Expertise France seeks the services of a part-time Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Expert for the PravoJustice4EU programme. The expert will form part of the Programme’s strategic coordination function and will provide technical expertise and strategic guidance to strengthen meaningful civil society participation in justice reform and accountability processes.

The assignment will focus on developing and operationalising the Programme’s approach to CSO engagement; strengthening coordination between civil society, justice sector institutions and programme teams; supporting organisational capacity development; and providing technical input to CSO-focused initiatives and sectoral grants across both pillars.

The CSO Expert will perform the following tasks under the supervision of the Programme Leader and Programme Management, and in close coordination with the Grant Officer, Pillar Team Leaders, thematic experts and Public Diplomacy Officers:

·        Conduct and periodically update a mapping of civil society organisations active in justice reform, EU accession, rule of law, access to justice, accountability for core international crimes, victims’ rights and transitional justice, identifying thematic expertise, geographic reach, organisational capacity and potential areas of engagement;

·    Develop and support implementation of a coherent CSO engagement approach and related workplan, ensuring that civil society participation is integrated across both Programme pillars and aligned with the Rule of Law Roadmap, Ukraine’s EU accession agenda and Programme priorities;

·  Support and facilitate structured coordination mechanisms between CSOs, Ukrainian justice sector institutions, the Programme, the EU and other relevant international partners, including the CSO platform linked to the Rule of Law Roadmap implementation mechanism;

·  Identify opportunities for meaningful CSO participation in policy dialogue, consultation, reform monitoring and implementation, and support thematic exchanges, working groups, round tables and other multi-stakeholder formats;

·        Support CSOs’ watchdog and analytical role, including monitoring of justice reforms and EU accession progress, contribution to policy development, preparation of shadow reports and production of evidence-based analysis relevant to the Programme’s areas of intervention;

·     Provide technical input to the design of CSO-focused calls for proposals and sectoral grants, including thematic priorities, expected results, eligibility considerations and technical assessment criteria, in close coordination with the Grant Officer and in accordance with applicable Expertise France procedures;

·   Provide technical guidance and capacity-building support to selected CSOs and grantees, including support related to organisational development, stakeholder engagement, policy analysis, advocacy, outreach, results orientation and sustainability of interventions;

·     Promote and support CSO initiatives that improve citizens’ understanding of their rights, facilitate access to justice, strengthen outreach to victims and vulnerable groups, and raise awareness among institutional stakeholders of EU requirements and justice reform priorities;

·        Facilitate civil society contributions to Programme activities under Pillar 1 and Pillar 2, including, as relevant, judicial reform, enforcement, legal aid and Bar reform, penitentiary and probation reform, forensic expertise, accountability for core international crimes, victims-centred approaches and transitional justice;

·   Support cooperation between CSOs and justice sector institutions to strengthen trust, communication and constructive participation of non-state actors in reform design, implementation and monitoring;

·        Contribute to monitoring, reporting and learning on the Programme’s transversal CSO objective, including documentation of results, lessons learned, good practices and recommendations for strengthening civil society engagement;

·        Coordinate with the Public Diplomacy Officers on communication, outreach and visibility related to civil society engagement, ensuring consistency with Programme and EU visibility requirements;

·    Contribute to Programme planning, reporting, internal coordination and knowledge management related to civil society engagement, and perform other relevant tasks at the request of the Programme Leader or Programme Management.