Junior Expert In Gathering Of Data For Strategic Planning In The Unions Of Municipalities Bcharre And Koura

  Support to Municipal Finance Reform, Capacity Building Component Service Contract No. ENPI/2012/295-318 Technical Assistance Service Contract EuropeAid/131473/C/SER/LB Terms of Reference for Short-Term Assignment Title of assignment Junior expert in gathering of data for strategic planning in the UoMs Bcharre and Koura Request No. 11 1. Background  Background of the programme and of the component The slowing down of economic growth of Lebanon – mainly due to the conflict in Syria and the refugee crisis - worsens the effects of a number of weaknesses in the country’s municipal sector: limited finances due to reduced central government transfers and constraints as per municipal own resources; a system of central government transfers which is insufficiently geared towards the municipalities’ needs; a system and practice of supervision by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (MOIM) – the Directorate-General for Municipalities (DGM) that puts constraints on local self-government rather than supports it; a lack of administrative and financial management capacities in municipalities that impedes the preparation and implementation of policies towards economic and social development.   The strongly reduced size of tax revenues and the corresponding rapid growth of the amount of state debts make it improbable that transfers to the municipal sector will shortly increase by any significant degree. In addition, the Government’s drive towards more decentralized Government as demonstrated by preparations of a Decentralisation Law will increase the responsibilities to be born by the Lebanese municipal sector. For these reasons a strong capacity building effort related to both the municipal sector and the Ministry of the Interior (MoIM), Directorate General for Local Administrations and Councils (DGLAC) is needed. This to enable municipalities – and Unions of Municipalities (UoMs) to mitigate and overcome the negative effects of reduced economic growth and an extremely large influx of refugees and to furthermore prepare them for their future role in a more decentralised system of Government.   Since 1 January 2014, the Capacity Building Component (CBC) of the EU-funded Municipal Finance Reform Programme (MUFIN) is providing capacity building support to the Lebanese municipal sector. This support has the form of the three strongly interrelated ‘sub-components’ of the CBC: Identification and dissemination of best practices in municipal finance which will inform all of the Lebanese municipal sector about real, existing possibilities of revenue enhancing and cost-effective financial management. Institutional change in the DGM which will help the Ministry to provide legal and administrative support enabling municipalities and UoMs to use all possibilities the Lebanese legal system gives especially in the case of materialisation of the Decentralisation Law. Support to strategic planning and project preparation in the municipal sector, which will help municipalities and UoMs identify the projects and policies that create the most benefits for their people.   This assignment relates to the third subcomponent.   Background & rationale of the assignment Most of all in periods of limited availability of financial resources for local Government, effective prioritization of the use of the funds is of essential importance. The items, the financial means will be spent on, regardless if they require current expenditures or public investment, must be chosen more carefully than ever. The choices must meet the highest needs of the local community, so procedures are needed that guarantee the optimal spending decisions.   Identifying the optimal spending decisions, requires a thorough process of interaction of the local authorities with their constituencies, meaning the citizenry. Merely involving the municipal councils or, in the case of UoMs, councils of presidents of municipal councils in the choices to be made, does not suffice. A more elaborate way of interaction with local communities is needed which entails intensive participation by the citizenry, represented not only by the elected persons but also by its organizations such as organizations of entrepreneurs in the various economic sectors, management of schools and health care institutions, mosques and/or churches, sports clubs, women’s associations, cultural associations, local think tanks, local NGO’s. Representatives of such organizations participate in a ‘consultative platform’ (CP) in each UoM, which is the point of contact for the TAT next to the ‘elected committee’ (EC) which coincides with the UoM council.   The Technical Assistance Team (TAT) of the CBC is supporting 4 UoMs and will support another 4 in preparing strategic plans and preparing development projects based on them. The beneficiary-UoMs have been selected on the basis of:  ·         Presence of a large proportion of Syrian refugees; ·         Absence of a strategic plan; ·         Territorial contiguity; ·         Social-economic and environmental coherence; ·         Regional balance; ·         Willingness and enthusiasm of local authorities to commit to the work of strategic planning in cooperation with the project; ·         An environment where there are no safety concerns for the TAT to work.   The work in the first batch of 4 UoMs is coming to an end; the 4 that have been selected  as the second batch and have accepted their selection, are: ·         UoM of Baalbek-West ·         UoM of Bcharre; ·         UoM of Deir Al-Ahmer; ·         UoM of Koura.   4 senior experts of the TAT prepare and conduct the meetings of CP’s and EC’s and draft the subsequent versions of the strategic plans. Their work will be prepared in a round of ‘data gathering’ with help of elaborate questionnaires. The answers will be formulated in interviews with representatives of the UoMs, member municipalities and non-municipalized villages. The interviews will be conducted by ‘data gathering experts’, who will collect the information, consolidate it in ‘data gathering reports’ and enter them in excel sheets.  The present ToRs are for a data gathering expert.       2. Description of the assignment 2.1 Objectives & Requested Services  of the assignment   Overall objective of the assignment: Improvement of administrative capacities of UoMs by facilitation of support to the UoMs of Bcharre and Koura in the preparation of Local Strategic Development Plans.   Specific objective of this assignment: The data regarding the beneficiary UoMs are gathered, entered into excel sheets and consolidated in two data gathering reports with a pre-set standard template.     The requested services under this assignment are to, as part of the TAT: Under the guidance of the senior expert coordinating the field work in the UoMs of Bcharre and Koura: ·         distribute questionnaires (a general one for the UoM, all municipalities and all non-municipalized villages and a municipal one for all municipalities) to both UoMs, their member municipalities and non-municipalized villages; ·         organize and conduct interviews with all recipients of the questionnaires in which the questionnaires will be filled; ·         enter the data from the filled questionnaires in excel sheets; ·         prepare two ‘data gathering reports ‘ – one for each of the two UoMs – according to the standard format.    2.2 Required outputs In order to achieve the assignment objectives, the expert will deliver: ·         Filled out questionnaires. ·         Data gathering reports. ·         Excel with the data from the questionnaires. ·         Monthly and final mission reports.   3. Expert profile No Position Days Key qualifications 10 Junior Expert    45 ·         A university degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline. ·         At least 5 years of experience working with local communities ·         At least 5 years of experience that must include data collection  including through individual interviews; ·         At least 5 years of experience with analyzing and reporting on data related to local community aspects; ·         Fluency in spoken and written Arabic and English. 4. Location and duration 4.1 Starting date 1 November  2015 4.2 Duration Max. 3 months 4.3 Planning   Description No of w/d Location ·         Distribution and filling of questionnaires 25 Field ·         Drafting data gathering reports 10 Place of posting ·         Data entry 10 Place of posting Total: 45     4.4 Location Place of posting: Tripoli; field: beneficiary UoMs 5. Reporting 5.1 Content Template monthly reports will be provided by the coordinating senior non key expert. 5.2 Language Questionnaires and excel sheets: Arabic Data gathering reports: English 5.3 Submission timing  By the end of each month of the assignment.