DEVELOPING A NATIONAL AGEING STRATEGY TO GOVERN THE OLDER PERSONS’ SITUATION IN LEBANON

Country: Lebanon

Partner: Ministry of Social Affairs

Purpose of Consultancy:

Along its long years of partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), UNFPA Lebanon Country office (CO) supported MOSA to continue advancing the ageing agenda on the national level. This partnership was initiated in 2005 under the joint “Population and Development Strategies – PDS” project were a series of studies and research were carried out on ageing namely the assessment of the “Impact of the 2006 War on Elderly Women” (2006), the “Assessment of Clubs, Clinics, Institutions and Associations providing services to Elderly in Lebanon” (2007), a “County Profile of Older People in Lebanon” (2009), 4-5 policy briefs on older people including in emergency situations, etc. Furthermore, in 2017, the UNFPA/MOSA partnership led to the finalization and launching of the “The Quality Standards for Elderly Institutions in Lebanon”, which sets the bar for all elderly care institutions to be accredited by MoSA ensuring high quality of elderly health care services. In addition to the generation of this massive wealth of evidence on ageing in Lebanon, UNFPA supported the MOSA PD project in enhancing the capacities of MOSA’s Social Development Centers (SDC) in planning, programming and advocating for integrating ageing priorities in community projects and based on needs assessment.

In parallel, MOSA and through the department of family affairs and SDCs, as well as through few NGOs supported many interventions and projects to enhance national and local (mainly SDCs) capacities to cater for the needs of older people with the aim to ensure they enjoy their basic rights and live in dignity. MOSA also provides subsidized support to many elderly institutions.

While there are many efforts invested in reinforcing ageing programmes and policies in Lebanon, yet these efforts seem to be adhoc, incoherent and somehow fragmented with absence of a mechanism to measure progress and ensure that all stakeholders and actors are supporting interventions that have been prioritized over a certain period of time. 

In view of the above, and at the request of MOSA, UNFPA CO will support the elaboration of a national ageing strategy through a participatory approach. This strategy is expected to pave the way for a framework for actionable interventions that would ultimately govern and set the bars for enjoying old people’s rights to a healthy, equitable and decent life in Lebanon across all spheres, whether at work, home, day cares or elderly home.

This strategy would also respond to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda by ensuring “no one is left behind” (i.e. older people) on the one hand and would serve as a baseline for measuring progress to the implementation of the 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) and its agenda on the other.

Based on the above, and building on the main findings of the mapping exercise of elderly interventions in Lebanon (currently being implemented), the UNFPA Lebanon CO is seeking to engage a consulting firm who would be requested to develop/elaborate a national elderly strategy which will determine the goals and the priorities of elderly in Lebanon, based on a thorough participatory approach. The strategy will later on be translated into an action plan with concrete interventions, targets, and key indicators as well as a monitoring framework that would ultimately govern the older person’s situation and sets the bar for a framework of various interventions to ensure a decent and respectful life for elderly in Lebanon.

Scope of Work:

Under the guidance of MOSA and UNFPA and in collaboration with ESCWA, the consultancy firm will:

• Develop a timeline for the consultancy;
• Conduct an inception meeting with UNFPA and MoSA to ensure clear understanding of the TORs and the relevant tasks and deliverables;
• Carry out an extensive literature review of pertinent ageing documents nationally, regionally and globally such as research/study/survey reports, assessment/ evaluation reports, guidelines, strategies, policies, etc. to identify good practices in developing ageing policies/strategies (and action plans);
• Identify key stakeholders from various relevant entities, in discussion with MoSA & UNFPA, to take part in the consultation as well as expert group meetings;
• Carry out a series of consultation/in-depth interviews (IDIs) (12-15) with the relevant stakeholders (such as key parliamentarians, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Culture, Office of the Minister for Women’s Affairs, National Social Security Fund, The Permanent National Commission for Older Persons in Lebanon, civil societies, private sector, syndicates, etc.) using a unified and standardized tool to collect relevant information and data;
• Carry out Focus Group Discussion (5-6) with key groups such as service providers, older people, elderly institutions, etc. using a FGD guide;
• Carry out Expert Group Meeting (3) to discuss a) outcomes of the consultation/FGD findings and skeleton of the strategy, b) review the draft strategy and c) suggest the way forward to develop the action/plan interventions and monitoring framework;
• Submit the first draft strategy
• Take part in a national consensus/validation meeting with relevant stakeholders chaired by MoSA and present the second draft of the strategy and
• Submit the final national elderly strategy /along with an executive summary and a power-point with annexes and supporting documents.

