Consultant (expert on developing fraud action plans, development of a tool on action plans against fraud)

4. Expected tangible and measurable output(s)/deliverable(s): 1) Develop the draft tool on the development of action plans against fraud; 2) Participation in and facilitation of the informal meeting of experts to be held in person, in Vienna, tentatively scheduled to take place in August 2026. 3) Design technical assistance plan for the dissemination of the tool.

Home-based with travel to Vienna

15 June - 30 November 2026

1. Background of the assignment: Organized fraud has rapidly evolved into one of the most pervasive, lucrative, and globally disruptive forms of organized crime. Driven by high financial incentives and low perceived risk, organized criminal groups are exploiting technological innovation, global connectivity, and regulatory fragmentation at an unprecedented scale. Today, organized fraud operations are increasingly poly‑criminal, transnational, and digitally enabled, allowing perpetrators to reach victims across the world in seconds while remaining shielded behind complex jurisdictional and technological barriers. The scale and speed of these operations exceed the individual capacity of most national authorities to disrupt them through uncoordinated responses. Article 2(b) of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) defines a serious crime as an offence punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty. Where fraud meets this threshold, is transnational in nature, and involves a structured group, UNTOC provides a comprehensive framework for criminalization, international cooperation, asset recovery, witness and victim protection, and technical assistance. Resolution 12/2, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the UNTOC in October 2024, brought forward international commitments specifically addressing organized fraud. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Global Programme on Implementing the Organized Crime Convention (GLOTOC) is playing a key technical assistance role in this regard. Through its dedicated projects on organized fraud and project on developing strategies against organized crime, GLOTOC has developed a series of tools to enhance legislation, policy and institutional frameworks, with the aim of strengthening global and regional responses to prevent and combat organized crime and organized fraud, specifically. The Organized Crime Strategy Toolkit for Developing High-Impact Strategies (2021) provides detailed guidance on how to develop comprehensive and impactful strategies against organized crime through a poly-criminal perspective and along four strategic principles – Prevent organized crime from (re)infiltrating communities, the economy and political institutions; Pursue organized criminal groups and their illicit gains thereby increasing their operational cost and risks; Protect vulnerable persons and victims from (further) harm; Promote partnerships and cooperation at all levels, including across international borders. The resulting strategies define visions, priorities and multi-year-objectives that constitute a government’s intended response to organized crime, including fraud, and, where available, will serve as strategic orientation for the development of action plans against fraud. The Issue Paper on Organized Fraud (2024) provides a typological and analytical foundation for understanding organized fraud, while the Handbook of Effective Communication Strategies for the Prevention of Organized Fraud (2026), the Public Private Partnership Toolkit Against Organized Fraud (2026) provide accessible guidance and tools in developing actions against fraud. Many Member States have strong national strategies against organized crime, which provide an essential overarching policy framework. However, in order to address the specific operational complexities of organized fraud, the implementation of these strategies – following a poly-criminal approach – may benefit from further policy-level commitments on the most pervasive forms of organized crime. As fraud continuous to evolve rapidly, there is thus a need for targeted, practical action plans that translate existing strategic commitments into concrete, coordinated measures tailored to fraud prevention, detection, and response. To this end, UNODC will develop a tool on the development of action plans against fraud. The toolkit aims to complement existing strategies against organized crime, being a practical instrument designed to help Member States develop, implement, monitor and renew national action plans against fraud that are specific, time-bound, measurable and demand accountability. These action plans shall build on strategic visions, priorities and objectives, defining the means for their delivery. The toolkit shall also help to establish the governance, monitoring and review architecture through which delivery against the plan can be tracked and reported. Therefore, the Conference Support Section (CSS) of the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch (OCB) of UNODC is recruiting an expert consultant who will carry out the necessary research and develop the draft tool, which will be reviewed and validated in an informal meeting of experts, to be organized tentatively in August 2026.   2. Purpose of the assignment: The purpose of the assignment is to develop the tool on the development of action plans against fraud, a practical instrument designed to help Member States develop, implement, monitor and renew national action plans against fraud, ultimately helping Member States to translate strategic objectives into real results and impact against fraud. 3. Specific tasks to be performed by the consultant: Under the overall guidance of the OCB/CSS Chief and the direct supervision of a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, the consultant will perform the following tasks, in accordance with the work plan agreed upon with UNODC: 1) Conduct desk-based research on existing and upcoming action plans against organized crime, including fraud, as well as best practices, challenges and mitigation measures; 2) Produce an annotated outline of the tool on the development of action plans against fraud; 3) Produce a draft tool on the development of action plans against fraud; 4) Support the preparation and facilitation of an informal meeting of experts; 5) Review and finalize the draft tool on the basis of the comments provided by UNODC as well as the experts attending the informal meeting of experts.

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in criminology, public policy, international law, criminal law or international criminal justice, or other related field is required. A first-level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. • A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in criminal justice, preferably in the area of fraud is required; • Knowledge of fraud is required; • Knowledge of organized crime is required; • Knowledge of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is desirable; • Experience in developing strategies and/or action plans against organized crime is desirable; • Experience working for the United Nations or other international organizations is desirable.

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position, fluency in English (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of other official UN languages is an advantage.

Not available.