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Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre - Human resources management -. TI Board, Ex. Director. ALAC Coordinator. Legal Assistants Department. Legal Advisors Department. Auxiliary Department. ALAC organization chart. Programme Coordinator.
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Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre - Human resources management -
TI Board, Ex. Director ALAC Coordinator Legal Assistants Department Legal AdvisorsDepartment Auxiliary Department ALAC organization chart
Programme Coordinator The Program Coordinator has the following responsibilities: • coordinates ALAC activity; • provides the logistics necessary to ALAC functioning; • manages material and financial resources; • presents periodic reports; • mediates the divergences of opinion that may occur between the advisers regarding the monitored cases; • enforces disciplinary provisions;
Programme Coordinator • presents the public opinions of ALAC, within the limits of the mandate; • signs, along with the advisers, the case syntheses sent to the partners; • determines work hours and shift rotations for assistants; • determines the priorities and activities for the auxiliary department in order to ensure the running of activity in good condition; • coordinates thematic meetings of the advisers department; • coordinates weekly evaluation meetings • performs other organization activities of the centre.
Advising department The advisers department is comprised of 2 adviserswith the following responsibilities: • exclusive responsibility to decide, in thematic meetings, with a majority of opinions, viewpoints on ways to classify and solve cases; • receives from the assistance department the cases together with the complainant recording form, hereafter referred to as the assisted; • analyzes and proposes dismissal of cases or their acceptance for guidance and monitoring; • meet with the assisted if their case is accepted; • make a file for the case according to internal procedures;
Advising department • propose the redirection of cases to another adviser; • propose, draw and sign along with the center coordinator a referral letter for the partners; • guide the activity of the assistants team and offer them information and clarifications; • send the solutions and meeting schedules to the assistants team for them to communicate further on to the assisted; • write weekly evaluations of the assistants team and make proposals for improving their activity; • make improvement proposals for the center’s activities, for reviewing internal procedures and bringing up-to-date the software programs for documents management;
Assistance Department The assistants department is comprised of 3 volunteers with the following responsibilities: • receive complaints from petitioners and complete an “assisted” file; • analyze and decide if the facts mentioned by the assisted are or are not the object of the ALAC mandate; • forward to the advisers the cases submitted by the assisted; • answer phone calls and provide information regarding the center’s functioning hours, that of the advisers, and regarding the enlisting in the assistance program procedure;
Assistance Department • set-up meetings after consulting the advisers; • handle incoming and outgoing mail; • make proposals to improve the assistants department activity, to review internal procedures and to bring up-to-date the software programs for documents management; • make entries in the register and archive files; • other responsibilities needed to fulfill the job description.
Auxiliary Department The auxiliary department comprised of 3 positions with the following responsibilities: • keeps the center’s books (accounting) and presents the situation of ALAC resources and necessities to the ALAC coordinator; • maintains and brings up-to-date the soft necessary to document management; • maintains the technical base of the center; • supports logistically the center’s activity through translations, editing leaflets and organizing conferences and seminars; • other responsibilities necessary for successful operation of the Center.
Rules of ethics The personnel of the center have the obligation to respect the following rules of ethic conduct: • to behave in a polite and open manner with all persons who come in contact with the Center; • to not address the assisted with language that is trivial or insulting, even when such language was used by the assisted; • to not ask from the assisted anything for personal use; • to provide assistance in a professional and responsible manner; • to not bring any prejudice by their actions to the images of ALAC
Rules of ethics • to not make use, for their private interests, of the ALAC or TI BiH • to not make pronouncements in public regarding cases monitored by ALAC, or regarding the solutions given to them; • to respect confidentiality agreements; • to not present, in public, personal opinions on cases monitored by ALAC or on the solutions they were given; • to not promise a certain solution in the case, or discourage people from using the Center's services, but to present their situation objectively; • to not establish direct relations with the assisted, and to communicate letters and dates of appointment to them through the assistants only.
Rules of discipline The general rules of discipline are: • employees should respect in an equal manner all ALAC colleagues and avoid creation of conflict; • inside the ALAC building, smoking is restricted to the kitchen; • photocopies may be made for petitioners only, and phone calls are to be placed only if strictly necessary for the solution of the case; • employees should adhere to the Center’s normal work hours; • all materials and financial resources should be used in an efficient manner; • employees should wear identification badges; • disagreements between colleagues are solved through dialogue and mutual respect; • all personnel must have decent behavior and dress on the ALAC premises.
Constant improvement of human resources • Monthly evaluation should be done on basis of project objectives and performance • Additional training, building skills: improve database/writing skills, interview techniques, computer skills • Cooperation (legal advisors) with other NGOs/groups • Team building within ALACs: non-violent communication training, communication training, monthly meeting with psychologist
Risks: exhaustion, stress, chaos How to avoid stress: • Need to inform potential users immediately of the mandate of the centre and definition of corruption so that it is clear from the beginning whether the ALAC can help • Need to put time limit on phone calls, as only limited amount of useful new information can be gained after a certain time • Allocate staff and volunteers effectively, so that each person can “man” a specific area (interviews, calls, correspondence) • Ensure teamwork and clearly identify working times for each task • Schedule appointments and insist upon agreed terms of the appointments • Possibly develop new security measures (preventative
Risks: exhaustion, stress, chaos How to avoid chaos: • Clear definition of ALAC mandate necessary (as above) • Volunteers should not make final “decision” on whether a complaint or a case, but volunteers should be trained effectively on how to recognise the difference • Need to develop checklists for the different typologies of cases and clients so that in some cases centre can develop skills, mechanisms and approaches in that area • Need to train volunteers to recognise users who might be mentally unstable and/ or time wasters