Principal Officer, Law Enforcement at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Principal Officer, Law Enforcement

Location: Dakar, Senegal
Institution: GIABA
Grade: P5 
Directorate: Evaluation and Compliance
Division: Law Enforcement
Line Supervisor: Director, Evaluation and Compliance
Supervising: Law Enforcement Division
Duration: Permanent

Role Overview

• Under the supervision of Director, Evaluation and Compliance, shall be responsible for following functions:

Role and Responsibilities

• Supervise the Law Enforcement Division and provides advanced technical expertise for the division;
• Supervise other professionals and support staff in the division including regular and annual evaluation of staff performance;
• Take a leading role in the preparation of the strategic plan; annual budget and work plan; and annual report of the organization;
• Lead the Organization of capacity building activities on issues in Law enforcement areas for relevant stakeholders in Member States;
• Organise experience sharing sessions for colleagues on emerging or any other relevant AML/CFT issues;
• Take a leading role in the revision of FATF Standards; Methodology; Guidance and Best Practice papers; Universal ME Procedures; and GIABA ME Process and Procedures;
• Take a leading role in the production of draft reports for GIABA Statutory meetings (ECG; TC/Plenary; GMC and any other fora)
• Play leading role in the assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing risks;
• Develop law enforcement strategies and policy in accordance with the FATF Standards;
• Initiate and conduct specific studies for enhancement of law enforcement roles in the implementation of robust AML/CFT measures;
• Perform transactional management functions including planning (objective setting; staffing; knowledge management; etc.); organizing the division and ensuring staff skills are appropriate; and mentoring subordinates; prioritizing work and controlling standards;
• Lead the conduct of technical assistance needs assessment of Member States in the area of law enforcements relating to AML/CFT compliance;
• Ensure that capacity building component of related projects is conducted in a timely and satisfactory manner.
• Lead and participate fully in GIABA mutual evaluation exercises as assigned;
• Draft reports on sections of the mutual evaluate
• on reports (MERs) covering relevant FATF Recommendations and Immediate Outcomes;
• Participate in assessors training; pre-assessment training; training on FATF Standards and Methodology;
• Analyze Follow up reports submitted by Member States
• Lead the identification, design and implementation of capacity building activities in the law enforcement sector;
• Undertake any other functions as may be assigned from time to time.

Academic Qualifications and Experience

• Good Master’s Degree in Security Studies, Criminology, Law, Social Sciences, or any other field (s) relevant to the position from a recognized university. An advance university degree will be added advantage.
• 10 years professional experience (including 2 years relevant supervisory experience) in law enforcement with at least 5 years on AML/CFT law enforcement experience in anti-graft agency; FIU or related agency;
• Knowledge of GIABA AML/CFT policies, operational framework and FATF standards, and the ability to develop law enforcement sector policy in accordance with the FATF Standards methodology; Guidance and Best Practice.
• Trained assessor and has participated in a mutual evaluation of a country;
• Excellent knowledge of or familiarity with economic and financial crimes, including money laundering, financing of terrorism
• Ability to build effective partnership networks ;
• Excellent writing ability and oral communication skills; ability to prepare and present information in a concise, accurate and persuasive manner; ability to defend and explain difficult issues with respect to key decisions and positions of project to various stakeholders, including government officials.
• Effective interpersonal skills; demonstrated ability to work in a complex multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective work relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds; sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Demonstrated understanding of the normal practices, cultures, socio-economic circumstances and national issues within the region, including ECOWAS integration policy.
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation Procedures used in improving the AML/CFT compliance by Member States
• Good knowledge of wide range investigative techniques for investigating money laundering and associated predicate offences, and terrorist financing;
• Good knowledge of financial investigation of predicate offence of money laundering:
• Progressive working experience in project management, development cooperation in an international organization within a capacity building and training perspective.
• Good social and communication experience in working effectively with government officials as well as multi-and bilateral agencies.
• Good knowledge of money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment;
• Proven team work experience and decision-making skills that produced needed results including selective use of innovations to deal with challenges and opportunities.
• Proven ability to advise on and effectively manage high profile and sensitive project implementation challenges, ability to develop and manage capacity building platforms, indepth knowledge of political trends, public attitudes, local conditions and developments ;
• Good pedagogical and presentation skills including development of presentation materials.

