Municipal Finance and Budgeting Expert

Assignment Description: Preparing and delivering two full-day training workshops on Municipal Finance and Budgeting for current municipal council members and potential candidates.

Assignment Location: Two different areas in Lebanon

Employment Type: Short-term consultancy 

Assignment Period: July – September 2024

Level of Effort: Three expert days   

How to apply: Please send the application documents to [email protected] cc’ing [email protected], by 30 June 2024, 11:59 PM local time.

DRI is looking for an expert in Municipal Finance and Budgeting to train around 50 current municipal council members and potential candidates in two areas in Lebanon (25 participants per region).

Background

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting political participation and democratic governance worldwide. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, DRI operates across Western Asia and North Africa (WANA), Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe. It maintains country offices in Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya (operating remotely from Tunisia), the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ukraine, collaborating with various international and local partners across several countries. In addition to its physical presence, DRI is actively engaged in promoting Digital Democracy in many other areas.  

Since 2016 DRI has been raising awareness and advocating for evidence-based policies and public debates that foster democratic and accountable governance, the rule of law, and political participation in Lebanon, in cooperation with civil society organisations and public officials. Particularly, DRI is working to expand the democratic space for a civil society-led debate on systemic change in Lebanon, encouraging citizens to actively participate in the governing of their own country in an inclusive and participatory manner. 

In the framework of the project “Localising political reform in Lebanon: Supporting local governments and civil society to effect change in their communities”, DRI is contributing to setting the political reform agenda through building a community of change makers at the national and local levels. DRI has been empowering elected municipal councils and potential candidates who wish to run for the upcoming municipal elections, all genders included, by delivering trainings on good governance that promote citizen-centric and gender-responsive actions. The Municipal Finance and Budgeting training is one of a series of five training topics, including the Right to Access Information Law, the municipal mandate, public procurement, and proposal writing and fundraising delivered to a total of around 50 participants in two selected areas in Lebanon. 

Your duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of DRI’s Programme Manager, the Expert will:  

• Develop interactive and detailed training modules, a training session plan, and all accompanying background materials (½ expert day);   
• Deliver two full-day training sessions with municipal council members and potential candidates (1 expert day in Area 1 and 1 Expert Day in Area 2) following an interactive, engaging approach, e.g., discussion activities, exercises, role plays (two expert days); 
• Prepare pre- and post-training test modules to be shared with all the participants before and after the training sessions, once validated by DRI;  
• Once the training is completed, submit a training report summarising the training outcomes and the pre-post test results, and reflecting the trainees’ increase in knowledge as per the template provided by DRI (½ expert day).  

 Your skills and experience  

• An advanced university degree in law, political studies, finance, public policy/administration, or relevant fields; 
• At least 7 years of experience in municipal finance, procurement, auditing, and budgeting;
• Deep knowledge of the legal and regulatory framework of public financial management and municipal procedures in Lebanon;

• Strong training skills in related topics using interactive methods;
• Working proficiency in Arabic and English.