Vacancy Notice – Community Policing Expert

Assignment Description: Leading awareness-raising activities and facilitating discussion sessions involving municipal officials, municipal police officers, and Internal Security Forces (ISF).

Assignment Location: Beirut and selected areas across Lebanon 

Employment Type: Short-term consultancy 

Assignment Period: July 2022 – September 2023 

Level of Effort: A maximum of twenty expert days

How to apply: Please send the application documents to info.lebanon@democracy-reporting.org cc’ing e.haddad@democracy-reporting.org, by 7 September 2022, 11:59 PM local time. 

DRI is looking for a community policing expert with excellent facilitation skills to lead awareness-raising activities with municipal councillors and local community actors about the increasing role of municipal police in local communities and to highlight the security needs of targeted localities. The expert will also facilitate a series of dialogue sessions gathering ISF and municipal police in six localities to create coordination mechanisms to maintain security at their localities.

To find out more about the requirements for this vacancy, please download the full procurement notice available in English below.  

Background About DRI 

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non-partisan, independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in Berlin. It has been established in Lebanon since 2016. DRI promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies and the development of democratic institutions worldwide. Democratic discourse is the basis of our mission and vision. In our work, we facilitate discussion and exchange about democratic government and the need for a continuous discourse adhering to democratic rules.     

In the framework of its EU-funded project “Enhancement of Municipal Police Service to Local Populations”, DRI is supporting the implementation of the community policing model in six municipalities and unions of municipalities and is strengthening the role of municipal police as drivers of stability and social cohesion in the selected municipalities/unions, aiming to improve their institutional capabilities to fulfil their functions in a coordinated and accountable manner.

Activity Overview  

The expert will assist the Project Coordinator in preparing working materials like: (Case study samples, research papers, news material, FGD questions, group work facts and figures) to be used during central and local for workshops. The expert will also conduct field visits with the Project Coordinator to target localities to facilitate dialogue sessions involving local actors, and to facilitate discussion sessions between municipal police and regional ISF representatives in a conflict-sensitive dynamics.

The expert is also expected to support advocacy actions through active participation and contribution to the project’s central and local workshops aiming at policy uptake, lobbying, and promoting with the relevant stakeholders.

Your Tasks and Deliverables

Under the supervision of and in close coordination with DRI, the expert will:

• Actively participate in internal coordination meetings with the DRI team and the project consultants on a periodic basis (monthly and/or quarterly).
• Provide subject matter expertise on community policing drawing on good practices and lessons learned from international experience and suggesting their application in Lebanon.
• Lead awareness-raising activities about the role of municipal police through active participation and contribution to awareness events, conferences, workshops, and meetings with various stakeholders (central government officials, municipal officials, Internal Security Forces, civil society actors, etc.).
• Facilitate dialogue sessions, conferences, workshops, and meetings while ensuring mediation in conflict sensitive activities.
• Support advocacy actions through active participation and contribution in all project events aiming at policy uptake, lobbying, and advocacy with the relevant stakeholders.
• Assist the project coordinator in preparing working content and material for the central and local workshops with project stakeholders. 
• Be ready to travel on field visits to target villages across Lebanon to conduct project activities

 Your Skills & Experience  

• A university degree in law, political studies, social studies, or relevant fields. 
• At least 5 years of experience in community policing.
• Cultural and gender sensitivity
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Working proficiency in Arabic and English.
• Strong understanding of the dynamics ruling the work of municipal police in Lebanon
• Good knowledge of the work of Lebanese municipalities and municipal unions in theory and practice.
• Strong facilitations skills
• Ability to deliver under tight deadlines.
• Ability to write concisely in a think-tank style requiring minimum revision, using a gender and diversity sensitive language.