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Ref.
2026/DRRL/15199

Job offer type
Field staff jobs

Type of contract
Service contract

Estimated budget
Approx. 9 days/months

Activity sectors
Global threats and organized crime

Deadline date
2026/05/03 23:59

Duration of the assignment
Beaded expertise

Contract
Freelancer

Duration
20 months

Mission description

The Country Representative will serve as the primary representative of the Project Director within his/her assigned countries in the region. In this capacity, he/she will be tasked with developing with implementing tailored strategies to engage with States and organizations, in accordance with the intervention logic, ensuring a context-specific and effective approach to regional cooperation and project implementation.

After consulting the LATAM Regional Representative, he/she is to organise high-level engagement with senior officials in his/her countries of responsibility, particularly in relation to MARCO3 courses and exercises (formulation and scope), in close coordination with the Exercise and Training Managers.

The Country Representative will propose activities for validation, encouraging new initiatives in accordance with available budget, engaging directly with beneficiary organisations on behalf of the Project Director. He/she will then implement courses and exercises.

Part of his/her responsibility is to promote the use of the IORIS information-exchange system, and with guidance from the Project Director, the SHARE.IT interoperability framework throughout the region, in alignment with strategic guidance.

Finally, he/she is to ensure that the project's logical framework is implemented as specified, supporting the Executive Coordinator by contributing to the M&E process, whilst also supporting the project's capitalisation process.

Tasks to foresee:

·       Represent the Project Director with countries, and international fora, as directed.

·       Advise the Project Director on matters which may be of political/strategic value to the project.

·       Engage with regional beneficiaries and partners on behalf of the Project Director after due consultation with latter, with a view to identifying potential activities.

·       Mentor, advise and support counterparts conducting real-time safety, security and/or IUU IORIS-based operations, upon the invitation of the beneficiary partners, in accordance with guidance provided by the Project Director.

·       Propose and update a series of interconnected activities spanning the duration of the project to the Project Management Team, through a cohesive workplan, with a view to ensuring for the long-term uptake of IORIS, in a sustainable manner, including with industry, after due consultation with Deputy Representatives/country representatives.

·       Conduct MDA training courses and coordinate exercises in his/her region as directed;

·       Coordinate and monitor trainings and exercises activities implemented by the Deputy Representative and/or country representatives and other team members within its region, in close coordination with the Maritime Exercises Manager, the Training Manager, and thematic experts, with/through the Executive Coordinator.

·       Promote the use of the IORIS information-exchange systems across his/her region in accordance with guidance provided, but especially by motivating organisations to self-teach new IORIS users within their respective organisations and others.

·       Mentor and advise those countries which have fully integrated, or are in the process of integrating, IORIS into their information-exchange SOPs.

·       Supervise other MEAL data collection in his/her region;

·       Ensure that the Communications Manager is kept abreast of ongoing CRIMARIO activities with his/her countries of responsibility

Qualification and skills

·       Master degree or equivalent qualification in maritime security/safety

·       Operational experience in navy, CG or equivalent or in operations centre

·       Experience in capacity building and administrative reforms the area of maritime security

·       Experience in organising Table-Top Exercises and Field Training Exercises, including appropriate design, scenarios and injects, of a national and regional level

·       Capacity to engage at the high level using acquired diplomatic skills

·       Capacity to work in multicultural environment

·       Fluent in English

·       International mobility is viewed as essential in the completion of the expected tasks

·       Working experience in the Latin America region would be considered an asset

Special provisions

·       Service contract – individual expertise

·       Remote assignment with occasional travel to the areas of intervention

Project or context description

The Critical Maritime Routes (EU CRIMARIO) maritime capacity-building project, established in 2015, is now deemed by many to be an EU flagship initiative in the Indo-Pacific, focused on strengthening regional maritime governance, covering maritime security and safety, and the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. EU CRIMARIO will consolidate what has been accomplished in the Indo-Pacific by intensifying sectoral activities addressing thematic whilst expanding to other countries in Central and Latin America, and selectively in the Caribbean if finances allow, with a view to broadening the IORIS information-exchange platform's reach and tied to this, its sustainability.

