International Consultant - Virtual Assets Expert (SSAs)

Background:

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that this is a consultancy assignment of a temporary nature, with an expected duration of 144 working days during the period January-December 2023. 

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counterterrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairmanship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions.

The Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) deals with economic and environmental issues, operating under the premise that promoting economic prosperity and co-operation on environmental problems can contribute to international security and stability. The OSCE’s role is twofold: a) to monitor economic and environmental developments among participating States, and alert them to any threat of conflict, and b) to facilitate the formulation of economic and environmental policies and initiatives among participating States, to promote security.

Objective of Assignment: 

Responding to the need of selected participating States to address the issues of already existing risks posed by the use of virtual assets for criminal purposes and circumvention of international sanctions regimes is the essential goal of the OCEEA’s extra-budgetary project “Innovative policy solutions to mitigate money laundering risks of virtual assets”. The ultimate objective is to build the capacities of national authorities to counter these vulnerabilities.

Throughout the implementation of the project, the OCEEA, jointly with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Programme against Money Laundering (UNODC GPML), will assist three countries in Eastern Europe and Caucasus — Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, in bringing their virtual assets (VA) and virtual assets service provider (VASP) regulatory framework in compliance with the FATF Recommendations while providing relevant law enforcement agencies in these three countries with capacity-building and technical support.

Determined to launch the programmatic activities and achieve these objectives, the OCEEA is in need of establishing a professional team of experts in cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and virtual assets management to provide thematic expertise in building capacities of relevant government agencies in Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine to investigate virtual assets, seize and confiscate criminal assets and enforce compliance.  The team will work remotely, as well as travel to Kyiv, Chisinau, and Tbilisi, as and if requested.

Duration of Assignment:
January 2023 - December 2023

Tasks and Responsibilities:

An assembled team of experts, led and co-ordinated by a team leader under supervision of OSCE and UNODC, will conduct at least two capacity-building courses in each country, plus at least one Training-of-Trainers (ToT) in each country to ensure the sustainability of project results.

The courses will cover the following topics:

• Supervision of Virtual Assets (VAs);
• Investigation of VAs — basic level;
• Investigation of VAs — advanced level;

The ToT will include the following:

• VA Concept;
• VA Risks and their Mitigation;
• How VAs work;
• Main principles for investigation;
• Profiling and Tracing of cryptocurrencies — basic;
• Regulation and supervision — basic.

The ToT will also include three specific parts, available for different categories:

• Law enforcement (tracing— advanced, seizure and confiscation, international cooperation);
• Supervision (detection of non-compliance, offsite monitoring, online inspection);
• Compliance (Customer Due Diligence, monitoring of clients and transactions).

ToT will run in 4 phases:

Phase 1: Direct Training for the national trainers;

Phase 2: Adult Learning Methodology;

Phase 2.1: Draft of the National Training Course;

Phase 3: National Training, assisted; 

Phase 4: National Training, observed.

The entire process will be supported by the electronic Learning Management System (LMS). LMS is based on open-source software and can be installed locally to contain the national course. The OSCE and UNODC will provide necessary access to the UNODC training courses, including E-Learning.

In addition, the group of experts will create the Guidelines/Manuals on VAs for the beneficiary agencies that will serve as a comprehensive set of instructions on investigation, seizure and confiscation of criminal virtual assets.

The set of instructions will include:

• Supervision of VASPs (offsite and onsite);
• Enforcement of compliance;
• Customer Due diligence (‘financial monitoring”) of VAs;
• Tracing (investigation) of VAs;
• Seizure and confiscation of criminal VAs;
• Preservation of value of seized VAs;
• International cooperation.

The project will also produce the manuals for main beneficiaries on operations with the VAs (at least for supervision and for investigation personnel) to strengthen the institutional memory in relevant government agencies and further improve sustainability of project results.

Deliverables:

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the Secretariat, please see: http://www.osce.org/secretariat

Necessary Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in economics, IT, AI, law, political science or similar;
• Up to 10 years of experience in the area of combating money laundering, enhancing good governance, combating corruption, combating illicit financial flows;
• Demonstrated expertise in Blockchain technology, virtual assets and cryptocurrency operations;
• Demonstrated practical experience in performing policy implementation and evaluation in the FIU or similar national institutions;
• Professional knowledge of the English language, knowledge of another OSCE language is a plus;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Previous experience with the OSCE will be an asset;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
• Computer literate with practical experience using Microsoft applications.

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant's/expert's qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization. 

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.