Consultancy and Training, Legal

A consortium of four organizations, MdM, Skoun, Abaad, Embrace, and the National Mental Health Program (NMHP), supported by the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), aims to improve the opportunities for women, men, boys, girls, and gender non-compliant individuals in Lebanon to enjoy the best possible mental health and wellbeingThe consortium aims to reach its objective through supporting community-based Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) and Substance Uses (SU) system offering appropriate, quality, and gender-inclusive services to all people living in Lebanon, particularly the most vulnerable groups and people at risk, while tackling gender barriers in service access and gender biases in service provision. The specific activities of the project target the different levels of the social ecological model with activities designed and aimed at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and community levels.

Skoun aims to help people with substance use and addiction problems by providing a non-judgmental and caring environment of client-centered treatment and counseling.  Skoun has, therefore, been at the forefront of championing the rights of people who use drugs in Lebanon through the provision of free legal services and support, training on the rights of people who use drugs, conducting research, and influencing policy that promotes evidence-based change, engaging in advocacy campaigns that promote awareness of human rights issues and lobbying for policies that facilitate the realization of substance use and addiction as a public health issue.

The existing legal frameworks constituted to protect and safeguard people who use drugs and address the issue of violation of their rights remain under-utilized. Despite the existence of a legal framework that protects these persons from prosecution and punishment, many are still prosecuted due to a lack of knowledge and information, even within the category of lawyers.

Through this project, Skoun aims at increasing the participation and contribution of lawyers in the protection of people who use drugs, their understanding of the Lebanese Drug Law, the right to treatment as an alternative to prosecution, and the mechanisms to activate this right through training and capacity building activities, and helping the exchange of information and experience for better protection.

Particularly, focusing on the rights of people who use drugs and enhancing the capacities of lawyers to consider cases of substance use professionally and operationalize the right to treatment as an alternative to punishment.

Objectives/Purpose:

Two trainings will be organized with the purpose of advancing the capacity and knowledge of lawyers with regard to:

-      Lebanese Drug Law

-       The Right to Treatment as an Alternative to Prosecution

-       The referral process and the role of the Drug Addiction Committee

-        The gaps in the implementation of the law

-      The role of lawyers in enforcing the right to treatment as an alternative to prosecution and the protection of people who use drugs.

Through this training, the participants will gain knowledge with regards to the rights of people who use drugs and will be enabled to assist their clients in the request and implementation of their rights.

For this purpose, a call for a trainer is conducted: 

• Trainer for two Drug Law Trainings - delivering legal expertise and engaging as a trainer in preparing, facilitating, implementing, and evaluating two training dates with the Beirut Bar Association (10 lawyers) and the Tripoli Bar Association (10 lawyers)

Scope of Work

The candidate is expected to:

• Develop training materials
• Develop a training agenda
• Develop pre/post tests
• Selection of the training date in coordination with the Drug Policy Department;
• Deliver the training
• Interact with the trainees and facilitate the discussions
• Evaluate the Training

The trainer is expected to deliver two trainings and engage as a facilitator in preparing, facilitating, implementing, and evaluating the training.
The following deliverables are expected:

• Training Agenda
• Pre/Post Tests
• Deliver one-day training
• Facilitating the discussions during the training
• Training report