The UN has announced a grant to pilot various ways of providing legal assistance.

The UN Peacebuilding Program is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Framework for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (FAO).

This call for proposals involves the selection of one NGO (to implement a project in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) and aims to identify the best way to provide legal aid in the context of its decentralization and to advocate for this method in pilot communities. Start of project implementation - January 2021.

The main purpose of the task is to pilot the possibility of providing legal assistance in the amounts specified by the Law of Ukraine "On Free Legal Aid" (primary legal aid), changing, however, the place of providing services from legal aid offices closer to the direct beneficiaries of such legal aid. The result of this initiative will be to determine the best way to implement the process of decentralization of legal aid, which in the future may be extended to the rest of Ukraine, and to pilot the organization of legal aid at the expense of local budgets.

The project also includes a campaign to raise awareness of the local population about the possibility of receiving legal aid both under the project and from the state system of free legal aid, which in turn should have a positive impact on the general level of legal awareness of the population. 

Expected Results

• alternative possibilities of the organization of rendering of legal aid are piloted;
• positive and negative results and aspects of the pilot project were obtained and recorded;
• increased awareness of the local population about the existence of the BPD system and its functions, the possibility of obtaining legal assistance;
• advocacy activities were carried out before local self-government bodies regarding the need to organize and support the provision of legal aid;
• the results of the project are presented at the national level.

Duration

Project duration - up to 14 months. Start of project implementation - January 2021.

Eligibility Criteria

• Public or charitable organizations that will submit project proposals for this competition must meet the following mandatory requirements:
  • be officially registered with the status of a legal entity;
  • have the status of a non-profit or charitable organization (non-profit codes 0032, 0034, 0036, 0038, 0039 or 0048);
  • have at least one year of experience in providing legal assistance;
  • have proven experience in implementing at least two projects and reporting on them;
  • have appropriate specialists and project staff for its implementation (project manager, financial specialist / accountant and other specialists according to the needs of the project). If the involvement of specialists is envisaged only if the project proposal is supported, the descriptive application should contain the key requirements that will be set for each of the specialists provided by the project (profile education, work experience, etc.);
  • have experience in advocacy at the local, regional and national levels.
• Personnel involved in the project must meet the following requirements:
  • the project team should consist of at least: a project coordinator (responsible for the overall coordination of project implementation and submission of relevant reports to the UN Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Program), an accountant (responsible for accounting and financial reporting), and persons directly involved in project implementation;
  • higher legal education of project team members (this requirement applies to the project manager and persons (lawyers) responsible for the direct implementation of the project);
  • experience in the public sector for at least three years (for the project manager);
  • work experience in the field of law:
    • for the project manager - not less than 3 years;
    • for project lawyers - not less than 2 years.
  • experience in the field of legal aid:
    • for the project manager - not less than 2 years;
    • for project lawyers - not less than 1 year.
  • preferably - previous experience with the system of free legal aid (for the project manager and lawyers);
  • knowledge of languages - fluency in Ukrainian and Russian;
  • the accountant must have higher education (related to accounting), work experience in the field of accounting for at least two years;
  • readiness to implement all rules and regulations of cooperation proposed by the international donor;
  • Staff employment:
    • project manager - no more than 0.5 rate;
    • accountant - no more than 0.25 rate;
    • persons directly responsible for the implementation of the project - full employment.
• Territories of the competition, requirements for registration and experience of organizations:
  • Mandatory territories are the part of Donetsk region controlled by the government of Ukraine: Maryinka, Volnovakha, Mangush district.
  • The application must also include proposals for 3 locations in Luhansk region (territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine; at least 2 proposed locations - within 20 kilometers from the line of contact).

For more information, visit UNDP.