consultant to coordinate and lead the establishment and initial work of a platform for women in Baalback-Hermel region

Description: 
LOST is recruiting an expert in theoretical and practical networking as a consultant to coordinate and lead the establishment and initial work of a platform for women in Baalback-Hermel region. The main task of the consultant will be the close support of the participants to establish this platform. He/she will be in charge of proposing the structure and objectives of the platform, identifying the kind of platform that should be created, what are its main goals and the characteristics of membership, if it would be only a women’s network (activists and decision-makers) or whether it would be a gender platform (including women, men, civil society organizations etc.), how will participation and activities be organized etc. He/she will support the participants in establishing the network and its activities, e.g. how can it be formalized; acquiring a sustainable mandate and funding.
In realization of the objectives of this assignment, the consultant shall work under the close guidance of the project director at LOST in collaboration with GIZ LEAD team Lebanon.
All steps and activities undertaken by the consultant require continuous agreement with and previous approval by LOST and GIZ LEAD.
A.    Required qualifications, competences and experience
Qualifications:
•    University Degree/Master’s Degree in Political or Social Sciences, Law, Media, Business Administration, or other relevant fields.
Professional experience:
•    3+ years of experience in managing and implementing projects, preferably with an NGO, International organization or similar.
•    Proven and solid work experience related to the establishment of networks (at least 1-2 established networks).
•    Proven experience in managing and implementing events like workshops, seminars, activities and community projects, preferably with women and municipal key stakeholders.
•    Good knowledge of Baalback-Hermel region including culture, political, society, diversity, …
•    Good relation with municipalities, stakeholders and political parties.
•    Good knowledge of laws concerning the creation of networks, NGOs…
Other knowledge, additional competences:    
•    Excellent communication and cooperation skills.
•    Excellent knowledge of English and Arabic language in written, verbal communication and reporting skills (working and reporting language is English).
•    Excellent working knowledge of IT technologies and office computer applications (e.g. email, internet, MS Office).
•    Excellent time management skills and ability to work in a goal-oriented and timely manner.
•    Very good intercultural and interpersonal skills and willingness to work with a multi-cultural team.
•    Dedication, commitment, reliability.
•    Friendly and cooperative nature.
•    Ability to work as part of a team and show good teamwork skills.
•    Ability to work under pressure with high attentiveness.
•    Experience in international cooperation and/or a good overview about the other stakeholders in the same field is of added advantage.
B.    Responsibilities:
The position holder will be responsible for:
•    Facilitating and organizing meetings and preparing minutes of meetings.
•    Assuring quality and affirmation with regulated processes for all tasks conducted.
•    Contributing to innovation and knowledge management.
•    Strictly applying a “Do-no-harm” approach in implementing activities
•    Establishing and regularly updating work plans and maintaining a good flow of communication and information between all involved women/stakeholders.
•    Continuously reporting, coordinating and providing timely feedback to the Module Coordinator and the Programme Director on status of activities and details of projects implementation.
C.    Tasks
1.    Networking and cooperation:
The role of the consultant will include following tasks that require travel across Baalback-Hermel:
●    Coordinates and leads the networking activities during 8 months
●    Follows-up with the Core Team to support, encourages and motivates them during the project
●    Establishes and supports structured dialogue, coordination and collaboration between women and with their community for common goals
●    Collects and assesses data and relevant information in the fields of activities.
●    Evaluates and verifies the data collected and received by relevant stakeholders and advising on the technical field of implementing.
●    Assists and monitors the development and implementation of project/programme plans.
●    Supports in elaborating agreements with implementing partners in cooperation with the module coordinator.
●    Deals with the design, preparation and implementation of workshops, seminars and other events on issues connected with the project’s activities.
●    Supports cooperation, regular contact and dialogue with implementation partners and consultants and cooperates with all stakeholders in the project/programme environment and with other projects to improve and maintain good working relationships.
●    Communicates local interests and efforts, forwards these and encourages sharing ideas and information for the benefit of the project.
●    Articulates the voices of Baalbeck-Hermel’ women to all decision makers through the new channels formed of the network of women.
●    Advises members to ensure the sustainability of the platform
2.    Establishing the Platform:
In this context, the position holder fulfils the following tasks, that require travel across Baalback-Hermel:
●    Meets target participants from 13 municipalities distributed in 4 clusters for Info Sessions (one for each cluster) to present the project, the networking concept and discuss the work of the platform.
●    Meets target participants distributed in 4 clusters for focus groups (one for each cluster) to prepare the Kick-Off workshop and elect the Core Team 
●    Defines the topics of Capacity Development needed for the Platform’s participants, based on an assessment and focus groups with participants during the workshops. 
●    Organizes two workshops to establish the Platform (with the elected representatives):
o    define Platform’s goals, type, structure, name, membership, meetings, steering committee...  (to the “What?”) and elect the Board Members; 
o    define topics of training and activities to be implemented in agreement with LOST and GIZ LEAD (the “How?”) 
●    Proposes a structure, concept, and characteristics of the platform membership, agreement, board members, program, etc.
●    Supports the elaboration of an operational plan for the future activities of the platform.

3.    Others:
●    Participates in weekly staff meetings and program related meetings.
●    Represents the program and its interests in meetings and conferences held by third parties, in agreement with LOST and GIZ LEAD
●    Suggests or validates the activities to be implemented during the project
●    Sends a monthly report to the Project Director

D.    Knowledge management:
The position holder:
•    Ensures knowledge transfer to project/programme information.
•    Draws up technical reports and presentation documents.
•    Prepares appropriate input for various project/programme reports including annual reports and contributes to other reports required by the programme. 
E.    Other duties/additional tasks:
The position holder:
•    In case of field trips with non-Lebanese colleagues, translates English / Arabic.
•    Represents the interests and always acts on behalf of LOST/GIZ.
•    Performs other duties and tasks at the request of the Module Coordinator and the Programme Director.