Age Limit:

• To be at least 24 years and less than 50 years old. This age limit does not apply to internal candidates

Ecowas Key Competencies

• Ability to persuade/influence others to consider a certain point of view, adopt a new idea or implement new methods and practices;
• Ability to lead a team of staff and instill a spirit of teamwork to engage employees and achieve a well-defined set of activities;
• Ability to proactively interact with colleagues and other stakeholders, and build strong trusting relationships based on mutual respect and regular discussions;
• Ability to establish and sustain professional credibility with colleagues/stakeholders in a manner that anticipates their need, mitigates issues and that carefully balances professional obligations with the need to be sensitive and responsive to their needs;
• Ability to counsel, advise, consult and guide others on matters pertaining to assigned client service responsibilities and established  client service standards;
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to respect chain of command in an appropriate manner;
• Ability to resolve challenges that occur with minimal direction and/or to recommend and explain solutions or alternatives for approval;
• Ability to utilize the  Code of Ethics to manage self, others, information and resources;
• Ability to mentor others and create feedback loops with supervisors, colleagues and the Subordinates to build strong working relationships and improve performance.
• Contribute to maintaining organizational unit’s performance goals and standards.
• Interpersonal skills with ability to keep colleagues and superiors informed of progress or setbacks in projects of relevance to timeline, quality and quantity;
• Demonstrate respect for cultural differences, fairness and ability to relate well with people from varied backgrounds, nationality, gender, ethnicity, race and religion;
• Understanding of diverse cultural views especially within West Africa, with sensitivity to group differences; ability to challenge bias and to practice tolerance and empathy;
• Ability to listen actively, consider people’s concerns and apply  judgement, tact and diplomacy;
• Ability to work in a diverse and inclusive interactive environment that benefits from diverse strengths;
• Ability and responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work;
• Ability to encourage, empower, and advocate for people in an unbias and transparent manner.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS institutions, particularly GIABA and its mandates, stakeholders, programmes and policies;
• Knowledge of ECOWAS internal operational requirements of programs, projects, services and systems required to achieve work assignments and meet performance goals;
• Knowledge of rules and procedures of ECOWAS associated assigned responsibilities and ability to explain these clearly to others;
• Knowledge of the ECOWAS culture, structures and performance issues and priorities impacting assigned responsibilities;
• Proficiency in  information communication technologies(ICT);
• Fluency in oral and written expressions in one of the ECOWAS official languages of the Community (English, French & Portuguese). Knowledge of an additional one will be an added advantage.
• Ability to develop,  implement an individual action plan for achieving specific work  goals;
• Identify ,organize and monitor tasks throughout to facilitate execution;
• Ability to contribute and/or lead on projects as per accepted project management standards and techniques, to co-ordinate contributions by others  to set and meet deadlines;
• Ability to organize work, set priorities, and work within timelines, giving attention to details, stakeholders, indicators and risks;
• Ability to identify, collect and assess indicators to monitor performance and to take proactive remedial action as required.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS member states development trends, indicators, challenges and opportunities as it relates to project/programme assigned to own position.
• Ability to study data/information from a variety of sources, identify anomalies, trends and issues, present findings, and make  recommendations;
• Ability to break down problems or processes into key parts to identify and solve gaps in service, quality assurance, compliance and performance targets;
• Knowledge of and ability to apply techniques to generate creative ideas and new approaches to meeting goals;
• Ability to use evidence and research to inform policies and programs and identify relevant and appropriate sources of information, including stakeholders, regional institutions and/or internal committees.
• Demonstrate operational computer proficiency  using appropriate tools;
• Ability to make sound use of graphics and tables to effectively present numerical data to write semi-complex technical reports/proposals and edit/check templates, letters, etc.
• Ability to convey information clearly and concisely in a succinct and organized manner through both writing and verbal means, ;
• Exhibit interpersonal skills, make presentations, express opinions and debate ideas with others in a constructive manner;

Annual Salary
UA57,772.51 ($91,153.46) Annually.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Application Deadline  6th June, 2022.