Consultant

General Information

Society for Inclusion and Development for Community, and Care for All (SIDC) initiated its work in 1987 (decree 9 / AD) with the aim of improving the social and health situation of the most vulnerable groups and defending their human rights, their right to health, social and mental health services as well as their right to work and live in dignity.

For the past 35 years, SIDC has been involved in providing a comprehensive package of services within and outside its center (through its mobile unit). These services include mental health, reproductive and sexual health, prevention and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, drug addiction disorders and related harm reduction services and materials in addition to legal services. Moreover, SIDC was among the first NGOs that integrated a cross-cutting program related to stigma reduction in all of its programs.

Fifteen years ago, SIDC launched an outreach program in Lebanon based on peer approach reaching out to injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers, LGBTQIA+ and other people at risk to deliver services related to HIV/HBV/HCV/ Syphilis through a mobile unit. SIDC continues to be a pioneer in this area at the national and regional levels. SIDC services and programs reach to adolescents and youth at risk, males and females sex workers, LGBTQIA+, people living with HIV (PLHIV) and People who use Drugs (PWUDs), marginalized girls and women, domestic workers, displaced persons, refugees and prisoners.

In addition, SIDC has been advocating and defending the rights of all of the aforementioned marginalized groups through documentation of violations at various levels, providing access to reliable information, relevant skills, and adequate services and enabling these groups to increase their capacity to claim their rights.

Brief Information on the project

The USAID-funded Lebanon Civic Action Accelerator Program (LEB-CAAP) has provided a grant for both Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities and Care for All (SIDC) and Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care (IDRAAC) to jointly implement the “A Gateway to Better Mental Health for Human Rights’ Defenders” project. 

The purpose of the project is to support the mental health and wellbeing of human rights’ defenders (HRDs) identified through close collaboration with the Lebanese AIDS Network Association (LANA) and the Syndicate of Social Workers in Lebanon (SWSL), over a duration of 16 months; starting April 1^st, 2023 till July 31^st, 2024.

The focus of the project is to help CSOs that operate in the fields of protection and human rights better handle rising demand by establishing and successfully integrating staff well-being and mental health into institutional operational strategies. To help HRDs deal with the added stress and difficulties brought on by working with vulnerable populations, direct mental health services should be made available to them in a community-based setting. This will maintain a balance between the provision of services and the HRDs' own self-care. To foster collaborations and prevent duplication of effort, incorporate alternative mental health actors (new mental health initiatives and/or recent psychology and social work graduates) into the delivery of planned interventions.

SIDC (Lebanon) is seeking to hire an external consultant to perform the below mentioned tasks.

Management and Coordination

• Conduct a meeting with LANA members to present the proposed project
• Work on a desk review and draft an assessment for organizational capacities, of LANA members that show interest in the project.
• Conduct the assessment in the selected CSOs.
• Draft the report of the assessment.
• Collect existing guidelines or available resources policies related to mental health and wellbeing of staff members.
• Develop or design the mental health and wellbeing policies, SOPs and draft the Action Plans for implementation with the support of the selected CSOs, based on the results of the assessment in both Arabic and English languages.
• Validate the produced documents with the CSOs.
• Review the findings of IDRAAC’s mental health screening and needs assessment for members from the SWSL.
• Develop a TOR for the mental health committee to be established within the Social Workers Syndicate in Lebanon.
• Validate the TOR with the board members of the SWSL.
• Support the mental health committee and the board of the SWSL in the development of the 2 years strategy and sustainability plan to address and ensure the continuous provision of mental health and wellbeing support required by social workers all over Lebanon.
• Provide feedback of actions taken to project coordinator and SIDC’s executive director when necessary.
• Develop the Mental Health Committee within the SWSL.

Documentation and reporting

• To store and file all data of the project safely and confidently.
• To prepare and submit documents to the project coordinator related to the tasks and deliverables.

Duration of Assignment

SIDC shall contract the consultant for the anticipated employment agreement term for 6 months with effect from 1 June 2023. The Consultant will be based locally.

Qualifications of proposed consultant

• Master degree in Public Health, Management, Human Resources, Social Work, Business Administration, or equivalent education and experience that demonstrates the ability to effectively perform in the position. 
• A minimum five years of professional experience in research, strategy and policy development.
• Previous experience in the field of mental health.
• Previous experience in the non-Governmental sector.

Communication

• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, and reporting skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Offer great organizational skills and efficiency in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
• Must be result-oriented, exhibiting high levels of enthusiasm, tact, diplomacy and integrity
• Ability to work with minimal supervision
• Ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people in a wide range of functions in a multi-cultural environment.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to prioritize assignments and effectively handle multiple assignments.
• Flexible, innovative and has the ability to maintain a rapid and demanding pace.