Political Economy Analyst

About DAI

DAI is an employee-owned global development company. For 40 years, we have worked on the frontlines of international development, tackling fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governments, and instability. Currently, DAI is delivering results that matter in some 60 countries. Our integrated development solutions turn ideas into impact by bringing together fresh combinations of expertise and innovation across multiple disciplines—crisis mitigation and stability operations, democratic governance and public sector management, agriculture and agribusiness, private sector development and financial services, economics and trade, HIV/AIDS and disease control, water and natural resources management, and energy and climate change. Our clients include international development agencies, international lending institutions, private corporations and philanthropies, and national governments.

Objective of the Programme

LERII is a 4-year DFID-funded programme that will support the Lebanese Government (GoL) in implementing economic reforms related to electricity, roads, water, waste management, PPPs, PFM, investment climate and macro-fiscal reforms. The overall outcome of the programme is to increase likelihood that the Lebanese government:

1. Implements key economic reforms;
2. Reaches agreement on the construction of key donor-financed infrastructure;
3. And that such projects are successfully built and operated.

To achieve these objectives two type of delivery vehicles will be used:  

• Support preparation and investment in large infrastructure projects through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Delivery of this component will be linked to progress on economic reforms.  

• Technical assistance (TA) delivered through a flexible and adaptive facility (LERII-TAF) managed by DAI to support Lebanese government ministries and agencies who are involved in direct planning and delivery of infrastructure and economic reforms.  

Roles and Responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for providing a continual process of re-evaluation of the political economy analysis (PEA) in Lebanon. PEA will be used throughout the lifetime of LERII-TAF, including management of the facility and as we identify, plan and deliver LERII-TAF reform interventions.

Our approach to PEA emphasises plausibility - in some cases engaging in certain reforms areas may simply be unrealistic for a donor funded programme like LERII-TAF. Therefore, it will be important to identify those situations in the validation process along with GoL, DFID and other stakeholders.

The post holder will be responsible for updates to the Senior Leadership Team and support Reform Managers to regularly assess their sectoral contexts and emerging opportunities that will inform programme strategy, approaches and selection of reform interventions.

Tasks over the lifetime of the LERII-TAF project include:

• Updating the first PEA for the LERII-TAF programme to assess areas where opportunities exist to sustainably deliver reform, feasible pathways of change, and specific programming implications;

• Inputting into the LERII-TAF Theory of Change (ToC) and results framework development. Providing on-going support with further revisions to the ToC and log frame, especially assumptions section.
• Leading on conducting and developing monthly (or weekly, as required) PEA snapshots;
• Developing a practical PEA framework for regular updates;
• Conducting and developing quarterly and annual PEA updates for reporting and planning;
• With support from the Reform Managers conducing mini PEAs of the chosen sector or reform area;
• Providing PEA advice to the LERII-TAF team during reform initiative validation process to support reform feasibility assessments;
• Providing advice to the LERII-TAF team on integrating PEA understanding into technical delivery to inform LERII-TAF’s strategy and implementation;
• Supporting the team with identification of contextual risks and preparing mitigation strategies; 
• Providing input into regular review of LERII-TAF’s data collection methods and approaches to ensure adaptation to Lebanon’s evolving context;
• In coordination with the Team Leader and HQ Technical Director, identifying crucial points for LERII-TAF to benefit from short term inputs from external PEA providers;
• Supporting and quality assuring short term PEA inputs provided by PEA sub-contractors;
• Providing PEA training and mentoring to LERII-TAF staff;
• Providing PEA updates to the client and the Independent Advisory Board as and when required.

Supervision: The PEA will report to the Team Leader or their designee.  

Main office location: Beirut, Lebanon and remote work

Start date: ASAP

Level of Effort: part time or up to 110 working days per year

Key skills and qualifications:

• A Master’s Degree in political science, economic development or related field;
• At least 7 years of work experience carrying out PEAs or similar type of analysis;
• Experience in designing PEA frameworks and conducting actual analysis, including completing a literature review, workshop design, interview planning, field work data collection, consultations to confirm findings and finalisation of reports with actionable recommendations;
• Expertise in incorporating PEA learning into programme design, monitoring, evaluation, indicator development, impact analysis, and collaborative learning.
• Strong networks of key informants in Lebanon, or else a demonstrated ability to quickly build networks of key informants and decision makers for PEA purposes;
• Experience drafting user-friendly knowledge products such as toolkits, methodologies, analytical documents, policy papers, desk reviews and delivering PEA trainings to project teams.
• Good knowledge of Lebanese historic and current economic and political context;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, a collaborative teamwork approach and ability to work under pressure;
• A flexible approach and ability to understand and respond to implementation challenges;
• Outstanding communication skills, both written and spoken; specific experience of writing reports for donor agencies and other audiences.
• Experience working on DFID funded project is preferred.
• Fluency in English and Arabic is required.