Vacancy
Background | ||
In the recent years, Tajikistan has galvanized its efforts to address the issues of terrorism and violent extremism on regional and international fora. The deliberations within high-profile events held in Dushanbe in 2018 and 2019 indicate that top-concern issues in the host country are countering terrorism and violent extremism by all means, including by addressing the ideological roots, drugs and arms trafficking and its nexus with terrorism financing in view of the country’s geographic/strategic location, as well as the return of ‘foreign terrorist fighters from the conflict zones and potential risks associated with ‘terrorist sleeping cells’. According to the Tajik authorities, there are around 1,900 citizens (including 575 women and children) who have joined violent extremist and terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, and the predominant number of them have become radicalised during labour migration. These dynamics run against the background of developing socio-economic conditions, whereby nearly 900,000 citizens of Tajikistan, most of whom are young people, seek for better employment opportunities outside of the country. Apart from internal factors, there are some external dynamics that need to be taken into consideration. For instance, a rise in violent and deadly attacks committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan throughout recent years, including heavy fighting in areas close to or bordering Tajikistan have raised reasonable fears of a potential overspill. The officials of Tajikistan and Afghanistan claim that the number of ISIS fighters in the northern parts of Afghanistan has been growing, which could be explained as a strategic refocus from the Middle East to Afghanistan and Central Asia. That said, the issues around preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism in Tajikistan remain as one of the strategic priorities in the host country’s security agenda. In the meantime, the Tajik authorities do acknowledge that sole military and law enforcement means are insufficient in tackling VERLT successfully, given the complex and multifaceted nature of the phenomenon. A clear-minded strategy with comprehensive but achievable outcomes, delivered by ‘whole-of-government’ and ‘whole-of-society’ approaches may help to mitigate the problem. Therefore, with the operational assistance of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, the host country has developed the National Strategy and Action Plan on the Fight Against Extremism and Terrorism 2016 – 2020 (signed into law by a Presidential Decree of November 2016), a government policy that addresses the phenomenon in a comprehensive way. The Strategy encompasses 15 directions that the state authorities are obliged to work on, starting from addressing socio-economic conditions and ending with eradicating terrorist radicalisation and violent extremism in penitentiary buildings. The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe (hereinafter referred to as “the Office”) has been implementing the project on countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism that aims to support the host country to execute the ‘National Strategy and Action Plan on Countering Extremism and Terrorism (2016 – 2020)’, in line with the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security, and the mandate of the Office. Given the expiration of the Strategy in 2020, the Office of Prosecutor General in close co-operation with civil society representatives of Tajikistan plans to commission a comprehensive evaluation of this state policy. It is anticipated that the evaluation results will serve as a solid baseline in devising a new strategic document that will cover the period from 2021 to 2025, taking into consideration challenges and lessons learnt of the current implementation. The evaluation will be conducted by two representatives from the Office of Prosecutor General and two representatives from civil society circles, who will generate a publicly accessible comprehensive report for interested stakeholders. Brief description: In 2020, the Office of Prosecutor General (with the assistance of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe) plans to commission a comprehensive evaluation of the outcomes of Tajikistan’s ‘National Strategy and Action Plan on Countering Extremism and Terrorism for 2016-2020’. The evaluation will look into implementation results of this strategic document for the period from 2016 to 2020 (inclusive), and try to answer the following questions: - How much progress was made towards achieving the overall objectives of the Strategy? - Do the strategic areas still remain relevant given the current conditions? - What objectives are no longer needed? - Is there a necessity to accomplish the incomplete objectives against the background of available resources and timeframes? - Is there feasibility to merge the remaining incomplete objectives into the new strategic document? - What went well according to the plan? What went wrong? Why did it go well/wrong? - Are the indicators to evaluate the strategy valid, and if so, to what extent they depict full picture of accomplishments? On the basis of the comprehensive evaluation, the Office of Prosecutor General and the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe are expecting to receive a thorough analytical report that dwells on key milestones of the Government of Tajikistan, contributions of the international actors, as well as civil society institutions in the field of prevention and countering of violent extremism and terrorist radicalisation. The evaluation process is anticipated to kick-off on September 21 and end on November 30. The Office expects to receive the final evaluation report in the first week of December. Objective: The assessment aims at evaluating and analysing past contributions/efforts made by government structures, international actors, as well as civil society organisations in the implementation of Tajikistan’s ‘National Strategy and Action Plan on Countering Extremism and Terrorism for 2016-2020’. Location of assignment: Dushanbe and other areas of the Republic of Tajikistan Start of assignment: 15 October 2020 End of assignment: 15 December 2020 |
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Tasks and Responsibilities | ||
In close coordination with the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and in co-operation with responsible official(s) at the Office of Prosecutor General, the expert/consultant shall report to the Head of Politico-Military Department, and be in charge for the following:
Expected Output/Deliverable:
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Necessary Qualifications | ||
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Required competencies | ||
Core values
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Remuneration Package | ||
The consultant will be remunerated commensurate with consultant’s experience and qualifications in accordance with OSCE established rates. Applicants should indicate whether they wish to be included in the OSCE Roster of Consultants for similar assignments. | ||
How To Apply | ||
If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://jobs.osce.org/. In case of technical difficulties with online application, please use the OSCE offline application form that can be downloaded at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form. The completed application form along cover letter and recommendation letters should be submitted by e-mail to POiD-Recruitment@osce.org quoting the job title in the subject line. Please note that applications received after the deadline, submitted in different formats than the OSCE Application Form or in other languages than the English language will not be considered. Please note that this vacancy is open for competition only amongst nationals of Tajikistan. 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. |