ToR - Consultant to Support Process of Developing Action Plan of the National Social Protection Strategy (Social Protection Coordinator on Social Insurance, Social Health Protection, and Labour Market Activation)

Introduction

The Government of Lebanon officially launched the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) on February 13th, 2024, encompassing significant reforms across various sectors within five pillars: Social Assistance, Social Insurance, Social Welfare, Social Health Protection, Financial Access to Education, and Labour Market Activation; coupled with systemic and governance-level reforms and coordination mechanisms.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Social Protection, established in March 2024 and chaired by the Prime Minister, will oversee the operationalization of the NSPS. A Technical Unit, formed at the Prime Minister’s Office will provide technical support to the IMC in its role on activating and overseeing implementation of the Strategy. In this first phase, it will support in developing the executive framework of the Strategy, including a comprehensive action plan, a costing analysis and financing plan, and a monitoring and evaluation plan. The Technical Unit consists of technical leads appointed by their line ministries and agencies to develop the abovementioned executive framework. The Unit officially launched its work on the Strategy on May 9^th, 2024, and within that capacity, will hold meetings with government and non-government stakeholders.

Under the EU-ILO-UNICEF collaboration on ‘Addressing life-cycle vulnerabilities through social protection – Establishing Social Grants in Lebanon’, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF are providing technical assistance to the government in developing the NSPS implementation framework and its operationalization.  They are now seeking two Social Protection Coordinators that would support this work, under the different pillars of the Strategy, mainly:

• Social Protection Coordinator on Social Assistance, Social Welfare, and Financial Access to Education
• Social Protection Coordinator on Social Insurance, Social Health Protection, and Labour Activation and Economic Inclusion.

Objectives

The Social Protection Coordinator on Social Insurance, Social Health Protection, and Labour Market Activation will coordinate the process and ensure regular communication with the relevant stakeholders of the NSPS, ensuring the collection and consolidation of the relevant data for the executive frameworks, with a particular focus on Social Insurance, Social Health Protection, and Labour Market Activation pillars of the NSPS, and in close coordination with the Social Protection Coordinator on Social Assistance, Social Welfare, and Financial Access to Education.

Coordination is expected with technical unit, including technical leads of the assigned pillars, lead-ministries and agencies, stakeholders relevant to the NSPS initiatives within ministries and public institutions, and external stakeholders including employers and workers organizations, CSOs, development partners, and the private sector.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will conduct, amongst others, the following activities:

• Identifying, in coordination with the technical leads, all stakeholders at initiative-level under the Social Insurance, Social Health Protection, and Labour Market Activation pillars of the NSPS, including government officials, technical staff, private sector, employer and worker organizations and civil society organizations, and scheduling meetings with the identified stakeholders in coordination with the ILO and UNICEF.
• Schedule and support the organization, preparation, and facilitation of bilateral meetings with ministries, in close collaboration with the relevant technical leads.
• In line with process identified by technical unit, set meetings’ agenda and validate them with technical leads. Meetings will aim as a first step to provide a mapping of all social protection initiatives under the various relevant ministries and later to identify key actions under priority initiatives.
• Schedule, prepare for and facilitate joint and pillar-level meetings, which bring together stakeholders from different ministries to harmonize inputs, bridge gaps, and ensure coordination, inter-ministerial consensus on identified priorities, actions, timeline, and roles and responsibilities, while jointly mitigating challenges.
• Record meeting minutes and outcomes, including action items and responsible parties, and consolidate inputs, in coordination with the technical leads, ensuring coherence, accuracy and comprehensiveness.
• Document meeting process, decisions, and action points for reference and follow-up and provide regular updates to the Technical Unit Coordinator, ILO and UNICEF on meeting outcomes, progress, challenges and constraints and advise on mitigation measures and next steps.
• Coordinate the above meetings, workshops, and consultations with the Technical Unit Coordinator from PMO as per the agreed timeline and agenda.
• Support the technical leads on executive framework development for the relevant strategy pillars, ensuring insights and information gathered in the bilateral and joint meetings are coherently and accurately reflected.

The consultant will regularly report back to the Technical Unit, the ILO and UNICEF in joint and bilateral meetings, ensuring productive collaboration, and achieving the abovementioned and agreed on milestones. Feedback from technical unit members and stakeholders will be solicited to inform ongoing improvement.

Timeline and Deliverables

The consultancy will start on July 1^st, 2024, and conclude on October 15, 2024, for a total of 35 working days.

For more details on the timeline and deliverables, please refer to the attached ToR.

For all deliverables, the consultant would be expected to submit the following:

• Schedule of meetings, participants list and agenda
• Material prepared at least 3 to 5 days prior to the meeting
• Summary report of discussions and key takeaways

Selection Requirements

Educational Background: advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Political Science, Public Policy, Social Protection, Economics, Development Studies, or other related fields, with proven knowledge and experience in Social Protection policies and strategies.

Professional Experience:

- At least 7-10 years of relevant experience working in or with governmental institutions or entities on Social Insurance, and/or Social Health Protection, and/or Labour Market Activation programs, and knowledge of Lebanon’s institutional, legal, and socioeconomic frameworks.

- Proven experience in policy development, program design, and implementation within the fields of Social Protection, Social Insurance, and/or Social Health Protection, and/or Labour Market Activation programs. Having experience in more than one field is preferred.

- Proven experience in coordinating and facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations, including with government entities, NGOs, private sector, and international organizations.

- Excellent skills in drafting briefs, reports, fact sheets, presentations etc.

Project/process Management skills: Proven ability to coordinate, manage and lead consultations to ensure outcomes are reached, as per process agreed and within the defined timeframe, and to address and resolve challenges and problems as they arise.

Linguistic skills: Proficiency in Arabic and English languages for effective communication and documentation.

Communication and interpersonal skills:

- Strong facilitation skills with experience in leading meetings and workshops in multi-stakeholder environments and especially among diverse political actors.

- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to foster collaboration, build consensus, and promote an inclusive and participatory environment conducive to productive discussions and decision-making.

- Knowledge in monitoring and evaluation preferred.