Localization Framework Consultant

Expertise France is the French public international cooperation agency. It designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the balanced development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action. Expertise France’s mission is to meet the demand of partner countries seeking to enhance the quality of their public policies in order to address the environmental, social, economic and security challenges they are facing. The agency achieves this goal by implementing projects in the main areas of public action:

• Democratic, economic and financial governance;
• Stability, international security and peace Stability, international security and peace
• Sustainable development, climate and agriculture
• Health and human development

Lebanon is home to one of the most vibrant and dynamic civil societies in the Middle East. Lebanese NGOs work on vital social and technical issues, ranging from social cohesion to reforestation, through programs that promote long-term development and humanitarian relief. Lebanese civil society organizations are very dynamic; ambitious, new organizations regularly rise to meet new crises while established CSOs switch between thinking long term and resolving periodic crises, such as the ongoing Syrian Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the more recent Beirut Port Explosions.

Lebanese NGOs play an essential role in responding to the challenges Lebanon faces. Their presence in the areas most affected means that they can address a great many of the needs of host and refugee populations, reducing vulnerabilities. Some NGOs help by providing healthcare, education, psychosocial support, and other services when public facilities are overloaded. Other NGOs help improve the well-being and/or social and economic situation of those hit hardest by the crisis.

However, Lebanese NGOs’ reliance on international donors and INGOs for funding means that most local NGOs suffer from a structural weakness and their agility is not entirely sustainable. This weakness hinders their growth and hampers the development of a robust national civil society that can reliably play a key role in crisis prevention and management.

International donors and aid providers have widely noted that many local NGOs in Lebanon and elsewhere have difficulty accessing the development aid that they depend on. In 2016, the international community agreed to sign the “Grand Bargain” in order to increase development-assistance efficiency and bridge the widening financing gap between humanitarian and development needs. Donors and aid providers made a commitment to the "localization of aid", meaning that they will channel a larger share of international aid funding to national and local responders. It aims to reposition local NGOs at the center of humanitarian actions, improve the sustainability of their actions, and ensure that crisis-response actions meet local needs.

The Grand Bargain rests on four actions: (i) increasing the visibility of local NGO actions, (ii) providing major support to build on local NGO assets, capacities, and skills in order to increase their effectiveness and ability to rely on local workers, (iii) promoting more direct-to-NGO international funding, and (iv) improving the quality of partnerships with local NGOs by considering them more equal partners.

Funded by l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Denmark’s development cooperation (Danida), the Shabake Project was designed within the framework of the localization of aid agenda and the need to strengthen Lebanese NGO capacities so that local recipients can take the lead in responding to crises generally and to the Syrian-refugee crisis in Lebanon specifically.

The project aims to support around 13 Lebanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to become lasting, key players in mitigating and ameliorating the effects of the multiple crises that have been impacting Lebanon for the past several years to date.

The selected beneficiary NGOs will receive funding and expert assistance for their own-capacity-building plan. They will also have an opportunity to put their new institutional changes into practice via a humanitarian project that reduces vulnerabilities. In addition, each NGO partner will be invited to meet and directly interact with donors, aid providers, and public authorities working in the development-aid ecosystem.

To this end, the Shabake capacity-reinforcement project is divided in four main components:

• Component 1: Building on the strengths, assets, capacities, and skills of the local Lebanese NGOs selected for a grant award.
• Component 2: Having each NGO partner implement a crisis-response project to reduce vulnerabilities.
• Component 3: Improving and/or integrating the participation of NGO partners in the development-aid ecosystem through networking events, knowledge exchange, and the promotion of a localization framework for Lebanon.
• Component 4: Supporting local NGOs in their implementation of innovative economic recovery and livelihood projects following the Beirut Port Explosions.

This consultancy exists within Component 3 of the Shabake project. In early 2020, Expertise France launched an  in-depth mapping study around the status of civil society organizations within the aid-ecosystem in Lebanon, with the purpose of better understanding the current landscape, its primary stakeholders and their respective roles and contributions or participation in the localization agenda. Emphasis is being placed on the civil society landscape and their perspective with regards to access to capacity support and funding as local and national responders in crisis. Following the multiple crises that have impacted Lebanon throughout 2020, the study’s objectives have been adapted with further specificity to the rapidly changing context (October 2019 revolution, economic and financial crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, and the Beirut Port Explosions). Based on the study’s findings, an Action Plan has been developed towards advocating the localization agenda in Lebanon and integrating the Shabake NGO partners into the development aid ecosystem. The Action Plan’s medium and high priority activities will be implemented by two main actors: Live Love Lebanon (LLL) and the Lebanon Humanitarian and Development NGOs Forum (LHDF). Forming a Coordination Committee (CC), LLL and LHDF will coordinate with each other and other relevant Stakeholders and will report the progress of their activities to a Localization Task Force (LTF) comprised of a number of Local, International and aid provider actors who in turn will oversee, support and monitor the implementation. The members of the task force will also have a role in representing the Task Force progress on the Action Plan implementation to the wider humanitarian and development community through their own networks and events.

