Digitization Expert
Support the digitization efforts within the Caribbean's criminal justice sector
Overview
Support the digitization efforts within the Caribbean's criminal justice sector
You have:
- At least 5 years of experience in project management, planning and implementation on technology-related engagements.
- Experience working on development projects funded or supported by international financing institutions or multilateral development agencies.
- Experience in developing or implementing digital strategies.
- Experience working in criminal justice reform programmes.
- Ability to assess training needs and develop strategy recommendations for cross-sector training.
Contract
This is a UNV International Expert contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Expert contracts.
Efficient access to justice is being undermined across the Caribbean region by delays within several key stages of the criminal justice process, resulting in major backlogs of cases. The identified backlogs have been occasioned by pervasive human and technological resource and capacity constraints, which, in turn, have contributed to massive bottlenecks in the work of the investigators, public prosecutors and courts.
The reasons for these backlogs are numerous, ranging from weaknesses in police data capture, outdated court case handling systems and processes, paper-based evidence management systems, limited digitalization of corrections system processes and witness tampering and intimidation, which disproportionately affects women and victims of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence.
The Partnership of the Caribbean and European Union on Justice (PACE Justice) encompasses eight countries namely Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
The project’s ultimate objective is to: enhance the institutional capacities of police forces, prosecutors, lawyers, courts and prisons in the Caribbean to effectively and efficiently manage criminal cases and reduce the backlog of cases in the criminal justice sectors across the Caribbean region. To achieve these objectives, UNDP and partners will develop interventions for:
- The deployment of enabling technology and systems training to improve efficiency of criminal justice administration.
- The empowerment of stakeholders through gender-aware capacity building across all elements of the administration of justice, with a focus on service design and delivery.
Given the broad geographic and implementation scope of the project, a team has been established in the Barbados Multi-Country office. To support the implementation of the PACE Justice Programme, national Justice Sector Reform Committees (Working Committees) will also be established in each beneficiary country.
Under the direct supervision of the Team Lead- PACE Justice, the Digitization Expert IUNV will help to oversee the effective and ethical execution of the overall project. The duties encompass a targeted scope of work, addressing the need for enabling the sharing of data across various agencies and platforms, ensuring interoperability between and among criminal justice stakeholders, and the need to effect institutional and behavioral change such that citizens, residents, and judicial end-users feel confident in the modernization the criminal justice system with the end goal of enhancing access to justice and human rights considerations.
The UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1. Work closely with the PACE Working Committees in each of the beneficiary countries and other judicial stakeholders to map the workflow processes in targeted agencies with an aim to identify the agencies collecting data, agencies sharing data and how da-ta is shared. (e.g. collaborating with Police, DPP, Magistrates Court, High Court and Prison.) 2. Relying on the previous analysis of ICT needs, refine the data needs of justice sector agencies and make recommendations. 3. Produce concrete recommendations on the readiness and capacity of agencies to re-ceive hardware/software inputs from the project. 4. Develop a framework to govern the implementation of the hardware and software re-quirements of justice sector agencies. 5. Conduct training needs assessments and make strategic recommendations for training across justice sector agencies. 6. Develop and implement a project strategy for the strengthening of national and regional justice sector agencies to generate data required to support evidence-based decision making in beneficiary countries. 7. Provide technical in-country support to beneficiary countries (e.g. coordinating train-ings, conducting site visits). 8. Support national officers, Country Offices and other personnel by providing technical oversight and guidance. 9. Provide support to engineering teams to troubleshoot and resolve technical challenges and issues that arise during implementation. 10. Provide advisory services to governments, justice sector agencies, regional partners, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders on digitalization, modernization and interoperability.
Stakeholder Management 1. Act as a liaison between the UNDP and PACE Working Committees for digitization is-sues related to the project. 2. Collaborate with PACE Working Committees to gather project requirements and align expectations. Project Management Support 1. Assist with drafting and reviewing technical scopes, and Terms of Reference for pro-curement of all goods and services for the project.
Monitoring and Evaluation 1. Work with the M&E Analyst to prepare comprehensive project evaluation reports in re-spect of digitalization and modernization across the eight countries, including lessons learned and recommendations for future projects.
☒ Accountability ☒ Adaptability and Flexibility ☒ Building Trust ☒ Client Orientation ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Planning and Organizing ☒ Professionalism ☒ Respect for Diversity ☒ Self-Management ☒ Technological Awareness ☒ Vision ☒ Working in Teams ☒ Ethics and Values ☒ Integrity ☒ Judgement and Decision-making ☒ Knowledge Sharing
a combination of: • Project management, planning and implementation on technology-related engage-ments; • Experience working on development projects funded or supported by international financing institutions or multilateral development agencies. • Experience in developing or implementing digital strategies.
Experience working in criminal justice reform programmes would be a distinct asset.
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of North America, and is the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It has a population of 267,800 and lies on the boundary of the South American and the Caribbean Plates. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown. On 30 November 1966, Barbados gained independence and on 30 November 2021, transitioned to a Republic within the Commonwealth.
Conditions of the Contract:
The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity, and satisfactory performance.
Specific UN Volunteer entitlements, including insurance coverage, Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA), Expertise Differential, Deployment / Repatriation lump sums, among others, are available at https://app.unv.org/calculator.
Note: International Volunteers in Barbados are entitled to an additional Well-being Differential (WBD).
The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos
Potential interview questions
| Can you describe a time when you successfully digitized a process? | This question assesses your experience and capability in implementing technological changes. | Detail the project, your role, challenges faced, and the outcome. |
| How would you approach resistance from stakeholders in a digitization project? | This gauges your stakeholder management skills and adaptability. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What experience do you have with interoperability between different agency systems? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Describe how you would assess the training needs of justice sector personnel. | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What methods would you employ to ensure data is collected and shared effectively among agencies? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |