Mercy Corps - Tender 281: Recover- Capacity Building For Municipalities

TENDER NOTICE

Mercy Corps is a non-religious, non-profit and non-government international organization that provides humanitarian and development assistance in Lebanon since 1993.

Mercy Corps invites sealed bids from interested parties for the provision of capacity building services to local municipalities.

Background:

Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency pursues its mission through emergency relief services, sustainable community development, civil society and economic development initiatives. Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps has implemented community development programs focused on promoting economic development and increased opportunity for disadvantaged communities, while responding to emergencies as they emerged in the country. In 2012, the program portfolio shifted in response to the massive refugee influx from Syria and Mercy Corps in Lebanon has solidified its emergency response programming while integrating longer-term development programming by focusing on key sectors: Protection, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Governance and Social Stability, and Livelihoods.

Purpose/Project Description

Under the scope of the Governance and Social Stability Programme, Mercy Corps initiated in December 2016 the Program “Reinforcing and Empowering Communities to Overcome the Effects of the Syrian Refugee Crisis” (RECOVER)in Bekaa region mainly in the North and Central Bekaa targeting in particular nine vulnerable municipalities (Fakiha, Kasarnaba, Kfarzabad, Rayak, Douris, Jeb Jannine, Qaraoun, Keb Elias and Makseh). The overall objective of this program is to empower vulnerable communities and municipalities to prevent violence, through reducing tensions and the drivers of conflict caused by the Syrian crisis. In this regard, Mercy Corps works closely with municipalities to mobilize and enrich community members with skills that can help them identify sources of common tensions and create action plans that will mitigate those tensions.

Due to the small size and the limited capacity of the majority of municipalities in Lebanon, RECOVER is planning to conduct a “Capacity Building Program” to enhance the operational and financial skills of three Unions (Union of Municipalities of Sharq Zahle, Bekaa Al Aousat and El Bouhayra respectively), through building the capacities of municipal staff, mayors, and council members, as well as civil society activists from the nine targeted municipalities mentioned above.

The topics to be addressed are divided into two components: component A reflects topics of general municipal laws and procedures, whereas component B reflects technical and practical processes to be worked upon by the municipal staff and union staff.

Consulting company(ies)/NGO(s) can apply to one of the components or to both, as they deem applicable with their experience and qualifications.

# Component A # of training days 1 Municipal law 1 2 Municipal committees and volunteerism 1 3 Development office 1 4 Human resources of municipal staff 1 5 Media and outreach 1 6 Communication & visibility: training, prepare and design a quarterly municipal newsletter per each municipality (#9 newsletters) with the support and coaching of the consulting company(ies)/NGO(s) 1

# Component B # of training days 1 Archiving 1 2 Procurement and tendering processes 1 3 Processing claims to and against the municipalities 1 4 Finance and financial software 1 5 Financial management 1 6 Tax collection 1 7 Municipal law and municipal committees 1

Simultaneously, Mercy Corps and RECOVER team will be providing the target groups with trainings on the following topics:

# Topic 1 Good governance (principles of accountability, transparency, local community participation, responsiveness to community needs and priorities, efficiency and effectiveness of decision making, equality and inclusiveness of all community members) 2 Right to information 3 Strategic planning 4 Contingency planning 5 Proposal writing 6 Community engagement

Interested parties may participate in the tender by sending an email to [email protected] with [email protected] in copy requesting the tender documents in soft copy.

The deadline for collection of tender documents is on September 14, 2017 at 05:00PM

Bids must be submitted back in sealed envelopes to Mercy Corps Beirut office (2nd Floor, Bee Center, Alfred Naccache Street, Achrafieh Lebanon) by September 18, 2017 at 4:00 PM.