Public Call for Tender nb. 83418552 Capacity building and note keeper consultants 12.3506.8-055.00 AAP

• Context

Subject of the terms of reference

Palestine refugees in Lebanon (PRL) have been present in the country since the Nakba in 1948. UNRWA Lebanon Field Office (LFO) serves over 257,000 Palestine refugees and other eligible beneficiaries in Lebanon. Many PRL live in 12 camps across the country and the remaining population reside in gatherings and other areas spread across the five areas of operations of the Lebanon Field Office (LFO), Tyre, Saida, North Lebanon, Central Lebanon (including Beirut) and Bekaa. UNRWA is the primary provider of basic services to Palestine refugees including health care, education, camp infrastructure and shelters, relief and social services, and protection. In recent years, the arrival of Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS), currently numbering over 29,000 seeking refuge from the conflict in neighbouring Syria, has placed additional strain on the provision of services. Among the five UNRWA fields, LFO has the highest percentage of Palestine refugees living in abject poverty. PRL suffer from serious problems, including poverty, overcrowding, unemployment, poor housing conditions and lack of infrastructure. According to the results of the Socioeconomic Status of Palestine Refugees survey published by the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2015, specific vulnerable groups such as PRL and PRS youth, children, youth, women, and persons with disabilities living in Lebanon experience additional difficulties related to decision making and expression of opinions.

The Agency is also responsible for protecting and promoting rights of the Palestine refugees. Both PRL and PRS are exposed to a protracted displacement in Lebanon often resulting in vulnerabilities including lack of access to information, communications channels, and participation in planning for service provision. It is more critical than ever to ensure that Palestine refugees participate in the decisions that affect their lives, receive the information they need to make informed decisions and to share their concerns if they feel the assistance, they receive is not adequate or has unwelcomed consequences

UNRWA, as an agency, is committed to actively seeking views of the affected populations for improvements in policy and practice.  It seeks to ensure that its beneficiaries, including the most vulnerable populations, participate meaningfully in programme planning, have access to information, and are provided with channels of communications to share their feedback. This commitment is guided by the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) promises on AAP. In addition, this obligation, spelled as “communications with refugees and staff”, has also been reinforced by UNRWA’s Medium Term Strategy (MTS) 2016-2021 under one of its high priority measures to provide communities with information and offer responsive feedback mechanisms.

Assignment objective

The objective of the assignment is support AAP with capacity building with regards to the communication processes from / to beneficiaries, UNRWA Staff and other stakeholders in Lebanon.

Period and duration of assignment

Period of the full assignment: from 20.09.2022 until 01.12.2022

An appraisal is scheduled to be performed in Lebanon from 01.09.2022 to 15.09.2022.

The assignment has a planned duration of up to 40 expert days in total, in the country of assignment.

Appraisal

To achieve the objective, members of the appraisal team must cooperate effectively with each other and with all others involved in preparing and conducting the appraisal (officer responsible for preparing the commission, local GIZ team, partners).

As well as clarifying tasks and roles, it is important that:

• the members of the appraisal team are familiar and comply with the established minimum quality standards for results and deliverables;
• the process of establishing the appraisal methodology and procedures at the preparation stage is collaborative, transparent and verifiable.

• Personnel concept

To fill the aforementioned positions (head of mission, appraiser), the tenderer is required to provide, on the basis of appropriate CVs, personnel who will carry out the tasks listed below and have the qualifications set out below.

The qualifications specified below meet the requirements for achieving the highest score in the technical assessment.

Appraiser 1

Tasks of appraiser 1

• Capacity building consultant/expert

Qualifications of appraiser 1

• Education/training (2.2.1): Master’s degree in social studies, business administration, social participation, or any other relevant field
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 10 years of experience in NGO management with good management and capacity development skills
• 2 years of working experience on organizational capacity and/or development building for NGOs
• 2 years of working experience on conflict transformation
• 2 years of working experience on strategic communication and design proposals
• Excellent knowledge of the Palestinian Refugees’ context in Lebanon and the MENA Region
• Good knowledge of UNRWA’s existing processes and communication outreach tools
• Business fluency in Arabic and English (Written and Spoken)

Appraiser 2

Tasks of appraiser 2

• Coordinator & Note Keeper

Qualifications of appraiser 2

• Education/training (2.2.1): University degree in social studies, literature, business and management or any other relevant field.
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 3 years of working experience on organizational capacity and/or development building for NGOs,
• 2 years of working experience on Monitoring and reporting.
•  Excellent knowledge of the Palestinian Refugees’ context in Lebanon and the MENA Region,
• Good knowledge of UNRWA’s existing processes and communication outreach tools,
• Knowledge on the refugee community engagement with UNRWA filed management is a plus.
• business fluency in Arabic and English (Written and Spoken)

Soft skills of all team members

In addition to their specialist qualifications, the following qualifications are required of team members:

• Team skills
• Initiative
• Communication skills
• Socio-cultural skills
• Efficient, partner-focused and client-focused working methods
• Interdisciplinary thinking

As a lump sum (per diem and overnight accommodation costs up to the maximum amounts permitted under tax regulations in the respective country) or on presentation of proof (overnight accommodation costs in excess of this amount at an appropriate level, airfare and other main transport costs). All travel activities must be coordinated in advance with the commissioning party. Travel should be as cost-effective as possible.