Applications for the following positions are invited from the Nationals of SAARC Member States (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) for an appointment at SAARC Development Fund, the umbrella financial institution of the SAARC, which is located in Thimphu, Bhutan:
Position: Assistant Director, Legal
Job responsibilities:
Provide leadership and ensure efficient and effective management of staff and resources in the Legal department.
Examine the legal aspects of SDF projects and provide necessary inputs suggestions/guidance.
Review and provide legal advice on tender documents, SDF rules, regulations, charter, bye-laws and legal agreements.
Review ongoing cases and advice management accordingly.
Liaise with relevant departments to ensure that where legal risks have been identified, appropriate courses of action have been taken.
Provide legal protection and risk management advice to management especially on contract management.
Provide and interpret legal information, conduct training and disseminate appropriate legal requirements to staff.
Review and advise management on legal implications of internal policies and procedures.
Review and draft contracts, agreements and internal policies and ensure that they are in compliance with all statutory or legal requirements.
Review progress of outstanding litigation and liaise with and manage external lawyers.
Formulate compliance check-lists to be used for the purpose of ensuring that all information required is provided accordingly.
Continuously monitor compliance with statutory obligations and advise management accordingly.
Prepare monthly and quarterly reports for the department for executive management meetings.
Review all contracts or any other documentation where the Company has committed itself and assess legal implications that need to be brought to the executive management’s attention.
Prepare, review and modify contractual instruments to assist and support various business activities.
Negotiate, review and draft documentation for business transactions and prepare and advise on the necessary checklist to be adopted to ensure information is submitted on time.
Provide continuous leadership, supervision, training and development of department staff ensuring an effective and motivated team.
Liaise with the HR department in conducting performance appraisals and ensure competency and training gaps are addressed.
Liaise with legal consultants, if required, in SAARC Member States.
Report to CEO and carry out any other responsibilities assigned by him.
Qualification, Skills, and experience required: Interested candidates must
Possess a post-graduate degree in law from an Institution of International repute/recognition. The higher professional degree would be an added advantage;
Have a minimum of 10 years of practical experience of working in the legal department of a reputed national/international financial institutions/law firm or a combination of these; be well-versed with legal requirements for project financing, whether loan or grant-based; Knowledge/experience of working in legal/regulatory framework(s) in more than one SAARC country would be an added advantage.
Be between 30-40 years of age, and
Be a bonafide citizen of a SAARC Member State i.e. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Strong written and spoken communication skills in English.
Remuneration:
Net (tax-free) monthly salary of US$ 2,860 per month
Accommodation allowance of US$ 475 per month
Education allowance for two children up to class 12 or equivalent
Medical reimbursements for self and family
One time furnishing/ settlement allowance of US$ 2,000,
Home leave a passage for self & family once in 18 months and other admissible joining expenses reimbursements.
Duty- free purchase/import privileges in Bhutan.
The Terms of Reference (TORs) and prescribed Application Form for the above-mentioned positions are available on the SDF website click here to apply. Application Form, CV, copies of educational and experience certificates should be sent by email to info@sdfsec.org and admin@sdfsec.org latest by April 23, 2021.
In 1996, a first funding mechanism was created in SAARC, ‘South Asian Development Fund (SADF), merging the SAARC Fund for Regional Projects (SFRP) and the SAARC Regional Fund. SADF objectives were to support industrial development, poverty alleviation, protection of environment, institutional/human resource development and promotion of social and infrastructure development projects in the SAARC region. SADF started with a resource base of US$5 million (contributed on pro-rata basis by SAARC Member States), and till its closure in June 2008, had funds amounting to approx. US$ 7.0 million. Till its closure, SADF completed techno-economic feasibility studies for sixteen project studies.
During 2002-2005, SAARC Member States considered instituting various sectoral funding mechanisms e.g. Poverty Alleviation Fund, Infrastructure Fund, South Asian Development Bank, Media Development Fund, Voluntary Fund for the Differently Able Persons. A primary reason was that the existing South Asian Development Fund (SADF) was found to be inadequate i.e. in terms of required quantum of funds and its limited scope of work. In order to avoid proliferation of funds, the SAARC Financial Experts (September 2005) looked at the entire gamut of issues relating to funding of SAARC projects and programmes; and, amongst others, agreed that in lieu of proliferating sectoral financing mechanisms, the SADF be reconstituted into the SAARC Development Fund (SDF). And, SDF would have a permanent Secretariat, with three Windows (Social, Economic, Infrastructure). The Thirteenth SAARC Summit (Dhaka, 12-13 November 2005) finally decided to reconstitute the SADF into SDF to serve as the “umbrella financial mechanism” for all SAARC projects and programmes.
The Social Window would primarily focus poverty alleviation and social development projects. The Infrastructure Window would cover projects in the areas namely energy, power, transportation, telecommunications, environment, tourism and other infrastructure areas. The Economic Window would primarily be devoted to non-infrastructural funding.