URGENT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

General Information

• Project: EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine
• Title: Customs Training and Standards Coordinator
• Duty Station: Odessa, Ukraine
• Level: P4 equivalent
• Contract Type: SSA
• Duration: Initially for six months with possibility of extension of up to 18 additional months

Apply To: vacancies-bam@undp.org indicating "BAM Customs Training and Standards Coordinator " in the subject line of your application.

or by fax to +380 44 253 26 07

Additional information about the Mission can be provided by Ms. Klavdia Maksimenko, at klavdia.maksimenko@undp.org in UNDP office in Ukraine

Background

The European Commission and UNDP have undertaken preparatory work towards the establishment of an EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine. This Mission will notably help enhance the capacities of Moldovan and Ukrainian services to adequately ensure customs and border controls and border surveillance along their common border. Posts of Border Monitors will be filled by civil servants seconded from the national administrations of EU Member States, including customs administrations, border police, or other relevant national agencies.

The Mission’s ‘core staff’ will be competitively selected on the basis of individually submitted applications corresponding to the enclosed job descriptions, and will be directly hired and remunerated by the Mission. A vacancy for the ‘core staff’ posts is being published on October 22^nd in the international press (‘The Economist’).

The Border Assistance Mission is expected to commence on 1 December 2005 and UNDP is expected to undertake all necessary advance work to ensure that staff, project offices and equipment and ready by early December.

The initial duration of the assignment will be up to six months, and is funded by the EC Rapid Reaction Mechanism. It is expected that the Mission will be continued for additional 18 months, funded by Tacis. Upon satisfactory performance of duties, Mission staff will be asked to extend their assignment to the Tacis-financed phase of the Border Assistance Mission.

Description of Responsibilities

The Customs Training and Standards Coordinator will be in charge of overseeing and developing / coordinating the customs standards and best practices delivered by the project staff. He/she will need to acquire and maintain a full view of the applicable Ukrainian and Moldovan customs legislation and practice and ensure (through short induction courses and / or the elaboration of a manual), that, the mission's staff have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the countries" legislation which they are to help their counterparts implement. She/he will in parallel need to elaborate by analogy a 'handbook" îf the EC customs legislation and îf good practices from EU member states. The latter will aim to guide the daily work of the mission's staff in the transmission of EU standards and practices to their counterparts. Following the initial period, the Customs Training and Standards Coordinator will be in a position to identify specific gaps areas on which on-the-job training should focus during the mission, but also on which specific legislative or organizational reforms / training courses should focus from a structural capacity-building perspective in the medium term. He/she will keep a close overview of the activities of related customs reform projects from other donors. Jointly with the Border Management Coordinator, he/she will in particular work on elaborating elements for an increasingly integrated border management approach between customs and border guards services in Moldova and Ukraine.

Competencies

The Customs Training and Standards Coordinator must have extensive experience in, and knowledge of, EU customs law and practice, including a comparative and conceptual overview, as well as an understanding of border policing/immigration issues through cooperative operational experience. She/he should have experience in customs approximation process, preferably in transition countries (possibly as a twinning advisor). He/she should be fluent in English and possess good drafting skills. Knowledge îf Russian and/or Ukrainian and/or Moldovan/Romanian will be a distinct asset.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews

This post is open for EU citizens only