The Assessment will be done at two levels. The first level assessment will focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of project implementation and the link between outputs and outcomes and their contribution to the attainment of the Strategy. A representative number of projects for detailed assessment will be selected from past and current projects on countering financing for terrorism including border security and aviation security. Care should be taken to ensure a balanced representation of regional and gender perspective of the projects selected.
The second level assessment will build on the 2018 OIOS audit to assess processes in UNOCT/UNCCT that support smooth and efficient implementation of projects on countering financing for terrorism including border security and aviation security of the programme as well as ensure that projects are effectively delivered to the beneficiaries and that deliverables contribute to the programme outcomes. The scope of the assessment will cover:
1. The efficiency, effectiveness and possible impact of completed projects and draw lessons for improved project delivery implementation;
2. The coordination, coherence and synergies among UN agencies and professional linkages with relevant global, regional and national counter-terrorism centres;
3. The trajectory of the current projects in relation to meeting the objectives of the 5-Year Programme and the Strategy;
4. Capacity of beneficiary countries in supporting the implementation of projects;
5. The assessment will also utilize both primary and secondary data to review how projects have mainstreamed cross-cutting issues of gender and human rights, and
6. Partnerships built by the Centre and effectiveness of internal coordination.
Methodological Approach
The assessment will be based on standard approaches and methodologies used to review and assess interventions. All major criteria from the OECD-DAC will be used. Particular focus will be on impact. Additionally, a criterion on Coordination has been included for this assignment. For a quick reference, OECD–DAC defines these evaluation criteria as follows:
a) Efficiency: relates to the costs and timeliness of implementation of the projects;
b) Effectiveness: relates to the extent to which the projects implemented during the period contributed towards achieving the outcomes of the 5-year programme;
c) Impacts: relates to among others, level of knowledge in beneficiary countries, capacity to counter terror attacks including welfare improvements at national;
d) Sustainability: relates to the positive outcomes of the projects and programme and their likelihood to continue beyond the horizon of the project; and
e) Coordination: The extent to which different actors and UN agencies interventions were harmonised to promote synergies, avoid gaps and duplications including coordination with member states.
Coordination Framework
The Expert will work in coordination with the Consultant for the overall assessment of the 5-year programme. The Expert will be reporting to the Chief, Office of the Under-Secretary General - UNOCT regrading all reports and any other deliverables pertaining to the assignment. The Expert will maintain continuous liaison with the Director-UNCCT on technical matters during the assignment. The Expert will work closely with the M&E Officer and frequently interact with the Project Managers during the assignment. The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will also facilitate the Expert’s continuous engagement with all the Reference Group members and related institutions. The Reference Group will comprise monitoring and evaluation and subject matter experts external to UNOCT and provide quality assurance. The Reference Group who will support the work of the Experts will, upon request, review the work of the experts to ensure that the product is informative and of the highest quality and submitted in a timely manner, according to agreed deadlines and work plans.
Deliverables
Under the leadership of the Consultant the Expert will submit the following reports:
• an inception report with the proposed methodological approach (3-5 pages without
• annexes). Upon approval this report will be combined with the overall inception report.
• a final draft assessment report (about 10-12 pages without annexes), including a draft executive summary and the results-assessment form (part of the reporting requirement)
• a final assessment report (10-12 pages without annexes), including the final executive summary and the results-assessment form (part of the reporting requirement)
• a realistic action plan with clear targets of improvement for the remaining of the 5 - year programme.
• All reports need to be written in English or French.
• The executive summary should summarize key findings and recommendations (1-2 pages) and needs to be submitted as part of the final draft report.
• The findings and recommendations of the draft final report and the final report must be structured according to the evaluation questions. An outline of the report’s structure will be agreed upon during the inception phase.
The quality of the reports will be judged according to the following criteria:
• Is the results-matrix format part of the report?
• Does the report contain a comprehensive and clear executive summary?
• Were the Terms of Reference fulfilled and is this reflected in the report?
• Is the report structured according to the specified OECD/DAC criteria?