Ensuring maritime safety and security is essential, considering that 90% of global trade in goods is transported on the sea, including to and from the EU. Strengthening interoperability through a collaborative approach and enabling effective communication amongst the EU's partners and their maritime agencies is crucial to address evolving maritime threats such as piracy and armed robbery, transnational organised crime, and IUU fishing. By consolidating information exchange mechanisms and building a network around them, national and regional stakeholders can coordinate maritime operations in a timely and decisive manner, to protect national interests. This cooperative approach will promote global maritime stability by fostering safer and more secure sea lanes and potentially ports, and sustainable fisheries, which is vital for economic growth and international trade.

EU CRIMARIO has supported the implementation of the EU's Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific (2021) and the updated EU Maritime Security Strategy (2023), by enabling the EU to cooperate with third States, and contributing to the EU's ambition of becoming a global maritime security provider. EU CRIMARIO's prime focus has been to support partners address maritime security and safety threats and challenges and to a lesser extent address sustainable fisheries. The project was launched in 2015 for the Indian Ocean and was later expanded to cover the entire Indo-Pacific in 2022, from the east coast of Africa all the way across to Latin America’s Pacific coast.

EU CRIMARIO has built its cooperation on the IORIS Maritime Cooperation, Communication and Coordination (MarCo3) platform, which is a neutral and secure advanced software application developed to support cross-sectoral cooperation at the national and regional levels. Though EU CRIMARIO has brought over 150 organisations on the platform including navies, coast guards, and maritime and fisheries authorities, customs, etc from over 60 countries, including several regional and global centres using IORIS, in total over 200 organisations have been trained on the tool as many of them have been trained by CRIMARIO partners themselves. A majority of these organisations use IORIS daily. Additionally, EU Member States' naval assets deployed in the region, EUNAVFOR Operations ASPIDES and ATALANTA also use IORIS as a secure communication link to regional states and even merchant vessels.

This network, now called the IORIS Community, is led by the IORIS Steering Committee (ISC) – a multinational governance body, composed of its most active users, which has been essential to secure the partners’ trust on the platform.

Building on EU CRIMARIO's achievements, the third phase’s focus will move onto intensifying cross-sectoral capacity building in specific areas (such as counter-narcotics, counter-piracy/armed robbery, search and rescue, fisheries, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, legal finish, marine oil pollution), to promote IORIS-based interoperability, to ensure for IORIS' credibility, long-term use and related sustainability.

The Overall Objective of this action is to strengthen maritime security and safety and the fight against IUU fishing. The Specific Objectives of this action are: 1) Partners' capacities to govern their maritime zones and address maritime threats are enhanced through inter-agency and regional cooperation; 2) IORIS' credibility, long-term use and sustainability are ensured.

Required profile

·       Master degree or equivalent qualification in maritime security/safety

·       Operational experience in navy, CG or equivalent or in operations centre

·       Experience in capacity building and administrative reforms the area of maritime security

·       Experience in organising Table-Top Exercises and Field Training Exercises, including appropriate design, scenarios and injects, of a national and regional level

·       Capacity to engage at the high level using acquired diplomatic skills

·       Capacity to work in multicultural environment

·       Fluent in English, Spanish, portuguese

·       International mobility is viewed as essential in the completion of the expected tasks

·       Working experience in the Latin America region would be considered an asset

 

 

Deadline for application : 2026/05/03 23:59

Expertise France is the public agency for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates around four key priorities :

  • democratic, economic, and financial governance ;
  • peace, stability, and security ;
  • climate, agriculture, and sustainable development ;
  • health and human development ;

In these areas, Expertise France conducts capacity-building initiatives and manages project implementation, leveraging technical expertise and acting as a project coordinator. This involves combining public sector expertise with private sector skills to drive impactful results. 

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