It is to be noted that a) the structure of the strategy will be discussed and agreed upon during the EGM, b) the strategy will need to be preceded by a thorough situation analysis of older people in Lebanon and building on the Older People Profile report developed by UNFPA/Center for Studies on Ageing in Lebanon in 2010 as well as other documents, and c) all documents to be written and presented in Arabic language.

Duration and Working Schedule:

The assignment will be for a duration of 7 months from the signing of the contract. The consultancy shall start tentatively during the month of September 2018.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Beirut, Lebanon

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered:

The consultancy firm will:

• Take part in inception meeting + conduct the desk review, and identify international and regional experiences: month 1
• Identify relevant stakeholders, conduct 12-15 stakeholders consultation + 1 EGM and 2 FGD: months 2 - 4
• Conduct 3 FGD + 1 EGM + submit draft 1 of strategy: month 5
• Conduct 1 EGM + submit draft 2 strategy: month 6
• Take part in consensus/validation meeting and submission of the final outcome i.e. strategy: month 7

The above timeline could be altered based on discussion with the consultancy firm.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

• Under the direct supervision of the UNFPA Head of Office/Assistant Representative and the MoSA Director General, the consultancy firm shall closely work with the UNFPA and MoSA as well as ESCWA for guidance and to provide regular updates on the progress of work;
• Adhere fully to UNFPA M&E requirements
   

Milestone 1:

• Timeline for consultancy
• Inception meetings
• Extensive literature review
• Identification of relevant stakeholders
• Development of data collection tools (x3)

Deliverables for Milestone 1:

• Timeline
• Report summarizing the literature review
• List of identified stakeholders
• Data collection tools
• 1st progress report

Timeline for Milestone 1:

30 October 2018

Milestone 2:

• 12 Stakeholders consultation meetings conducted
• 1 EGM and 2 FGDs conducted
• Strategy skeleton agreed upon

Deliverables for Milestone 2:

• Summary of meetings
• 2nd progress report

Timeline for Milestone 2:

31 January 2019

Milestone 3:

• 1 EGM meeting and 3 FGDs conducted
• 1st draft strategy submitted

Deliverables for Milestone 3:

• Summary of meetings
• 1st draft strategy
• 3rd progress report

Timeline for Milestone 3:

28 February 2019

Milestone 4:

• 1 EGM meeting conducted
• 2nd draft strategy submitted

Deliverables for Milestone 4:

• 2nd draft strategy

Timeline for Milestone 4:

29 March 2019

Milestone 5:

• Taking part in a consensus/validation meeting
• Final strategy submitted

Deliverables for Milestone 5:

• Final strategy
• Final brief report

Timeline for Milestone 5:

30 April 2019

N.B. a) All required documents and deliverables should be submitted in Arabic and b) the above dates might vary depending on the start-up date, progress as well as discussion with the consultancy firm

Supervisory arrangements:

The consultancy firm shall work under direct supervision of the UNFPA Head of Office/Assistant Representative, Lebanon CO and the MoSA Director General

Expected travel:

N/A

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

• The consultancy firm should have a wide range of professionals with advanced degree in policy and strategy development/ Population studies/social development/statistics/research or relevant social science;
• Minimum 10 years of experience with proven research experience in population studies, qualitative and quantitative research and analysis, policy/strategy development including monitoring and evaluation/ indicators;
• Extensive knowledge on ageing and elderly population;
• Familiarity with Lebanese government structure and institutional set ups, relevant national sector policies/plans, etc. as well as civil society role on social development including for older people; 
• Knowledge of UNFPA mandate areas of population and development is an asset;
• Excellent analytical and drafting skills;
• Excellent written skills in Arabic and English

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner:

The assignment will be carried out under the guidance of UNFPA Head of Office/Assistant Representative and MoSA Director General and in close collaboration with ESCWA, who shall provide the following support to the consultancy firm:

• Available relevant documents and reports;
• List and contact of relevant stakeholders;
• Review for key deliverables i.e. assessment tools, FGD guide, draft strategy, etc;
• Provide logistical support for the FGD/EGM/consensus meeting; and
• Avail a working station if need be.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

Please note that the consultancy firm should refer back and fill in annexes IV, V, VII and send the CVs of the professionals to be taking part in the above tasks along with their proposal.

The budget should not exceed USD 18,000.

The above documents must be sent to the following email address:

info-lebanon@unfpa.org by no later than September 17, 2018

Please indicate the following title under subject when submitting applications: Consultancy for developing a National Elderly Strategy

Companies who fail to submit the required documents above will not be considered for review.

UNFPA Lebanon will only be responsible to respond to those applicants submitting the required documents above and in which there is further interest.

ONLY companies are eligible to apply.