Job Description

UNDP works to improve the lives of vulnerable communities, with the overarching objective of preventing loss of development gains, promoting human rights, and finding sustainable pathways to development. UNDP projects under the democratic governance portfolio aims to strengthen state institutions, support democratic development and the rule of law, ensure crisis prevention, support policy development, and integrate gender equality into all areas of work. UNDP works to support the human rights ecosystem by strengthening human rights institutions to promote and protect human rights for all.

This UNV assignment is part of UNDP Pakistan’s Decentralization, Human Rights and Local Governance (DHL) project. The DHL project is a multi-sector project aimed at strengthening rights-based development, community stabilization, gender equality, and social inclusion across all regions and provinces of Pakistan. The core objective of the project is to ensure inclusive and equitable service delivery by providing technical assistance and capacity development support to relevant federal ministries, provincial line departments, statutory bodies, civil society, and private sector organizations. A key aim is to support the creation of an enabling environment for accelerated access to rights, people-centered justice, and people-centered security. The project focuses on institution building while connecting with vulnerable and at-risk communities to build trust between rights.

Under the European Union supported Huqooq-e-Pakistan II program, UNDP-DHL is engaged with institutes of higher education to design curriculum and knowledge materials that are predicated on respect for human rights, tolerance and inclusivity. This also entails the facilitation of an exchange of best practices between academic stakeholders in Pakistan and international partners, primarily through the platform of a human rights education centre. The centre will act as a resource hub for key partners such as academia, students, NHRIs, CSOs and government stakeholders by providing technical support such as academic advisory services, developing strategies for digitization of human rights data, advocacy support, training workshops and by facilitating access to knowledge materials.

 Task description:

 Develop knowledge materials relevant to the nexus between digitization and human rights

·         Conduct research on global best practices for utilizing digital tools for the promotion of human rights, including in relation to supporting key partners such as NHRIs and government stakeholders to fulfill their mandate.

·         Develop briefs, presentations and research papers that identify new opportunities and suggest innovative strategies for integrating innovative strategies pertaining to digitization with Pakistan’s human rights monitoring and reporting obligations. 

·         Evaluate the efficacy of existing digital tools being utilized for rights-based governance in Pakistan, including the Human Rights Information Management System (HRIMS), and identify gaps that need to be addressed.

·         Conduct research on human rights indicators for digital systems and develop briefs and reports on international and regional best practices for digital monitoring of human rights obligations.

·         Provide support to UNDP-DHL and its key partners by identifying areas for collaboration relevant to human rights digitization.

·         Maintain a repository of key documents, concept notes and briefs to facilitate the exchange of information between UNDP-DHL and its key partners including, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), federal and provincial government entities, and National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).   

Facilitate the expansion of the Digitization Lab at the Human Rights Education Center by contributing to the development of a network collaborating on human rights digitization

·         Contribute to the development of knowledge-exchange networks relevant to human rights digitization by liaising with relevant stakeholders such as government departments, digitization experts, NHRIs, CSOs and research organizations.

·         Provide advisory services to key partners of the human rights education center that seek support for integrating digital tools within their operations.

·         Collaborate with the Training Coordinator at the Human Rights Education Center to design and administer training modules for supporting partners to adopt digital solutions developed under the Huqooq-e-Pakistan II programme.

·         Collaborate with the Academic Coordinator and the Human Rights Education Officer to identify and collate human rights education resource materials and support the development of a digital library of human rights education resources.

·         Develop strategies for identifying new areas of work relevant to digitization for UNDP-DHL, including but not limited to the development of digital complaints-resolution mechanisms and mapping of trends relevant to rights-based governance.

·         Support UNDP-DHL to identify digital solutions applicable to the decentralized governance landscape of Pakistan, including for the monitoring and implementation of human rights policies at the federal, provincial and local levels.

·         Support key partners such as the Ministry of Human Rights and provincial line departments by leading the identification of up-to-date human rights indicators relevant to Pakistan’s treaty-body reporting obligations.

·         Liaise with the Communications Expert at the Human Rights Education Center to develop strategies for raising awareness regarding the Digitization Lab’s work and to conduct meaningful advocacy relevant to human rights digitization. 

Support UNDP-DHL to integrate digitized approaches to human rights governance across its thematic areas of work

·         Collaborate with the Human Rights Education team at UNDP-DHL to conduct research on integrating digital solutions across its key areas of work, including the development of digital knowledge materials and courses.

·         Support the Business and Human Rights Specialist to identify opportunities for integrating digitized systems for monitoring and implementing Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) best practices across the value chains of key sectors.

·         Conduct research on facilitating NHRIs to fulfill their mandate through the utilization of digital solutions, especially in the areas of complaints resolution and monitoring of violations.

·         Analyze the potential of artificial intelligence to support effective human rights governance across UNDP-DHL’s different areas of work.

·         Support UNDP-DHL to design and administer training modules related to the nexus between artificial intelligence and the promotion of human rights and social inclusion.

Support UNDP-DHL to advocate for the adoption of digitized solutions geared towards the protection of at-risk groups, including religious minorities that are vulnerable to violence linked to online hate speech.

The Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance will be PKR 183,920/-.