The CC under the umbrella of the LTF will produce a number of deliverables pertaining to the Localization Action Plan including a national Localization Framework.

Expertise France is seeking the services of a consultant who will support the Shabake Project Manager (PM), Senior Localization Consultant and the LTF in the development of the Localization Framework entailing Specific chapters on Strengthening Partnering Accountability and Effectiveness,on Capacity Strengthening Coordination.

The purpose of the national localisation framework is to highlight the changes that are needed by all stakeholders in the development aid eco-system to enable more locally-led response. The framework document will be based on the findings and recommendations of the Mapping Study developed by Expertise France and the respective Action Plan to guide humanitarian and development implementers and donors, towards strengthening leadership of local/national actors in their action. The recommendations refer to the development and scope of partnerships between aid providers, INGOs and local/national actors and also the actions needed in capacity strengthening, access to resources, and coordination.

The overall objective of the consultancy is to lead the development of the Localization Framework document, including the following:

• General Tasks:
  • Conduct general research and provide continuous updates on the progress of the Grand Bargain globally, on the Middle East region, and locally in Lebanon with specific focus on the progress of the localization agenda.
  • Collaborate closely with the Communication department in EF to ensure proper visibility guidelines are followed in the design of the document.
  • Work closely with the PM and other relevant team members to make sure that logistical, administrative, and financial procedures linked to the component’s implementation are followed.
• Development of a national Localization Framework:
  • Lead on the development of the Localization Framework through:
    • Supporting the mapping exercise of Capacity Strengthening support provided by INGOs, and the existing Capacity Strengthening methodologies and tools
    • Supporting the mapping exercise of localization initiatives in all over Lebanon
    • Engaging and coordinating with key actors identified in the mapping lists in the design of the framework document to identify areas of collaboration and to avoid duplication of efforts
    • Connecting and engaging with the Coordination Committee and LTF members as well as local and international stakeholders in the Framework document development design and roadmap
    • Forming registration lists that will be shared in the kick-off meeting, engaging with partners and actors who expressed their interest in working on the National Localization Framework through meetings and interviews to coordinate their level of involvement and commitment in the document drafting
    • Conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with key actors to collect data, receive feedback and include inputs in the localization framework document
    • Depending on the context, interest and feasibility, advise on the role of government authorities in developing, advocating for, rolling out and applying the national localization framework.
    • Attending all the Action Plan events that are related to or will result in valuable outcomes to the development of the framework, including workshops, meetings, trainings, roundtables, discussion platforms, etc.to reflect them in the localization Framework document 
    • Providing regular updates to the LTF members on the progress made against the Framework development, sending drafted sections / chapters for validation on rolling basis.
    • Arranging logistical and administrative consideration with relevant EF colleagues when planning for events, meetings, FGDs and workshops as well as any activities related to publishing the framework document and printing it
    • Development and drafting of a final national Localization Framework document including specific chapters on Strengthening Partnering Accountability and Effectiveness and on Capacity Strengthening Coordination by September 2022.

The duration of the assignment will span a period of 5 months from mid-May 2022 till mid-September 2022,

Location(s) of assignment: Most of the work for the consultancy will be conducted remotely, with physical meetings to take place as is permissible within the context of the COVID-19 prevention efforts.

Consultant: The Consultant will be responsible for delivering the tasks within the defined scope of work in close collaboration with the Shabake Project Manager, Senior Localization Consultant, EF’s Program Director, and LTF members.

Expertise France: Expertise France will contract the consultant and, through the PM, will be responsible for the overall management of the consultant including:

1. Developing and finalizing the terms of reference and contract
2. Reviewing and finalizing all expected deliverables with the consultant
3. Supporting the consultant in connecting with and meeting with relevant stakeholders
4. Overall monitoring of the assignment activities and the delivery of milestones.