendations from participants in the training through a short, online questionnaire; 7) Prepare a report on the training which include training program, teaching methodology used, day-to-day activities carried out, feedback and recommendations from participants, and recommendations for future training needs in the field of Transitional Justice. The report on the training should be at least 5 pages long, Times New Roman 12, 1.5 space, justified; 8) Peer-review up to 10 abstracts (or 3 full papers) submitted for the conference on transitional justice and dealing with the past in the field of rule of law studies. The Reviewer should provide thorough feedback on the assigned article and make recommendations regarding the following: methodology, impact and strength of the article, significant limitations that need to be addressed, relevance and suitability of tables and figures, clarify, brevity and grammar; 9) Continuously liaise with and if necessary seek advice from the OSCE Project Staff throughout the discharge of the consultancy activities.
The international scholar will work from his/her location.
4. Deliverables and performance indicators
1. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 2 above: between 2nd August and 3rd August 2021, participating in a video conference call with the Project staff to discuss substantive and methodological inputs and advice on the designing and development of the training programme; 2. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 3 above: by 18th August and 25th August 2021 respectively, submitting the first draft and the final draft of the training programme; 3. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 4 above: by 25th August 2021, submitting four sets of hand-out materials for the training participants; 4. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 5 above: from 13th to 15th September 2021 (tentatively), delivering one three -day training to the academic staff of the University of Tirana (exact date to be decided);
5. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 6 above: by 22 September 2021, drafting and delivering a questionnaire to be submitted online to the participants to the training; 6. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 7 above: by 1st and 11th October 2021 respectively, submit the first draft and the final draft of a report on the delivered training; 7. Under Task/Responsibilities No. 8, within 14 days from the receipt, drafting and submitting written reviews of up to 10 abstracts (or 3 full papers)
5. Qualifications:
• Advanced university degree in law; • At least 8 years of professional experience in academic teaching and/or research in the field of legal studies of transitional justice, with desirable specialization in totalitarian or oppressive regimes and dealing with the past; • Professional experience in interdisciplinary research or teaching; • Current working affiliation (at least 2 years) to a Transitional Justice Research/Higher Education institution outside of Albania; • Excellent drafting skills and proficient level of English language.
Desirable Qualifications:
• Knowledge of the Albanian history and context.
6. Remuneration
The payment for this consultancy will be in line with OSCE applicable rates.
7. How to apply
All applications are due by 13 May 2021. If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://jobs.osce.org/.
Should you have any question, kindly contact recruitment-al@osce.org
The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment at a lower grade or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.
The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the organization.
Due to the current unpredictable situation, the start date may probably be revised according to the daily and rapidly evolving situation