Gender and Livelihoods Technical Consultant

Terms of Reference

Gender and Livelihoods Technical Consultant

Head of Office, Lebanon
Beirut, Lebanon
Travel to field sites in Lebanon. Regional travel if needed.

Duration: 30 days

1. Introduction and Background

The Near East Foundation (NEF) is promoting increased economic empowerment of vulnerable individuals in Lebanon, including refugees and poor and marginalized women and youth, through capacity building, support for market-linked skills development, and access to economic opportunities. These efforts are intended to support self-reliance and protection among target beneficiaries by expanding their access to economic and social resources, while being sensitive to risks.

NEF seeks a consultant who will lead a process of integrating gender and protection elements into existing business development and life skills curricula. The proposed consultancy will focus on analysis of existing business development, life skills, and gender/protection curricula, including existing NEF curricula and those used by other actors in the Region, review and analysis of relevant policies and dynamics that affect safe access to economic opportunities for different groups, identification of gaps and best practices, and preparation of revised curricula in coordination with NEF staff. Methodology will include desk analysis and primary data collection in Lebanon (e.g., focus group discussions, surveys, and key informant interviews), as detailed in these Terms of Reference (TOR).

Technical Direction, Management and Communication

The consultant will report to Mireille Dika, NEF Head of Lebanon Office (mdika@neareast.org).

The consultant will coordinate and work closely with NEF staff and partners in Lebanon and at NEF headquarters. For reporting and deliverables, the consultant will include Mireille Dika, Mazen Fakhreddine, the Business Development and Livelihoods Officer, and the incoming Protection and Gender Coordinator at the local level, as well as Rabih Yazbeck (ryazbeck@neareast.org), Senior Practice Area Lead for Inclusive Economic Development, Shannon Mouillesseaux (smouillesseaux@neareast.org), Senior Practice Area Lead - Gender and Protection, Paul Worden, Senior Program Officer (pworden@neareast.org) at the headquarters level, on all correspondence. For administrative matters, the consultant will report to Simona Ceci (sceci@neareast.org), Vice President of Operations and Legal Affairs, and Mireille Dika.

 

Statement of Work

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the integration of gender equality and protection elements and themes (supporting gender-sensitivity and diversity/inclusion, as well as awareness- raising to promote sensitivity and equality, to help reduce GBV and to direct beneficiaries toward relevant services) into NEF’s standardized business development and life skills curricula to the benefit of Syrian refugees and host communities. Specifically, the Gender and Livelihoods Technical Consultancy will consist of an inception phase, an assessment phase, and a curricula development phase:

Inception Phase

(a)  Development of a work plan in consultation with NEF Head of Lebanon Office, NEF Senior Practice Area Lead for Gender and Protection, and NEF Senior Practice Area Lead for Livelihoods.

(b)  Comprehensive desk review of available data and analyses on gender, protection, and livelihoods programming in Lebanon and other countries within the Syria Regional Response, including of relevant policies and dynamics that affect safe access to economic activities for different groups.

(c)  Key informant interviews with NEF staff and partners, field trips and visits to livelihood hubs, focus group discussions with beneficiaries.
Deliverable: Approved Work Plan

Assessment Phase:

(a)  Comprehensive desk review of the existing NEF curricula (business development, life skills, and gender and protection) used in Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the Vulnerability Assessments and Focus Group Discussions previously conducted to identify gaps and opportunities for mainstreaming gender and protection into business development and livelihoods curricula.

(b)  Key informant interviews with NEF staff and partners, field trips and visits to livelihood hubs, focus group discussions with beneficiaries.
Deliverable: Inception and Assessment Phase Report

Curricula Development Phase

(a)  In coordination with NEF staff, propose amendments to existing business development and livelihoods curricula to improve integration of gender equality and protection elements into the existing training modules

(b)  Develop related guidance for trainers;

(c)  Working with the Lebanon-based Business Development and Gender and Protection

Officers, develop a plan to mainstream gender equality, protection and SGBV awareness, prevention and response into livelihoods programming, including support for the identification of key indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation.

(d)  Provide training to staff on the revised materials.

Deliverable: Revised Curricula, Guidance for Trainers, and Mainstreaming Plan

The Gender and Livelihoods Technical Consultant will perform his/her duties and responsibilities

in accordance with these Terms of Reference, in consultation and coordination with NEF staff.

Milestones & Deliverables:

The timing for outputs and outcomes of this consultancy include the following:

Final Work Plan

Assessment Report

Revised Business Development Curriculum

Revised Life Skills Curriculum

Guidance forTrainers

Mainstreaming Plan and Staff Training on Revised Materials

Candidates are invited to complete the following table, according to their own planning needs:

Deliverable

Required Timing

Final Work Plan

Final approved version no later than 1 working day from agreement signature

Inception and Assessment Report

To be submitted by Day ___

Revised Curricula (2) and Associated Guidance for Trainers

Drafts to be submitted by Day ___ (feedback from NEF staff to be returned within 3 days)

Final versions within 3 days of receiving NEF feedback by Day ___

Provide Training to All Staff (NEF and Partners) on the Revised Materials

Training to be developed and shared with the Country Director by Day ___

Training to be provided to all staff by Day ___

Mainstreaming Plan  ___

To be submitted by Day ___

Payments & reporting

Once an agreement has been signed, the consultant will receive 15% of the total amount upon approval of the work plan. A second payment of the amount 20% of the total payment will be made after submitting the accepted Inception and Assessment Report. A third payment of the amount 40% of the total payment will be made after submitting accepted revised curricula and guidance. The final payment (25% of the total payment) will be made after submitting the final accepted mainstreaming plan.