National - Researcher to support the Forum for Memory and Future (FMF) in developing a Strategy on Dealing with the Past in Lebanon

Background

Lebanon has since the end of the Civil War (1975-1990) witnessed a series of destabilizing events and conflicts that have fuelled more tensions on the already complex multi-confessional and socio-economic characteristics of the Lebanese society. The 15-years long civil war was followed by 15 years of Pax-Syriana or occupation (1990-2005); the series of targeted assassinations and bombings since the assassination in February 2005 of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and in turn the withdrawal of Syrian troops; the Israeli 2006 war on Lebanon; and the continuing deterioration of the Syrian crisis and its repercussions on Lebanon. The reoccurrence of these tensions and conflicts are putting the country’s security and stability at risk, and the probability for the eruption of a new cycle of violence is increasingly high. One of the major reasons is due to the fact that the violent past of the Lebanese has gone undealt in spite of civil society’s extensive efforts working on transitional justice and peace building. Therefore, the challenge remains to enable the Lebanese society to come to terms with its violent past and achieve necessary change and ensure non-recurrence.

UNDP Peace Building Project and Dealing with the Past Project

Throughout 2019, UNDP technically assisted and facilitated meetings and gatherings between 10      national and international NGOs that focused on addressing the legacy of human rights violations and dealing with the past issues. Following a series of events characterized by insecurity, instability, and vulnerability, which further fueled sectarian tensions and armed clashes throughout Lebanon - a group of 10 Civil Society Actors decided to create a platform called “Forum for Memory and Future (FMF)”.  The Forum for Memory and Future (FMF) was launched on the 17th of October 2019. It has ever since advanced its work on issues related to reconciliation and dealing with the past in Lebanon and envision opening its membership to new actors, organizations as well as activists and academics. The UNDP in partnership with UN Women and OHCHR manage an IRF-funding from the UN Peace Building Fund for the “Dealing with the Past: Memory for the Future” project. The project aims to support civil society, individuals and groups of victims, and national institutions in their efforts to seek justice and truth, foster social cohesion, collective remembrance and, ultimately, move towards reconciliation around the legacy of the civil war, including violence perpetrated against women, men, and children. In light of the continuous rise of inter-sectarian tensions in Lebanon which partially bear their source from the civil war, this project will support the full establishment of the National Commission investigating the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons (under Law 105), provide support to the families of the disappeared and to national and civil actors in Lebanon in their advocacy efforts to deal with the past. In the broader context, supporting efforts of truth seeking and reconciliation will be a timely and effective contribution to consolidating peace and preventing a relapse into conflict.

As part of supporting national actors in their efforts to deal with the past, UNDP is determined to support the platform “Forum for Memory and Future” to achieve its goal in developing a comprehensive, inclusive and sustainable Strategy for Dealing with the Past in Lebanon.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Project Manager/Peace Building Advisor the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Conduct necessary preparations to suggest an adequate methodology for the development of the DWP Strategy: consultations with UNDP and the FMF members  with the support of their Technical Facilitator on the Strategy development process, (including using quantitative and qualitative research tools);
2. Desk research in the areas of dealing with the past; 
3. With the guidance of the FMF, prepare, carry out and follow up on the dialogues and facilitated meetings, focus groups and workshops with the external stakeholders to identify common grounds that feed into the Strategy on DWP in Lebanon. The FMF’s members, through their established working relationships and contacts, will assist and connect the consultant with key stakeholders relevant to the develop the Strategy on DWP for Lebanon;
4. Draft the Strategy for Dealing with the Past in Lebanon based on the stakeholders’ consultations;
5. Finalize the Strategy based on feedback and input from UNDP and the FMF members.

Therefore, the consultant is required to undertake the following activities/deliverables:

1. Preparatory phase including work plan and methodology (expected number of working days: 15)

After consulting with UNDP and the FMF members, prepare the work plan, methodology and schedule that shall include information about all the activities along with a chart showing detailed list of tasks, duration and schedule per task and allocated resources (including identifying appropriate experts and the stakeholders to be engaged with; the topics to be tackled and the plan for the meetings, focus groups and workshops including questions to be asked during the consultations). The Consultant will consider the work already done by the FMF, as well as on the framework of engagement suggested by the FMF’s facilitator; as well as on a desk review.

These documents shall be presented to the Project Manager for approval as an inception report. The inception report shall be submitted within two weeks from contract signature.  Once approved, the work plan and methodology shall be adopted and shall form the basis for project supervision and monitoring.

