Integrity and anti-corruption specialist

The Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR), based in Geneva, is responsible for the effective management, coordination and oversight of UNOPS operations across the region. The ECR region spans the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Caucasus, and Türkiye, where UNOPS works with partners to achieve sustainable impact in health, education, environmental management, housing, rule of law, good governance, economic development, and social inclusion. With a wealth of experience in procurement, infrastructure, project and grant management, UNOPS in the region directly implements projects, provides technical advisory services and capacity building to advance the Sustainable Development Goals in support of national governments.

The UNOPS South East Europe Multi-Country Office (SEEMCO) supports sustainable development in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based in Belgrade with strong field teams, SEEMCO delivers project management, procurement, infrastructure, HR, and technical assistance to governments, donors, and international financial institutions. Partnering with national institutions, local authorities, civil society, and media, it contributes to sectors such as infrastructure, socio-economic development, social cohesion, rule of law, environment, healthcare, education, digitalisation, energy transition, and governance. Since 2000, SEEMCO has advanced the EU integration agenda, national priorities, and the Sustainable Development Goals. It also provides emergency response, recovery support, and capacity building for institutions. Funders include the EU, European Investment Bank, governments of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, as well as UN agencies such as UNHCR and UNEP.

The Project “Support to European Integration of North Macedonia” is designed to support North Macedonia’s accession negotiations and the successful management of the overall European Union integration process. The Project is funded by Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Swiss Government through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Ministry for European Affairs, and is implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services.

The Project aims to strengthen the capacities of national institutions supporting the EU accession process through the provision of technical assistance and capacity building to the Government Coordination Mechanism for Accession Negotiations. The support facilitates effective alignment of national legislation with the EU acquis and its implementation, while also enabling the engagement of relevant stakeholders and the exchange of experiences with EU Member States and countries from the region.

The Project strengthens the capacities of the Ministry for European Affairs and supports progress in fulfilling the requirements of the Fundamentals Cluster, finalisation of screening-related outputs, and transposition of the EU acquis into national legislation.

The European Commission’s 2025 Progress Report on North Macedonia noted that the country continued its efforts to strengthen democracy and the rule of law, while the prevention and fight against corruption remain between some and moderate level of preparation. The Report noted that no progress was made, that corruption remains prevalent in many areas and continues to be an issue of concern. While the legislative framework is largely complete and the institutional set-up is in place, a stronger track record on anti-corruption remains a challenge, particularly in the context of the accession negotiations process.

The Report calls on North Macedonia to increase the track record of corruption cases, strengthen support to the bodies responsible for implementing the national strategy for prevention of corruption and conflict of interest, and, in the context of EU integration, conduct risk assessments of sectors most vulnerable to corruption and develop dedicated actions.

Under the revised EU enlargement methodology and the Negotiating Framework for North Macedonia, anti-corruption policies are to be mainstreamed across all relevant negotiation chapters. During the bilateral screening process, North Macedonia was requested to present the state of play in fighting corruption, identify corruption risks for each chapter, and present plans for strengthening the legal and institutional framework and ensuring systematic and effective enforcement. Anti-corruption and integrity considerations are also expected to be reflected in strategic documents and action plans related to the EU negotiation process, including the Roadmap on the Rule of Law, the Reform Agenda and other accession-related planning documents.

Under the supervision of Project Manager, the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Specialist will provide technical expertise to the Government and other relevant line ministries and institutions dealing with anti-corruption and negotiation structures competent for implementing anti-corruption policies and strengthening the horizontal coordination of anti-corruption and integrity-related activities in the EU accession process.

The Specialist will technically facilitate the mainstreaming of anti-corruption, integrity, conflict of interest prevention, transparency and accountability considerations across relevant negotiation chapters, strategic documents, reform measures and action plans by working closely with the Project team, national counterparts and experts to provide evidence-based analysis, technical inputs, inter-institutional coordination, capacity building and monitoring that strengthen the quality, coherence and institutional coordination of integrity safeguards within accession-related reforms. 

1. Support to horizontal coordination of anti-corruption and integrity activities

• Provide technical advice to the Government, relevant national coordination structures and other stakeholders involved in the EU accession process in coordinating anti-corruption and integrity-related inputs across negotiation chapters and reform areas. 

• Facilitate structured communication and coordination between relevant institutions, including line ministries, anti-corruption bodies, rule of law institutions, inspection and oversight institutions, as well as civil society, media, the private sector and other stakeholders contributing to accession-related reforms. 

• Participate in the preparation and follow-up of technical coordination meetings, consultations, workshops, working-level discussions and stakeholder dialogue processes. 

• Participate in consolidating institutional inputs related to anti-corruption, anti-corruption track record, integrity, rule of law, transparency, accountability and conflict of interest prevention.

2. Mainstreaming anti-corruption and integrity across negotiation chapters and strategic documents 

• Provide technical advice to support the integration of anti-corruption and integrity considerations into relevant negotiation chapters, screening follow-up processes, roadmaps, action plans and reform documents.

• Provide technical guidance on how corruption risks, integrity safeguards and accountability measures can be reflected in chapter-specific and sector-specific reforms.

• Facilitate alignment of anti-corruption mainstreaming with the Rule of Law Roadmap, Reform Agenda, national anti-corruption strategies and other relevant strategic frameworks.

3. Technical analysis and advisory support 

• Participate in the preparation, consultation, validation and follow-up of the evidence-based analysis of the anti-corruption track record, including engagement with relevant institutions and support to the implementation of resulting recommendations.

• Prepare practical analyses, briefs, notes and recommendations on anti-corruption, integrity, good governance and institutional coordination issues relevant to the EU accession process.

• Identify and analyse corruption risks in selected sectors and policy areas relevant to negotiation chapters, utilizing rigorous analysis of institutional mandates, procedures and coordination arrangements.

• Provide strong contribution to the development of practical recommendations for improving implementation, coordination and follow-up of anti-corruption and integrity-related commitments.

4. Capacity building and knowledge exchange 

• Develop  and deliver capacity-building activities on anti-corruption mainstreaming, anti-corruption track record, rule of law, integrity risk assessment, conflict of interest prevention, transparency and accountability.

• Provide hands-on technical advisory to public officials and relevant stakeholders, including the civil society organisations, media and business community, on negotiation-related documents, reform measures, risk-based approaches and anti-corruption policies that contribute to a safe, transparent and predictable business and investment environment.

• Facilitate knowledge exchange with EU Member States and countries from the region on good practices in anti-corruption mainstreaming, integrity systems, business integrity and accession-related reforms.

• Prepare training materials, guidance notes, practical examples, presentations and other knowledge products to support practical learning, application and institutional follow-up.

Required

• Advanced university degree, (Master’s degree or equivalent), in Law, Political Science, Public Administration, European Studies, Governance, Public Policy, International Relations or another relevant field. 
• A first-level university degree(Bachelor’s degree or equivalent), in the above-mentioned areas or another relevant field with additional 2 years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Desired

• Additional training or certification in anti-corruption, integrity, rule of law, EU accession, public administration reform, governance, compliance, public policy or related areas would be considered an asset. 

Required

• A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience in anti-corruption, integrity, rule of law, governance, public administration reform, EU accession, institutional coordination, legal analysis or policy development is required.
• Experience in working with public institutions and/or government coordination structures is required.

Desired

• Experience in corruption risk assessment, conflict of interest prevention, integrity planning or accountability mechanisms would be an asset.

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