International Consultant – Cybercrime Evaluation in Central Asia (SSA)

Background:

Please note that this is a consultancy assignment of a temporary nature, with an expected duration of approximately 25-30 working days.

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairpersonship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions.

The Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), as part of the OSCE Secretariat, plays a key role as the focal point of OSCE-wide programmatic activities aiming at countering transnational threats and ensuring coordination and coherence of action across all three OSCE dimensions, among all executive structures while respecting their mandates.

The TNTD comprises the Co-ordination Cell (CC), the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU), the Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU) and the Border Security and Management Unit (BSMU).

As part of the TNTD, the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU) was set up to assist the participating States upon their request to address threats posed by criminal activity and to support general police development and reform. The SPMU serves as the organization’s main focal point for all OSCE police-related activities.

As part of its activities in the fight against cybercrime, TNTD/SPMU has been implementing the extra-budgetary project no. 1102092 “Capacity Building on Combating Cybercrime in Central Asia”. The objective of this project is to build up the capacities of the five OSCE participating States in Central Asia, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to train their police officers and prosecutors on various aspects of combating cybercrime.

In this context, TNTD/SPMU is looking for an experienced evaluator to conduct a decentralized evaluation of the project that will (a) analyse the intervention logic, (b) assess the project in accordance with selected OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, and (c) develop forward-looking recommendations to strengthen the OSCE’s future programmatic activities in this area.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

The selected consultant will be tasked with the following:

1.Author a brief inception report, including providing comments on the draft Terms of Reference (ToR) of the evaluation prepared by TNTD/SPMU, developing the evaluation methodology, and preparing a draft outline of the evaluation report in accordance with (selected) OECD-DAC evaluation criteria;

2.Finalize the ToR of the evaluation;

3.Conduct a detailed desk review of project documentation and other relevant subject matter documents provided by TNTD/SPMU and collect any other relevant quantitative and qualitative data;

4.Carry out semi-structured interviews with selected key stakeholders, including representatives of the project’s beneficiary institutions in Central Asia, experts involved in the project’s implementation, representatives of the OSCE field operations in Central Asia, representatives of the donor countries, as well as other relevant stakeholders;

5.Draft an evaluation report of not more than 40 pages (excluding annexes). The report shall cover the areas of the (selected) OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, and include recommendations that serve to enhance the OSCE’s programmatic engagement in the thematic field.

Necessary Qualifications:

•    A second-level university degree in social sciences, economics, project management, public policy, law, business management, international affairs or a related field;
•    Documented evaluation experience, which must include conducting evaluations of international projects or programmes for an inter-governmental organization, NGO, or government agency;
•    At least 8 years of professional experience in conducting decentralised evaluations of international projects or programmes;
•    Documented report-writing skills in English and the ability to convey complex information in a logical, clear and concise manner as demonstrated by previous evaluation reports/publications;
•    Experience with quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods;
•    Experience with evaluating international projects in the field of criminal justice or capacity-building for criminal justice sector would be a distinct asset;
•    Professional fluency in English including excellent communication and drafting skills; knowledge of the Russian language would be a distinct asset;
•    Demonstrated gender and marginalized group awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate such perspectives into tasks and activities;
•    Ability and willingness to work as a member of a team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
•    Computer literate with practical experience using various computer applications, including Microsoft Office Suite.

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant’s/expert’s qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE’s online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization. 

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.