Senior Expert on Planning & Budgeting,Reporting,Analysis, and Bottom -Up Costing

1. Background and Purpose

A central feature of the Transition and Resilience Education Fund (TREF), a joint aid modality established by MEHE in close cooperation with UNICEF, is the Implementation Support Team (IST). The IST strengthens the functions of Data Management, Planning, Budgeting, Financial Management, Communication, Procurement, M&E, Reporting, and (Program) Service-Delivery Departments. This role entails drafting and supporting the adoption of new rules, procedures and management practices and on-the job training and coaching for public servant staff.
The IST is a flexible and agile set-up and a form of embedded Technical Assistance that reports to the DG with the purpose to support the DG & MEHE in:
1. Meeting the implementation requirements of the TREF aid modality as per the TREF Operational Handbook and the MEHE-UNICEF MoU

2. Accelerating the implementation of the priority programs under TREF as defined in the 2-Year Plan and Budget 2023-2025, which is linked to the 5-Year Plan for General Education

3. Designing and implementing urgent reform tracks as defined in the TREF Urgent Results Framework 2.0 and MEHE´s 2025 Reform Road Map

4. Strengthening MEHE educational expertise and educational leadership capacity through both short-term intervention crisis responses and long-term reform support

The IST acts as an implementation catalyst and coach to MEHE staff at the central and regional level to strengthen implementation management skills and accelerate the implementation of the planned and budgeted outputs of the TREF program requirements linked to the 2-Year Plan and Budget 2023-2025. Second, IST supports specific coordination tasks, especially in the field of Technical Assistance and cross-departmental work, to ensure a higher level of synergy and alignment across MEHE. Working closely with UNICEF team on a technical level is a function of the operational and governance arrangements of TREF.
The IST is a team of highly qualified coaches that support MEHE in building implementation management capacity and responds to pre-defined MEHE needs. The main counterpart of the IST are the relevant public servants managing or being involved in specific TREF priority programs or outputs.
Every IST member coaches assigned public servant staff to gradually strengthen MEHE ownership and transition to a stronger MEHE led public servant team from a currently highly consultant-driven set-up.
A key role in the IST is the Senior Expert on Planning & Budgeting, Reporting, Analysis, and Bottom-Up Costing. This position is a broad key strategic and technical role further advancing the reporting under TREF, advancing the bottom-up costing road map, and supporting the planning and budgeting process, while also conducting analysis of economic and educational data. The role requires deep knowledge in reform processes across the mentioned fields of expertise and requires adaptive leadership skills to shift mindsets of public servants to move out of their comfort zone and adopt new rules and practices.

The Senior Expert may lead junior and mid-level team members if recruited.

2. Main Tasks and Key Deliverables

The main operational and implementation support tasks are as follows:

1. Planning & Budgeting & Reporting

a. Leading TREF annual planning and budgeting process and delivering the TREF strategic log-frame with its result framework. Ensure alignment and potential synergies with other programs and plans at MEHE.
b. Drafting key reports under TREF, including, inter alia, the M&E, TREF Urgent Results Framework Progress Report and Narrative progress report on priority programs and outputs
c. Preparing specific costed plans related to MEHE activities that fall under TREF, within a crisis context to sustain the education service provision and supporting the DGE to communicate and mobilize resources based on those costed plans, such as back-to-school and emergency response plans.
d. Updating TREF actions & deliverables tracker and preparing specific inputs for the monthly Strategic Management Board meetings
e. Preparing and delivering updates on TREF and UNICEF related programs in formal settings, including during coordination sessions organized by the Office of the PM.

2. Economic and Educational Data Analysis

a. Conduct analysis of educational and economic data and produce reports such as Drop-Out Analysis with Policy Scenario Recommendations.
b. Support Development of the Case for Investment in Lebanese Public Education for the coming years.

3. Bottom-Up Costing

a. Work closely with IST and REOs on school level financial reporting as main source for shifting from top-down unit cost to bottom-up costing.
b. Review and analyze demographic and financial data to demonstrate impact of public expenditures on education via the analysis of the School-Level Expenditure Reports from Schools and MEHE budget.

The Senior Expert´s main reference is the TREF Urgent Results Framework 2025 as outlined in the Annex of this TOR. The key deliverables are derived from all 7 pillars with a specific focus on Pillars 1, 2, 3 and 7 and are summarized as follows:

1. Annual Plan and Budget 2024-25
2. TREF 2-year plan including narrative, theory of change, log frame, result framework, activities and budget and based on scenarios to ensure learning continuity.
3. Back to school and stay in school costed plan 2024/25
4. Short information analysis reports based on data available in the SIMS/EMIS.
5. Students drop-outs study update for 2023/24
6. Costing analysis of public education study based on school level expenditures and MEHE budget.
7. Functional Requirements and design for analytical automated dashboards
8. M&E, TREF Urgent Results Framework and Narrative progress report on priority programs and outputs
9. Specific memos to DGE with clear solutions and way forward on all relevant parts within the scope of the TOR

3. Reporting, Timeframe, Performance Monitoring, and Contracting

The Senior Expert reports to the DGE and works closely with the assigned public official counterparts and other IST members as well as UNICEF technical counterparts.
At the beginning of the assignment the Senior Expert drafts a Work Plan in response to the TREF Urgent Results Framework 2025 clearly reflective of the main tasks and deliverables outlined in this TOR. Weekly internal IST meetings are held to co-design interventions and apply an adaptive workflow in response to urgent crisis demands.
The timeframe of this consultancy is from March 2024 for a period of 12 months. Long and ad hoc working hours are expected given the proactive and demand-driven nature of work.

Progress is monitored on a quarterly basis in the form of Quarterly Progress Reports and reviewed by the Strategic Management Board of TREF that includes the DGE, Contributing Partners and senior UNICEF management.

The contract is signed with a management service provider working with UNICEF. Fees are comparable with similar levels of expertise in international organizations.

4. Candidate Profile and Selection Process

The position is for Lebanese nationals and requires a minimum of 10 years of relevant technical and strategic advisory experience in the public sector and/or donor-funded projects,. Strong experience in planning and reporting as well as financial and economic analysis of education costs on one hand and familiarity with educational data and trend analysis are required skills for this position. In addition, the candidate has on-the-job coaching experience in capacity building for public servants. A Master’s degree from a reputable academic institution in relevant fields as well as 2 non-academic references are a pre-requisite.