TERMS OF REFERENCE

PROJECT SENIOR LEGAL OFFICER

Type of contract

Full Time/Fixed Term

Issue Date

20th December 2023

Application Deadline

5th January 2024

Number of positions

1

Grade of the position

2-T

Duty Station

Kigali, Rwanda (With frequent travels to Rubavu, Rusizi and Bugarama)

Duration

12 months (renewable subject to funding)

Where the context allows, words importing the singular should include the plural and vice-versa, and words importing the masculine include the feminine and vice-versa.

BACKGROUND
Initiatives for Peace and Human Rights (iPeace) is a non-profit organization that works for sustainable peace in the Great Lakes region through human rights and good governance education. iPeace is legally registered and operational in Rwanda, DRC, and Burundi with a mission to equip communities and individuals with knowledge and skills to build a global culture of peace. The organization’s vision is to see the Great Lakes Region become a place where community members and leaders work together by holding each other accountable in upholding human rights values and principles of good governance.

With financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, iPeace in consortium with International Alert and Pole Institute is implementing the “UHAKI BILA MIPAKA” project. This project aims to contribute to strengthening access to justice for people in the cities across the borders between the DRC and Rwanda.

To achieve this objective, iPeace is implementing several activities including the provision of free legal aid to cross-border populations, the capacity building of judicial actors, as well as the training of young academics in international humanitarian law and human rights. This project will be carried out in the Western Province, especially in Rubavu, Rusizi and Bugarama.

It is in this context that iPeace is looking for a qualified person who will successfully and efficiently coordinate the activities of this project.

SCOPE OF WORK
iPeace-Rwanda is looking for an accomplished Senior Legal Officer to manage and organize all the legal aspects of the project, from simple activities to more complex plans.

The Senior Legal officer is an important position for this project with overall responsibility for managing, monitoring and coordinating the delivery of legal aid activities and ensuring effective engagement with other key stakeholders and partners.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate the ability to be a quick decision-maker, ability to lead a diverse team of colleagues from different backgrounds and to liaise with other implementing partner organizations to ensure operational and programmatic effectiveness.

Ultimately, the Senior Legal Officer’s tasks are to ensure that all legal aid activities are completed on time, within budget and meet high quality standards.

RESPONSIBILITIES
The responsibilities of the Senior Legal Officer will include the following:

Coordinate and manage the project legal aid activities, including monitoring of key developments in relation to proceedings, cases and decisions.
Coordinate and oversee the development of strategic legal publications including documentation of relevant cases and production of legal aid reports
Coordinate and oversee legal research and analysis to generate the legal requests, amicus briefs and other submissions, in conjunction with the project coordinator.
Supervise and ensure that legal officers’ duties related to hearing, filing, drafting and following up cases in IECMS is done adequately and timely.
Contribute to and engage with campaigns, advocacy programmes and related strategies undertaken under the project.
Liaise with the project coordinator to ensure proper reporting of legal aid activities in the project
QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS REQUIRED

Qualifications and experience below are required from any candidate:

Bachelor’s degree in Law required and advanced university degree preferred, with at least 3 years of professional experience relevant to this post among the following areas: provision of legal aid services in remote rural areas, domestic or international criminal law, international humanitarian law, or international human rights law.
Extensive experience working in Rwanda including within legal institutions, as well as experience working in the NGO sector.
Demonstrated management skills with significant experience in a mid-to-senior level management
Advanced advocacy skills and experience identifying and crafting advocacy messages and strategies relevant to this post.
Strong awareness of and commitment to legal needs of vulnerable people.
Excellent integrated communication skills: spoken/representation and effective inter-personal skills with the proven ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships across diverse partnerships, colleagues and actors.
Extremely attentive to accuracy and detail, highly organized with demonstrated ability to work well under pressure regarding deadlines, workload and unexpected developments.
Ability, willingness and flexibility to travel in remote rural areas in difficult conditions and respond to a range of environments.
Highly advanced computer literacy skills, experience with social media also an asset.
Excellence in written and spoken English and Kinyarwanda is essential. Knowledge of French would be considered an asset.
Developed legal research, writing and editorial skills with experience in developing high quality material suitable for publication.