Management systems expert

S2R2 Short term technical assistance ToR

Title: DOPS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMs SPECIALIST

Working with

Head of DOPS

Reports to

TA Team Leader

Contribution to Output:

Workstream 1

Approved by the DG:

Scope and description of the Task

In recent years, Lebanon has become the country with the highest refugee per capita in the world. Officially, there are more than 1.5 million registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a third of which are school going aged children. In 2013, the Government of Lebanon opened a second-shift in its public education system to cater for the enormous numbers of refugee students. In 2017/2018, non-Lebanese students outnumbered Lebanese students in the public education system. The responsibility for educating all these students resides with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) who, alongside external donors, launched the Reaching All Children with Education II (RACE II) programme in 2016.

The World Bank (WB) and Government of Lebanon (Gold), especially the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), designed Support to RACE II (S2R2) to deliver on significant parts of RACE II as the strategy relates to the formal education sector. S2R2 is designed to complement other work developed to support RACE II, such as activities planned and implemented with UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO.

DFID Lebanon’s contribution to the education sector includes support to the multi-donor trust fund as well as the provision of a technical assistance team to MEHE. In March 2018, a three-year technical assistance project was awarded to Oxford Policy Management, which will expand an existing TA facility to serve additional MEHE priority areas to achieve the objectives of RACE II through MEHE’s Support to RACE II (S2R2) programme. The TA team will support the GoL to deliver the immediate objectives of the S2R2 programme while building the capacity, systems and processes which will underpin a medium-term sector development strategy.

Level of effort

1. Objectives and deliverables

BACKGROUND:

During the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, a large proportion of the additional workload falls on the MEHE’s Direction d'Orientation Pedagogiques et Scolaire (DOPS) department. This includes additional focus on the physical and mental health of pupils; support on the distance learning; and support to vulnerable children, including child protection issues and special educational needs. This is all in addition to the ongoing work of DOPS counsellors on coaching teachers to improve their classroom practice.

The internal management structures within DOPS have not been able to deal with such an excessive workload and needs strengthening to deliver better. Problems here have been exacerbated by some critical recent staff departures and some important roles being left unfilled. This role will deal with increasing internal efficiencies within and between organisational units of DOPS as well as setting up management structures which can be sustained long after the end of the OPM TA programme.

The specific tasks under this role include providing technical assistance for DOPS to:

• Conceptualize and guide a pilot system of management for DOPS academic activities along with coaching and the projects conducted by DOPS (Inclusion, CP, and health and environmental education).
• Develop a set of management structures, including but not limited to:
  • Structures – fit-for-purpose DOPS organisational structure of its units and sub-units, chain of command, accountable persons and autonomy, line management,
  • Practices -  collaborative planning practices, reporting of results, evaluation or projects, risk management etc
• To enhance communication between units
• To improve harmonization between the two projects wings (academic and well-being) in order to cover all educational sides of the student’s profile.
• To support synergies between projects (inclusion, Child protection, academic well-being).
• Design and implement these changes to be adopted sustainably across DOPS.

DELIVERABLES AND TIME FRAME[TP1] :

Deliverables

Period

1

Consultation with Head of DOPS and relevant DOPS staff and assessment of efficacy of existing management structures and tools

5 days

2

Development of proposed changes

12 days

3

Development of management suitable tools, in collaboration with DOPS staff

3 days

4

Presentation of recommendations and revisions

5 days

5

Piloting, iteration and evaluation of new structure and tools

10 days

5

Oversight of change management processes (training, advocacy, building consensus, ensuring buy-in)

5 days

Total Days

40 days

1. PROFILE AND SKILLS

PROFILE AND SKILLS:

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master’s degree or higher) in a relevant area, eg. management, communication, education or a related discipline.
• Strong management reform background, including knowledge of the underlying literature and current best practices

Management

• Proven experience in designing and implementing an administrative structure, or a system of management, in the private or public sector.
• Strong experience in developing management systems for companies or departments and personal engagement in their implementation
• Experience of working within Government service delivery channels would be advantageous

Education

• Knowledge of the Lebanese or other similar education system
• In-depth understanding of the technical remits of DOPS would be preferable

Other relevant skills and competencies

• Ability to articulate a clear vision for change management, including the alignment of internal units and the ability to justify and communicate this clearly to a range of stakeholders
• Experience of working with and getting the most out of distributed and remote teams
• Languages: Arabic, English, and French

1. Approach and skills transfer plan

1. WORKING RELATIONSHIP: The consultants will work in close coordination with the MEHE counterparts and build on work that has already started within DOPS. The Team Leader OPM-TA is responsible for day to day management of the consultants and will oversee their deliverables.
2. STATION: The consultant team will work from MEHE headquarters and with close collaboration with the Director of DOPS.

4. Timing

40 days from contract signature