The Methodology suggested is the following:

The Consultant will prepare the work plan and methodology taking into consideration the following approach and guidelines:

Identified DWP Issues:

The Strategy to be developed through an inclusive participatory dialogue-based process bringing in the relevant stakeholders to exchange views and reach common recommendations on how to address the problems/issues due to failing to DWP in Lebanon. These issues could be the following (but not limited to):

1. The Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons;
2. The Internally Displaced Persons; 
3. Preparations to Victims of Political Violence and Terrorism (including assassinations, bombings, August 4th blast);
4. The History Curriculum and the History of the Civil War(s);
5. Memory Work and Commemoration;
6. Institutional Reform and Rule of Law.

In addition to other issues identified during the process

Suggested targeted groups:

The consultant, after consulting the FMF’s members, will identify the most relevant stakeholders that actively influence each of the identified issues, map their positions and approach them to engage them in the dialogue process with the FMF’s guidance and support.

The Consultant will follow up with representatives of these targeted actors throughout the consultancy process and maintain contacts to ensure their effective and fair participation and address their concerns to ensure the credibility and validity of the process.

The targeted actors could include (but not limited to):

1. Ministries and public institutions
2. Judiciary
3. Representatives of the victims and their families
4. Political parties and parliamentarians
5. Civil Society activists and NGOs

               And others who will be identified during the process 

               Work Plan and Activities:

The Consultant will present a work plan with timeline of dialogue-based activities such as round tables, facilitated sessions, bilateral meetings, focus groups and round tables which he/she will convene on behalf of UNDP and the FMF. The activities which will be interlinked according to the planned dialogue process, shall focus only on the development of the Strategy document. These activities can be dedicated to one of the issues or tackling more than one issue. UNDP will support financially and logistically in holding these events.  The Consultant supported by the Technical Facilitator will seek to identify common grounds and build consensus among the various actors on the content of the Strategy particularly the recommendations and suggested actions.

Outline of the Strategy Document:

The Consultant will consolidate the outcomes of the dialogue-based activities and agreements reached into a draft Strategy document. The outline of the Strategy document will include:

1. Problem statement for failing to deal with the past in Lebanon and the rationale and need for having a Strategy for DWP;
2. Strategy  development methodology;
3. The problem statements of the issues related to DWP in Lebanon;
4. The narration of what have been achieved, the current situation and obstacles to proceed within each area;
5. The mapping of the relevant stakeholders and positions per each issue;
6. The outcomes in terms of agreed recommendations and actions per each issue;
7. The challenges and risks that might face the implementation of the suggested recommendations and actions and mitigating measures;
8. List of contentious items within the Strategy  and how the actors envision dealing with these disagreements.

1. Research and data collection and development of draft Strategy on Dealing with the past (expected number of working days: 48)

As per the agreement on the work plan and methodology developed earlier, and in consultation with the FMF members, liaise and communicate with relevant mapped stakeholders and conduct all relevant activities needed with them to gather their input for the Strategy on Dealing with the Past for Lebanon.

1. Final draft of the Strategy on DWP (incorporating comments from UNDP, FMF members and relevant stakeholders) (Expected number of working days: 14)

The Consultant will present the draft Strategy document to UNDP and the FMF for their comments. UNDP’s comments will be submitted through the Project Manager and FMF’s comments through a designated focal point. The Consultant will discuss with both jointly the suggested changes and agree with them on the modifications.     

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent research, planning, monitoring and reporting skills in English and Arabic;
• Ability to build strong relationships with local actors including public officials and political parties using inter-personal skills;
• Ability to network effectively;
• Demonstrate excellent writing and analytical skills;
• Excellent multi-tasking skills;
• Excellent analytical, negotiation and communication skills
• Ability to work independently, meet deadlines and prioritize competing responsibilities;
• Excellent knowledge of peacebuilding, the issues of transitional justice and Dealing with the Past in Lebanon.
• Professional proficiency in Arabic and English with demonstrated excellent writing and analytical skills.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment
• Knowledge of the UN preferable.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• At least Master of Arts in Social Science, Sociology, Political Science, Public Administration, international affairs, or any other related field (PhD is a plus).

Years of Experience:

• At least 7 years prior work experience in peacebuilding, transitional justice and/or dealing with the past;
• Mastery of social sciences and research methods;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in research related to topics of transitional justice and dealing with the past, social sciences;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in moderating meetings, events, workshops, focus or discussion groups, networks;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in producing strategies, policy briefs, knowledge products, analytical pieces of work relating to topics of transitional justice and dealing with the past in Lebanon.

How to apply:The consultancy is open for all national consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose acompetitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.Submissions through any other media will not be considered.The application must include all of the following documents:1. P11 2. Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and Financial proposal

3. Preliminary Methodology

All files shall be submitted in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP jobsite.It has been observed that bidders don’t submit all requested documents and thus reducing their chanceto be selected for a contract with UNDP. before you submit your offer please revise that the applicationis complete and comprises all documents.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.