• Are the methods and processes of the assessment sufficiently documented in the evaluation report?
• Does the report describe and assess the intervention logic (e.g. log frame, program theory) and present/analyze a theory of change and its underlying assumptions?
• Are cross-cutting issues analyzed in the report?
• Are the conclusions and recommendations based on findings and are they clearly stated in the report?
• Does the report clearly differentiate between conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations?
• Are the recommendations realistic and is it clearly expressed to whom the recommendations are addressed to?
• Were the most significant stakeholders involved consulted?
• Does the report present the information contained in a presentable and clearly arranged form?
• Is the report free from spelling mistakes and unclear linguistic formulations?
• Can the report be distributed in the delivered form?
Home based
8 months
Background and rationale
Suppressing the financing of terrorism is a vital component of national and international counter-terrorism efforts. Non-profit Organizations (NPOs) play an essential role in providing charitable services around the world, often under challenging circumstances and in remote regions, to those in need. The international community recognizes the invaluable social and humanitarian relief supplementing the governments' efforts supplied by the non-profit organizations. The NPO sector often benefits from representational and self-regulatory organizations that have developed standards and initiatives to help individual NPOs ensure accountability and transparency in their operations, including strengthened internal controls and risk mitigation measures. Such mechanisms help the non-profit sector acquire resilience and sufficient safeguards from the threat of terrorist financing.
The United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2462 (2019), which served as a landmark call from the United Nations to all Member States on the urgency to suppress terrorist financing. The resolution constituted an important step forward in the international community's efforts against terrorism financing by consolidating existing obligations in a single document, expanding the focus to include key emerging issues, addressing critical concerns over the potentially negative impact of counterterrorism measures on impartial and much needed humanitarian programming, and emphasizing the importance of strengthening international cooperation to ensure the exchange of relevant financial intelligence. The importance of countering terrorism financing is also emphasized in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and in its biennial review resolutions, which encourage UN entities to continue to assist the Member States upon their request to fully implement their respective international obligations to combat the financing of terrorism.
In light of such needs, the UNOCT-UNCCT Global Coordinated Programme on Detecting, Preventing and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (the CFT Programme) aims to help strengthen Member States' capacities to detect, prevent and counter the financing of terrorism, following relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations. The CFT Programme seeks to build awareness and capacities on best practices related to countering the financing of terrorism, share knowledge and experiences, and build effectiveness on the implementation of FATF counter-terrorist financing recommendations, including protection of the non-profit sector against terrorist financing through focused trainings and awareness-raising events. One of the Programme's key priorities is to assist the interested Member States on the protection of the non-profit sector from terrorist abuse.
The Republic of Tajikistan has made progress to amend the NPO sector legislation and appoint the regulatory body for the NPO sector. However, the Eurasian Group on Money Laundering (EAG) advises (i) building the capacity to conduct a risk assessment, (ii) raising and extending the awareness of NPOs about the potential vulnerabilities, (iii) improving collaboration between the regulator and NPOs in developing and improving best practices to address terrorist financing risks, and (iv) building the capacity of regulator to conduct risk-based supervision or control over the activities of NPOs.
As per the outreach of the Republic of Tajikistan to UNOCT-UNCCT, the CFT programme seeks to achieve the following objectives through its support:
- Building the capacity of the designated regulator, other national authorities, and the NPO sector to assess the terrorist-financing risks in the NPO sector and apply a risk-based approach while protecting human rights and international humanitarian standards.
- Provide best practices on domestic cooperation, coordination, and information-sharing amongst authorities that hold relevant information on domestic NPOs.
The work of the consultant would help in preparing and delivering presentations and in facilitating the discussions during the national capacity-building activity, which will be organized under the CFT Programme.
This consultancy is for a period of 100 days over a period of eight months in 2022 and 2023 to support implementing FATF Recommendation 8 in Tajikistan.
