National Consultant: Development of Legislative Instrument (Births & Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027) - Open to Ghanaian Nationals only

Contract

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A new Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027) was passed by Parliament and received Presidential assent in December 2020. The Act which replaces Act 301 and provides for the decentralisation of the Births and Deaths Registry (BDR) in line with the decentralisation programme of the country.

Ghana’s decentralisation programme is aimed at empowering local populations at the district level to take decisions that affect their lives. As a result, the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462) envisaged the reconstitution of the twenty-two decentralised departments at the district level into sixteen departments in the Metropolitan Assemblies, thirteen in the Municipal Assemblies and eleven in the District Assemblies through various forms of mergers. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was to bring about the creation of these decentralised departments through a Legislative Instrument. This was done by the Local Government (Department of District Assemblies) Commencement Instrument, 2009 (L.I. 1961). Some of the departments that were to be part of these decentralised departments as specified in the Second Schedule to L.I. 1961 were established by Acts of Parliament. The Acts establishing them, therefore, needed to be amended or reviewed to bring them in line with the general decentralisation framework.

The Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1965 (Act 301) was one such legislation. It created the BDR under the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) as a centralised department of government with local offices in designated places as registration districts. It made the BDR responsible for the registration of all births and deaths in the country, contributing to the generation of vital statistics, defining standards and quality control procedures for the collection and use of the records and information collected through the registration system and guarantees the privacy and security of those records.

The new Act 1027 is intended to assign responsibility for the registration of births and deaths to MMDAs who in consultation with the Registrar, are required to appoint a District Registrars and Registration Officers for the district office of the BDR. The purpose of the new act is therefore to allow for the registration of births and deaths in the whole country and make the District Registrar responsible to the MMDAs to ensure that all registration officers at post continue in employment. In order to make the implementation of the law easy, it is necessary that the Legislative Instrument (L.I) to the law be developed as soon as possible and pave the way for ease of decentralisation of BDR.

Purpose

The overall purpose of the assignment is to provide technical support for the development of a Legislative Instrument (L.I.) based on the new Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027), which aligns with Ghana’s current decentralisation process.

Specific Tasks

In close collaboration with the BDR and under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist (NOC) and overall guidance of the Chief of Child Protection programme, the consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:

1. Undertake a review of the new Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (ACT 1027), and any other document relevant to the drafting of L.I. The consultant will also be required to conduct semi-structured interviews where necessary with key stakeholder to collect additional information needed to develop the LI. Based on the review, submit an initial draft of the L.I. to BDR for consideration.
2. Attend two subsequent consultations to be organised by BDR and incorporate feedback from these two consultations and other reviews in the original draft.
3. Present the draft L.I. at the validation meeting and incorporate the feedback from validation in the final draft and share the final document back with BDR
4. Help BDR draft a memorandum to the L.I. to be sent to the Cabinet by the MLGDRD.
5. The BDR will be responsible for organising the consultations and will support the consultant in setting up the meetings with relevant stakeholders.

Expected Deliverables

1. Initial good quality draft L.I. submitted

2. Second improved version of the draft L.I. submitted

3. Third and improved version of the draft shared after validation

4. Draft memorandum to the L.I is shared

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Master’s Degree in Law or other related field with (10) years progressive experience within the Ghanaian legislative and justice system
• An understanding of the decentralisation mechanisms and the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics framework in Ghana particularly, the operations of the Office of the Head of Local Government Service
• Fluency in Spoken and written English
• Excellent research, assessment and analysis skills with strong report writing abilities.
• Good computer skills and familiarity with standard software applications is required.

The candidate should have proven competencies in the following areas:

1. Legal drafting
2. Communication, including strong facilitation and advocacy skills
3. Planning and Organising

NB: Refer to the attached TOR for more details on the assignment CP - TOR National Birth Death Registry Legislative.pdf

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.