Apply as Legal Adviser at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Full Time

Job Title: Legal Adviser

Location: Dakar, Senegal
Institution: Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money laundering and financing terrorism in West Africa (GIABA / ECOWAS)
Grade: P4
Status: Permanent
Directorate: Directorate Evaluation and Compliance
Division: Legal and Law Enforcement
Line Supervisor: Principal Officer, Legal And Law Enforcement Officer
Supervising: Legal Officers

Role Overview

• Under the supervision and guidance of the Principal Officer, Legal and Law Enforcement Officer, shall be responsible for following functions.

Role and Responsabilities

• Supervise the Legal unit ;
• Coordinate mutual evaluations of member States ;
• Participate fully in GIABA mutual evaluation exercises and draft reports on sections of the mutual evaluation reports (MERs) covering relevant recommendations and immediate outcomes ;
• Organize assessors training; pre-assessment training; training on FATF Standards and Methodology;
• Analyze follow up reports by Member States;
• Organize the GIABA Evaluation and Compliance Group meetings;
• Undertake the identification, design and implementation of capacity building activities in the legal sector;
• Organize capacity building activities on issues in Legal area for relevant stakeholders in Member States;
• Assist in the development and revision AML/CFT legal framework at national and regional levels;
• Participate in other capacity building activities organized by other units or divisions other than legal unit ;
• Provide inputs into revision of FATF Standards; Methodology; Guidance and Best Practice papers; Universal ME Procedures; and GIABA ME Processes and Procedure and other instruments for the purpose of improving the AML/CFT compliance by Member States;
• Participate in FATF working group and plenary meetings as part of GIABA delegation as at and when necessary;
• Produce draft reports for GIABA Statutory meetings (TC/Plenary; GMC and any other fora);
• Provide the inputs into GIABA Annual reports, Strategic Plans; Annual Work Plan or any other relevant publications of GIABA and/or Members of the AML/CFT Global Network;
• Participate in the mutual evaluations and training activities by other assessment bodies either as an expert or delegate as the case may be;
• Participate in the technical assistance needs assessments of Member States in the area of legal issues relating to AML/CFT compliance;
• Serve as part of the in-house legal team to GIABA Secretariat;
• Serve as a Member of designated committees of GIABA Secretariat as maybe assigned from time to time;
• Perform any other duties that may be assigned to him by the supervisor.

Academic Qualifications And Experience

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Law, with a specialization in international, administrative or commercial law from a recognized university;
• 7 years progressively responsible experience as a lawyer in the legal office of an intergovernmental organization or private consultancy firm is desirable;
• Knowledge of  international law; ability to apply legal expertise to analyzing a diverse range of complex and unusual legal issues and problems and in developing innovative and creative solutions;
• Knowledge of legal issues relating to the functions, structure and activities of international organizations;
• Proficiency in legal writing and ability to prepare legal briefs, opinions, or legal submissions, and a variety of legal instruments and related documents.

Age Limit:

• Be below 50 years old. This provision does not apply to internal candidates.

Ecowas Key Competencies:

• Ability to get groups to work together cooperatively, by enlisting active involvement, creating a climate for respect and openness, and applying effective techniques for group facilitation, explore their potentials, motivate  and guide them;
• Organize and lead cross-divisional workgroup in developing creative solutions to address problems and or lead a small group of entry-level professionals and administrative support staff;
• Ability to respect chain of command in an appropriate manner;
• Develop on-the-job training techniques paired with excellent coaching and mentoring skills; knowledge of new staff orientation approaches to facilitate understanding of the position and organization;
• Ability to assign work to direct reports and provide timely and consistent feedback regarding technical proficiency and effectiveness;
• Ability to represent the organization effectively before external parties.
• Ability to consider the impact of a shift in programmatic direction to the needs of internal and external stakeholders;
• Ability to promote and consider staff feedback to streamline processes in order to meet deadlines of relevance to client expectations;
• Ability to consistently maintain composure and direction in high- pressure situations;
• Develop problem-solving, mediation and conflict resolution skills to address discrepancies, complaints, bottlenecks, time constraints affecting quality and quantity of client services;
• Ability to anticipate growing client needs and expectations to continuously improve quality, timelines, service delivery and addressing client questions in a timely manner;
• Ability to communicate openly with clients, keeping them informed of progress and issues requiring attention/resolutions;
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to implement programmatic changes in a manner that ensures a biased-free work environment, fair and equitable application to new rules/regulations;
• Experience and ability to adhere to policies, goals, objectives, and principles of valuing diversity in performing everyday duties and responsibilities; promoting/modeling behaviors that demonstrate tolerance and understanding of various cultures;
• Ability to remain objective in managing conflict regardless of cultural differences /positions, gender differences, and encourage other staff to overcome cultural and gender bias and  differences;
• Ability to build value from leveraging diverse capabilities and inputs from various cultures, staff and clients;
• Ability and responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work;
• Ability to create a diverse and inclusive interactive environment that benefits from diverse strengths bringing together innovative practices;
• Ability to seek out best practices to make organizational decisions of relevance to diversity management, ensuring that project and program activities identify vulnerable areas and contain systemic checks.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS institutions and how the different organs relate to each other, particularly as it relates to own work sector/programs;
•  Knowledge of approaches to policy and program development of  an international organization as well as project management ;
• Knowledge of the rules, processes and procedures of an international organization, of pertinence to tasks related to own position;
• Knowledge of member states development trends, indicators, challenges and opportunities as it relates to project/programme assigned to own position.
• Creativity and flexibility to deviate from traditional methods in developing new procedures, processes and tools, using technology to simplify methods and approaches whenever possible;
• Ability to reevaluate current procedures and suggest improvements to ensure an effective, streamlined process;
• Ability to gather and summarize information to predict stakeholder views on a new policy/programmes; and excellent analytical skills to assess external policies and trends when reviewing policy/programme options, pros, cons and recommendations;
• Ability to synthesize complex information gathered from a variety of external and internal sources and disseminate it to others in a logical manner;
• Ability to apply appropriate methodology to discover or identify policy issues and resource concerns.
• Ability to evaluate, incorporate, and communicate the latest developments in specialty area using institution/agency guidelines and criteria;
• Develop interpersonal, negotiation, networking and presentation skills with proven abilities to influence, explain complex information and demonstrate empathy and open-mindedness;
• Ability to demonstrate operational proficiency in the use of computer in communicating using technology tools;
• Ability to convey information clearly and concisely in a succinct and organized manner through both written and verbal expressions;
• Exhibit active listening skills to encourage stronger communication amongst  team members, to show care and make them feel valued and to  drive employee engagement in all institutions and agencies;
• Proficiency in  information communication technologies(ICT);
• Fluency in oral and written expressions in one of the ECOWAS official languages of the Community (English, French & Portuguese). Knowledge of any additional one will be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of internal planning cycles and ability to contribute to the development and to implement Community-wide or institution policy by determining target audience, building coalitions with the appropriate population, and monitor progress;
• Ability to consider external circumstances, factors and trends when organizing project activities to ensure the best outcomes;
• Ability to review process outcomes, correspondence, reports, and policy documents to develop achievable plans;
• Ability to conduct meetings with staff, stakeholders, colleagues and others to ascertain  organizational  program and/or project needs, making adjustments to plans and activities accordingly;
• Ability to adjust project plans based on input from staff and stakeholders and/or ability to design and implement guidelines, tools and templates to accommodate new or revised programmes and services.

Annual Salary
UA50,354.45 – USD 79,449.26

Application Closing Date
19th November, 2020.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download the Application Form below, fill it out correctly; attach a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Motivation Letter and send to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.