Result of Service
The overall goal is to assist the relevant agencies in the Republic of Tajikistan to protect the NPOs from terror financing abuse and comply with FATF recommendation 8 and IO.10 (relevant core issues), which relates to protecting the NPO sector from terrorist abuse. Building on the progress made in Tajikistan, with the close coordination and cooperation with UNCCT Central Asia Unit, EAG, and other key-UN entities, these foreseen activities will raise awareness of the NPO sector and build the capacity of the public agencies to safeguard the NPO sector from terrorist abuse and carry risk-based approach.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the supervision of the UNOCT-UNCCT Project Manager on CFT and in coordination with the CFT Project Team, UNCCT Central Asia Unit, and the EAG, the consultant would undertake the following responsibilities:
• Review the source documents concerning NPOs, including but not limited to FATF/EAG Mutual Evaluation Reports, Follow-up Reports, Policies, and Procedures of Tajikistan in relation to the NPO sector, United Nations agencies reports, and other relevant documents. Recommend any required amendments in the legislation, Policies, Procedures, and Guidance material as a priority activity.
• Provide support and assist the assigned working group in conducting an NPO sector review and TF risk assessment and assigning risk criteria. The support includes the development of questionnaires, data collection, data analysis, report writing, risk weighting, assigning risk criteria, and providing coaching support, among others.
• Conduct a combination of five in-person and online consultative missions (subject to COVID19) with the NPO sector regulator, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), Financial Intelligence Unit, NPO sector, and other competent authorities on the NPO sector risk assessment and other Action Plan items.
• Development of the methodological guidance paper on risk-based supervision of the NPO sector.
• Development of a comprehensive outreach plan for at-risk NPOs in consultation with the relevant authorities and EAG.
• Delivery of five onsite events in the Republic of Tajikistan between 01 November 2022-31 June 2023. Each event should be between 1-3 days. In the event of Covid 19 pandemic limitations, the mode of delivery will be agreed in coordination with the Republic of Tajikistan and UNOCT-UNCCT. These events should be focused on:
o Raising awareness of the NPO sector delivering best practices and typologies to safeguard the NPO sector from terrorist abuse and enhance cooperation and coordination with the public agencies. [3 events]
o Building the capacity of the regulator, LEAs, and other competent authorities, including the NPO sector implementing FATF recommendations and addressing the deficiencies identified in the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) and TA Action Plan developed by EAG. Specifically, capacity building should include risk-based supervision, inter-agency cooperation, reporting, and a feedback regime. [2 events]
• In coordination with the CFT team, UNCCT Central Asia Unit, and EAG, develop the background material, substantive mission reports, and logistics for the five events and consultative missions.
• Report at the end of each event, providing operational and technical conclusions and comments to help define the way forward on which to base further national CFT activities concerning the NPO sector. All duties and engagements mentioned in this TOR should be verifiable and carry supporting documents
Education: Advanced University Degree (Master's or equivalent) in international relations, economics, or law, with emphasis or specialization in international law, international financial flows, or domestic financial regulatory regimes. A combination of relevant academic qualifications and extensive practical experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
At least 7 years' scholar and/or operational experience in the field of countering financial crimes and terrorist financing in the non-profit sector, either as a practitioner in the sector, or regulator, supervisor, and investigator in the law enforcement agencies or similar experience. At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in conceptualizing and designing counter-terrorism or capacity-building programming, especially in the field of combating the financing of terrorism and protecting the NPO Sector from terrorist abuse, including in the private sector
Experience in working with relevant United Nations bodies and other key multilateral forums, including FATF and its standards and FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs), and understanding the implementation and requirements of UN-mandated sanctions. Experience in research and analysis related to the role of the private sector in the fight against terrorism. Experience in developing policies, tools, and guidelines and designing financial regulatory regimes on asset freezing and legal systems on designations of terrorist individuals and entities. Experience in working with national finance and treasury officials, offices of the attorneys-general, judges, lawyers, private sector entities, and law enforcement officials is desirable
The consultant should have at least three years of operational experience in terrorist financing risk assessment in the Eurasian region and/or Central Asian countries and should have working experience with the Euroasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism (EAG) – Financial Action Task Force Style Regional Body (FSRB).
Languages: Proficiency in English and Russian
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.