UNDP Jobs - 76140- Re-advertisement - National consultant to Develop

Re-advertisement - National consultant to Develop Mechanisms of Social Stability in Bekaa area.

Location :

Beirut, LEBANON

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

11-Dec-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

13 months.

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

13 months.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

In 2013, the impact of Syrian refugees’ influx expanded to most Lebanese communities. Signs of conflicts between Lebanese and Syrians became clear in many host communities, with intensities varying based on the respective regions’ social and economic context. Citizens and municipalities were left alone to deal with its implications, with no guidance or capacity to differentiate between the political and humanitarian aspects. The municipalities suffered from overload and faced many challenges when it came to managing the situation. UNDP and through its new “Stabilization and Recovery Programme” started addressing the new challenges caused by the impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanese host communities through working on three sectors: basic services, livelihood and social stability. Under the last sector and through the Peace Building in Lebanon Project, an initiative for improving social stability in Lebanese host communities impacted by the Syrian crisis was launched.
In the last four years, UNDP Peace Building in Lebanon through the Lebanon Host Communities Support Programme project team has worked in more than 75 villages on establishing Mechanisms for Social
Stability. Through a participatory approach, consultants have supported local communities to develop their own mechanisms for addressing social tensions and instability. These mechanisms have taken different forms and have contributed in decreasing tensions and strengthening social stability.
The established mechanisms aimed at preventing or reducing tensions between local communities’ groups. As part of the MSS, several communities have set up Socio Cultural (SC) to create a common space for the community to hold all types of social activities in order to promote communication between everyone and to enhance social cohesion; on another hand, Socio-Economic (SE) committees were also established to promote peace building through addressing socio-economic challenge. The SE committees aimed at developing social business ideas with the aim of creating livelihood opportunities that also strengthen social stability in the community. SE committees have been established and trained in social entrepreneurship, business development and business coaching. The SE committees are linked to the socio-cultural committees and have benefitted from their peacebuilding activities and visibility in the community. One major challenge that the SE committees are currently facing is the difficulty of attracting funding for the business ideas that might be implemented in their villages.
This challenge will be partly addressed by UNDP and other key UN agencies such as ILO and UNICEF through a joint programme, through strengthening the role of committees in identifying and directing Lebanese and Syrian youth to specific job creation and vocational training opportunities, thus bolstering the viability and influence of SE committees in three communities in Central and North Bekaa where job-related tensions and economic strain are impacting social stability (primarily between the Lebanese host community and Syrian refugees).
Focusing on locations were tensions pertaining to local economic conditions have shown signs of leading to broader escalations, UNDP will focus on enhancing engagement of ‘youth at risk’ through a range of livelihoods and social stability activities and, importantly, strengthening the linkages and complementarities between the two. In addition, UNDP will seek to facilitate contact between Lebanese and Syrian refugee youth, with a view to reducing tensions (including those related to job competition) and providing avenues for greater community engagement as well as livelihood opportunities.
In order to carry out the aforementioned tasks, UNDP is requiring the services of an individual consultant to work on launching or creating Socio-Economic (SE) committees in three villages in Bekaa governorate, and to work with the SEs committees on developing their business plans to mitigate tensions and prevent conflict; by building and strengthening their capacities and assisting the SE committees to integrate peacebuilding approaches in livelihood interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible of the following:

Support UNDP in updating the conflict analysis situation in each of the three selected communities;
Support UNDP in reviving the established Mechanism for Social Stability with emphasis on the Socio-Economic committees and train its members on how to link between the social stability and socio-economic and agree on internal structure and terms of references;
Identify new local actors representing all different local groups to take part in the SE committees;
Strengthen the youth engagement in their communities through social stability and support and conflict resolution approaches;
Support local actors in developing relevant business plans to respond to the main causes of conflicts. This will be done through capacity building sessions, workshops, retreats, coaching;
Provide and equip the SE committees’ members with innovative social entrepreneurship ideas tackling the priority problems found in every village and set by the committee in coordination with the municipal council and that would promote local socio-economic development; 7- Make sure that the SE committees have the relevant codified rules and regulations, are able and provide technical support for idea bearers to ensure that their business ideas are sustainable.

In this context, the consultant is required to undertake the following activities:

Revise the proposed work plan and methodology (Suggested working days:2) The consultant will revise his/her proposed workplan and methodology submitted as technical proposal and provide a final project work plan and methodology covering all the activities along with a chart showing detailed list of tasks, duration and schedule per task and allocated resources (resources and or other relevant identified type of resources per task shall be included in the proposal. In other words, the bid shall include the consultant’s resources as well as other dependencies which affect the project duration). Once approved by UNDP, the work plan and methodology shall be adopted and shall form the basis for project supervision and monitoring;
Capacity building sessions including the report to be submitted (Suggested number of working days: 60 over three months duration);
Update the conflict analysis report in the three selected localities;
Devote special time and effort to help UNDP identify key stakeholders to join the SE committees and to commit to be engaged in the full capacity building process;
Reach out for new members to join the committees to ensure inclusiveness, thus achieve a more comprehensive participation and representation of the local the context;
Work with the SE committees to integrate peacebuilding concept into livelihood interventions;
Empower the SE committees’ members to play an initial role in the recruitment process of the beneficiaries and in Lebanese and Syrian youth to specific job creation;
Provide intensive capacity building sessions to enhance the capacities of the SE committees’ members to be able to link between the social stability and socio-economic initiatives;
Provide the SE committees with the needed tools and skills to develop funding strategies;
Coaching sessions and Business development plan (Suggested number of working days: 90 over 10 months duration)
The individual consultant will follow up on the development of the business plans to ensure and strengthen the synergies and complementarities between the social stability and socio-economic initiatives;
Work with the SE committees to support them during the design of socio-economic activities based on analysis of socio-economic resources and capacities;
Ensure the continuation of the SE committee and the success of the business development processes;
Provide the needed support for the SE committees through coaching and on-field experiences to continue the cycle of identifying local priorities and collecting local ideas to solve priority problems.

For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Excellent analytical, negotiation and communication skills;
Excellent training and facilitation skills;
Excellent reporting and writing skills in English;
Proven impartiality and cultural and human rights sensitivity;
Ability to build strong relationships with local actors using inter-personal skills;
Ability to network effectively;
Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines and handle multiple tasks simultaneously;
Ability to adapt quickly to new working environments, to establish and maintain good working relations with individuals of diverse backgrounds and cultures;
Excellent command of Arabic language and good command of English. French is a plus;
Good knowledge of the context, peacebuilding and the impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon and host communities.
Knowledge of and previous experience working in the Bekaa is a plus.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Kindly refer to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and all related Annexes by visiting the below link:

http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

University degree in social science, economics, sociology, political science, Economic Development, public administration, international affairs, or any other related field.
MA is a plus.

Years of Experience:

A minimum of 3 years’ experience in conducting conflict analysis;
A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in providing training sessions on socio economic related skills, crisis management, project cycle management and other topics related to the empowerment of local actors and social entrepreneurship;
A minimum of 3 years in facilitating similar conflict prevention mechanisms;
Experience working with municipalities and local actors in conflict zones;
Experience working on peacebuilding.

How to Apply:

1. Read the additional information and annexes on teh UNDP lebanon website at http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

2. The consultancy is open for all National consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.

Submissions through any other media will not be considered.

The application must include the P11, technical proposal, Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and the financial proposal in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.