Senior International SEL Expert - Short-Term Consultancy

1. Background

Lebanon’s education system continues to navigate multiple challenges impacting both student learning outcomes and overall well-being, underscoring the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a key strategy to support students holistically. In recent years, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), in collaboration with the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), has made significant progress in advancing SEL at the national level. This includes the co-development of a National SEL Framework, alongside ongoing institutional capacity-building efforts to support its future implementation.

In parallel, Lebanon is currently undertaking a broader curriculum reform process which has adopted a competency-based approach to teaching and learning. As part of this reform, technical efforts have been initiated to explore the systematic integration of SEL into the curriculum.

Within this context, substantial groundwork has already been completed under several World Learning (WL) initiatives. These initiatives include the development of a roadmap for a National SEL Policy for children in Lebanon, a white paper to inform SEL integration into the curriculum, and an emerging National SEL policy in collaboration with MEHE and CERD.  In addition, WL is planning to organize a National SEL Policy Conference to promote and advocate for the importance of SEL policy for children in Lebanon. Considering that policy development efforts and curriculum reform processes are advancing concurrently, coherence between emerging policy directions and curriculum operationalization has become a critical priority.

WL- Lebanon seeks to engage a ‘Senior International SEL expert’ in SEL through a short-term consultancy to provide high-level advisory and technical support at this critical stage.

2. Overall Objective

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide high-level strategic advisory and technical support to:

- Strengthen the coherence, clarity and feasibility of the emerging National SEL Policy.

- Ensure alignment and integration of ongoing curriculum reform into the National SEL Policy, including positioning curriculum integration as one of the core policy pillars.

-  Building and strengthening the institutional capacity of MEHE and CERD concerned personnel through a targeted capacity building session to support the operationalization of SEL at the system level.

- Contribute strategically to the National SEL conference to support evidence-based dialogue and policy alignment.

3. Scope of Work

The consultancy is conceived as a short-term strategic and technical advisory engagement designed to provide targeted technical inputs at a critical stage of policy making and curriculum reform. The assignment will be implemented in two phases:

- Phase one: comprehensive policy review

- Phase two: capacity building workshop/s and contribution to National SEL policy conference.

4. Tasks

Phase 1: Comprehensive Policy Review

• Conduct consultative meetings with WL team, MEHE and CERD to deepen the understanding of the Lebanese educational context, system constraints, SEL progress, priorities and gaps.
• Conduct a technical review of the draft National SEL policy documents and other relevant documents available at MEHE and CERD.
• Provide advisory inputs on the draft National SEL policy documents ensuring coherence between policy vision, pillars and proposed actions, and taking into consideration the progress achieved by MEHE and CERD across key areas, including SEL curriculum integration and professional development.
• Identify potential gaps related to the National SEL policy implementation feasibility and governance.

Deliverables

• Strategic technical report summarizing observations related to policy coherence and proposing actionable recommendations and priority actions for short- and medium-term implementation.

 Phase 2: Institutional capacity building and National conference

• Design, prepare and facilitate targeted technical workshops to MEHE and CERD on the practical operationalization of the National SEL Policy pillars, including curriculum integration, teacher training and professional development, pedagogical practices, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems.
• Contribute strategically to the National SEL conference to be organized in partnership of MEHE and CERD. The nature and modality of this contribution will be defined at a later stage. This may include a keynote intervention or a remote technical presentation, as well as supporting framing key messages, based on an agenda to be agreed upon.

Deliverables

• Workshops and conference presentation with supporting materials.
• Comprehensive mission report including actionable recommendations for the short and mid-term strategic directions.

5. Duration and Modality

The consultancy will be carried out over a total of 14 working days between June 1 and September 30, 2026. During this period, the consultant may be required to be physically present in Lebanon for a few days to support the implementation of Phase Two. The exact timing and duration of this in-country presence will be determined at a later stage.

A detailed workplan will be agreed upon prior to the commencement of the assignment, based on the breakdown below:

Phase 1: Policy Review (7 days)
This phase will include meetings (virtual and/or in-person) over 2.5 days, a review of available documents over 2.5 days, and the preparation of a technical report over 2 days.

Phase 2: Capacity Building and National Conference Contribution (7 days)
This phase will involve preparing workshop materials, including presentations (2 days), conducting workshop sessions (2 days), contributing to the national conference (1 day), and drafting a mission report (2 days).

Total duration: 14 working days

6. Reporting

The consultant will report to Porticus 3- Project Manager at WL- Lebanon and will work in close coordination with the WL team and the technical teams at MEHE and CERD.

7. Required Qualifications and Experience

Educational Background

• A doctoral degree (PhD or EdD) in Education, Education Policy, Curriculum Studies, Educational Psychology, Educational leadership, or related fields.
• Specialized expertise in SEL.

Professional and Technical Expertise

• Minimum of 8 years of demonstrated experience in Education policy, curriculum development and system -level reform.
• Proven experience in advising government or ministries on policy and implementation.
• Deep understanding of international SEL frameworks and their core competencies.
• Experience in facilitating workshops, conferences, and professional development sessions for diverse audiences.
• Experience working with Ministries of Education or educational institutions.

• Experience in transforming educational policies into actionable, measurable strategies.
• Advanced ability to assess policy coherence and alignment with the curriculum and to embed reform initiatives into established institutional frameworks.
• Awareness of the Lebanese general context and educational system is preferable.

Skills

• Strong analytical and policy-writing skills, with evidence of previous similar examples/assignment to be provided.
• Ability to synthesize information into concise written product

• Exceptional communication and negotiation skills
• Strategic thinking and systems perspective.
• Excellent facilitation and communication skills.
• High level of cultural and institutional sensitivity.
• High proficiency in English (spoken and written), knowledge of Arabic or French language is an asset.  

8. Expected Outcomes

By the end of the assignment:

• The draft National SEL policy will be improved in terms of coherence, logic and feasibility.
• MEHE and CERD concerned personnel will be introduced to practical approaches including best practices to support systematic SEL integration and implementation at policy level.
• Clear next steps for policy finalization and its pillars operationalization will be identified.

Additionally, applicants are requested to submit, along with their resumes, samples of their work or links to relevant publications, as well as evidence of their participation in conferences or educational events. This will serve as supporting documentation to demonstrate their qualifications and experience for this assignment.