Consultant – Corruption in the fisheries sector

Result of Service Under the supervision of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer (Anti-Corruption), and in close coordination with colleagues from the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch and the Global Programme on Crimes that Affect the Environment through the FishNET Project coordinator, the consultant will perform the following substantive duties and responsibilities:

• Undertake a desk review and interviews with experts to identify factors leading to high-level blockage of anti-corruption initiatives in the fisheries sector.

• Coordinate and facilitate a virtual meeting of experts to provide further insights on factors leading to high-level blockage of anti-corruption initiatives in the fisheries sector and collect initial ideas on how to overcome these high-level blockages.

• Develop a short report (about 10-20 pages) on the outcome of the above deliverables, including recommendations for the next steps for the revision of the Rotten Fish guide.

On a weekly basis, the consultant is expected to deliver oral progress reports on how the tasks foreseen above are being carried out.

The consultant will be paid on the completion of the above mentioned deliverables.

Work Location Home-based

Expected duration 13 November 2023 – 22 February 2024

Duties and Responsibilities Background of the assignment:

UNODC has established a leading global position in delivering support to countries to prevent and combat corruption, including corruption related to the management and protection of environmental resources. It is the guardian of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and secretariat to the Conference of the States Parties to these Conventions.

An important element of UNODC’s corruption prevention work is supporting public sector organizations to identify and manage corruption risks that can weaken and undermine regulatory and enforcement frameworks, prevent them from achieving their mandate, and lead to significant lost revenue, waste of public resources and lack of confidence that stakeholders hold in these organizations.

One key sector in which UNODC has invested in the past years is the fisheries sector. The UNODC FishNET project supports developing countries to address crimes in the fisheries sector, and corruption linked to those crimes. As part of the first phase of FishNET, in 2019, guided by a group of experts, UNODC published Rotten Fish – A guide on addressing corruption in the fisheries sector. This guide is used as the basis for corruption risk management work conducted as part of this project by the UNODC Corruption and Economic Crime Branch, in partnership with the Global Programme on Crimes that Affect the Environment.

UNODC’s engagement with countries and experts has confirmed that corruption is a key factor that facilitates crimes in the fisheries sector as well as other illegal activities such as IUU fishing.

However, the fisheries sector is highly political and profitable, and there often seems to be reluctance at the highest levels of government to take action to prevent and counter corruption in this sector. UNODC witnessed significantly more reluctance at the management level to agree on the corruption risk mitigation plans in the fisheries sector than in other sectors.

In this context, UNODC is seeking a consultant who will undertake an assessment of factors leading to high-level blockage of anti-corruption initiatives in the fisheries sector. This assessment will, in future, facilitate the revision of the Rotten Fish guide and e-learning tool for this guide to address some of these challenges.

Purpose of the assignment:

The assignment has the following primary purposes:

• Identification of factors leading to high-level blockage of anti-corruption initiatives in the fisheries sector.

• Identification of suggestions for the way forward in the revision of the Rotten Fish guide to provide advice on how to overcome these high-level blockages.

  Qualifications/special skills - An advanced university degree (Masters degree or equivalent) in law, environmental sciences, social sciences, public administration, economics or closely related field is required. A first level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;

• At least 10 years of work experience in the fisheries sector, including preferably issues related to corruption, transparency, accountability and/or good governance in the fisheries sector, is required;

• Experience in research, preferably in the area of corruption crimes that affect the environment, is required;

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, are required;

• Experience in the field of anti-corruption is desirable;

• Experience in working and communicating with senior leaders in government is desirable.

  Languages - English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.

  No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.