JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Description

Please note the appropriate Tier indicated in the vacancy title and ensure that you are holding the applicable contract as defined below:

Tier 1: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed term (FTA) appointments (defined as “internal” candidates)

Tier 2: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA) and personnel on regular PSA contracts

Tier 3: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Background

UNDP Bangladesh’s Democratic Governance programming aims to accelerate effective governance so that all citizens can openly and peacefully contribute to Bangladesh’s development story. It focuses on making the country inclusive, capable, rule-based accountable, and transparent by 1) strengthening effective and accountable governance that responds to the need of people in addressing equitable and improved access to justice and rule of law, 2) strengthening civil society and promoting participatory governance to ensure that the voice of all citizens are heard, and 3) enhancing civic, political and economic empowerment of women and youth.

The Government of Bangladesh, through its 8th Five Year Plan (2021–2025), prioritizes enhancing access to justice under Key Area 2a: Justice and the Rule of Law. The Plan commits to strengthening NLASO’s capacity to reach poor and marginalized groups, fostering partnerships with NGOs and CSOs for broader legal aid coverage, and conducting diagnostic assessments to inform innovative, needs-based legal aid delivery. These efforts aim to reduce case backlogs and ensure inclusive, equitable justice.

UNDP Bangladesh will be implementing Digital Legal Aid in Bangladesh project in partnership with Ministry of Law to promote rule of law and human rights in Bangladesh. The project has two specific objectives:

1. Improve efficiency of gender sensitive legal aid services for the most marginalized and disadvantaged communities in the eight target districts.
2. Increase access to gender-sensitive legal aid, mediation, and justice services, including online dispute resolution (ODR) for prospective litigants and legal aid seekers, especially women, minorities, and disadvantaged people with a positive impact on advancing gender equality.

Digital Legal Aid in Bangladesh project is looking to recruit a Project Analyst who will be responsible for project coordination, capacity development, legal analysis, gender analysis, designing programme implementation strategy, overseeing and reviewing successful programme implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the incumbent will perform above-mentioned activities, and the Project Manager will be resposnsible for the service evaluation of the Project Analyst.

The primary objective of this assignment is to ensure high-quality programme design, effective coordination among stakeholders, legal and gender-sensitive analysis, and timely delivery of outputs. The Analyst will play a key role in promoting inclusive access to justice through the integration of digital tools and capacity-building initiatives targeting key justice sector actors.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, and in close coordination with the Senior Advisor on Rule of Law, Justice, and Security, the Project Analyst will carry out the following key responsibilities:

a) Project coordination and strategic support

• Lead day-to-day coordination and planning of project activities in close collaboration with implementing partners, government counterparts, and UNDP teams.
• Monitor implementation progress and identify operational or strategic bottlenecks, proposing timely solutions.
• Support the design and execution of digital legal aid strategies in alignment with national access to justice priorities and UNDP’s governance portfolio.

b) Capacity development and stakeholder engagement

• Design and implement targeted capacity-building initiatives for justice sector institutions, including legal aid committees, judiciary, and CSOs.
• Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues and workshops on legal aid service delivery, digital access, and human rights-based approaches.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners, including government agencies, NGOs, and development partners.

c) Legal and Gender analysis

• Conduct legal and policy analysis related to access to justice, digital transformation, and legal aid frameworks in Bangladesh.
• Apply a gender lens in programme design and monitoring to ensure responsiveness to the needs of women, girls, and marginalized populations.
• Support the documentation of legal aid trends and case outcomes through data collection and analysis.

d) Programme design, oversight and monitoring

• Support the development of implementation strategies, annual work plans, and results frameworks.
• Monitor project implementation against indicators, milestones, and budget targets.
• Prepare and review technical reports, donor updates, and knowledge products ensuring quality and compliance with UNDP standards.

e) Knowledge management and communication

• Contribute to the documentation and dissemination of good practices, lessons learned, and success stories related to digital legal aid.
• Support the preparation of policy briefs, case studies, and communication materials in collaboration with the communications team.
• Represent the project in external forums, consultations, and relevant working groups as required.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

People Management:

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

General (across the functions)

• Public relations: Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organisation, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

Partnership management

• Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms

2030 Agenda: People

• Gender: Gender Mainstreaming

2030 Agenda: Prosperity

• Inclusive Growth: Poverty and Human Development

Business Direction & Strategy

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Development

• Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master´s Degree or equivalent) in Law mandatory and cannot be substituted by degrees in other field. Additional degrees in Public Administration, Political Science, Development Studies, Human Rights, or related fields may be considered only in addition to the primary Law degree.
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the above fields in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Applicants with Master’s degree (or equivalent) in law are not required to have professional work experience. Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree in law (or equivalent) are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, and/or hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is required.
• A bar exam qualification is required.

Desired additional skills and competencies:

• Proven experience in legal and gender analysis, policy research, or working with justice sector institutions is desired
• Experience coordinating with government counterparts, NGOs, or international organizations on access to justice or legal reform programmes is desired.
• Prior experience with INGO or development organization will be considered an asset.
• Knowledge of digital transformation in the justice sector or e-justice initiatives is highly desirable.

Required Languages:

Fluency in written and spoken English and Bangla is required

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.