Senior Legal and Policy Advisor

Job Summary:

The Senior Legal and Policy Advisor will report to the General Director of Plan and Program Coordination, the Head of CLAP/SNaPP II Project and Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). The primary responsibilities of the Senior Legal and Policy Advisor will be providing legal/legislative and policy advices to the GDPPC and MAIL top management and developing and maintaining strong communication channels with all stakeholders of MAIL in the area of policy and legal/legislative affairs. He/she will be accountable for planning of policy and legal/legislative affairs of MAIL, ensuring that there is consistency with mission, vision and overall objectives and mandate of MAIL. The Senior Legal and Policy Advisor will oversee/participate in developing and conduct analysis of policy and legal/legislative documents and give recommendations to General Directorate of Plan and Program Coordination (GDPPC) on MAIL and the national priorities in this regard. He/she will be responsible for overall harmonization of the respective inputs, outputs and outcomes of policy analysis and legal affairs activities as well as oversee the implementation of the capacity building program in these areas.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Analysis policy and legal/legislative affairs of MAIL and report to MAIL Minister, General Director of Plan and Program Coordination and the Head of CLAP/SNaPP II Project;
• Study and finding gaps and necessities for legislative and policy documents in agriculture sector;
• Search and find inconsistency the activities of MAIL related departments with national laws and policies as well as international treaties and agreements Afghanistan is committed to in agriculture area;
• Develop, review and amend national and international MoUs and agreements of MAIL and archiving them;
• Organize and control overall legal/legislative and policy activities of MAIL;
• Final review, analysis and scrutiny the MAIL related legal/legislative and policy documents;
• Act as a very professional focal point of MAIL in coordination of legal/legislative and policy documents processing, i.e. formulation, revision, provision of comments and finalization;
• Participate as a professional representative of MAIL for legal/legislative and policy affairs in national and international events inside and outside the country as per direction/approval of MAIL Minister, Deputy Ministers, General Director of Plan and Program Coordination and the Head of CLAP/SNaPP II Project;
• Advise and assist in prioritization of activities and development of the annual work plan of MAIL legislative/legal and policy affairs;
• Provide written and verbal legal/legislative and policy advices to MAIL Minister, Deputy Ministers, General Director of Plan and Program Coordination and the Head of CLAP/SNaPP II Project where requested;
• Provide support to the MAIL departments to standardize and harmonize their approaches of developing policy and legislative documents with MAIL Legal Documents Preparation and Processing Procedure;
• Establish strong professional relations with related technical departments of MAIL and other stakeholders outside the ministry in terms of legal/legislative and policy affairs;
• Contact and closely working with national and international experts on legal/legislative and policy documents development as well as capacity building plans and programs for MAIL concerned employees on policy and legal/legislative affairs;
• Work with international expert on policy and legislative gaps analysis in MAIL and development of reports;
• Develop communication channels with all MAIL stakeholders to receive and incorporate their comments and insights into analysis and drafting of legal/legislative and policy documents;
• Establish and maintain close relations with ministry of justice and other relevant governmental institutions and agencies to promote coordination and harmonization in terms of high-quality and timely drafting, submission and approval of policy and legal/legislative documents;
• Provide workshops and trainings for MAIL staff on drafting legal/legislative and policy documents as well as enforce the “MAIL Legal Documents Preparation and Processing Procedure” and implementation of this document;
• Coach and mentor GDPPC concerned staff on profession of legislation and policy analysis;
• Update the policy and legislative documents electronic database;
• Follow up legislative documents of MAIL send to ministry of justice and other related governmental entities for further processing; and
• Any other task and activities assigned by MAIL Minister, Deputy Ministers, General Director of Plan and Program Coordination and the Head of CLAP/SNaPP II Project.

Job Requirement:

·        Have master in public policy and a master in public law;

·        Bachelor in law, political science or public policy and got through the legislative stage program or legal stage program; 

·        At least 5 consecutive years of work experience in legal/legislative and policy affairs preferably in agriculture sector with master degree and 7 years of relevant experience with bachelor's degree.

·        Conversant with Afghanistan legal system;

·        Familiar with Islamic law, civil law and case law specifications and principles;

·        Have full govern on English, Dari and Pashto languages (writing, speaking and reading);

·        Access to computer programs, specially MS office, internet explorer and outlook;

·        Have good health and able to work long hours as well as travel to provinces;

·        Hold Afghan Nationality;

·        Eligible for work based on enforced Labor Law of Afghanistan; and

·        Not convicted to crimes by authorized national and international courts. 

Job Location: