Office/Unit/Project Description
Lebanon continues to confront an unprecedented financial and economic crisis, exacerbated by a long history of violence, volatility, and social inequality. This crisis has deeply undermined the subsistence capacity of already vulnerable populations. The country remains home to the largest numbers of refugees per capita in the world, with approximately 1.5 million displaced Syrians, 31,400 Palestine refugees from Syria, 35,000 Lebanese returnees, and a pre-existing population of 174,422 Palestine refugees residing in 12 official refugee camps and 156 gatherings. Moreover, the geopolitical environment continues to deteriorate, which poses risks for new displacement waves. This multi-layered crisis has had devastating impacts on Lebanon’s social, economic, and environmental capital, and increasingly threatens the country's social cohesion and stability.
Communities hosting large numbers of displaced populations face compounded challenges due to inadequate institutional capacities, dwindling resources, and a lack of effective collective approaches to managing the crisis. These communities are grappling with the consequences of the Syrian displacement crisis, which has been further exacerbated since 2019 by a severe economic, fiscal, and governance meltdown. Additionally, the increasing pressures from climate change have intensified these vulnerabilities. This state-of-affairs weakens the ability of local communities to cope with the immediate impacts of the crisis, such as service breakdowns, rising poverty, and growing tensions between and within communities. These challenges, in turn, limit their capacity to pursue a sustainable development path, particularly as durable solutions to the displacement crisis remain elusive.
In response to these challenges, the Lebanon Host Community Support Project – Phase 2 (LHSP 2.0) builds upon the lessons learned from the original LHSP project, which has been implemented since 2014. LHSP 2.0 seeks to anchor stabilization activities within a more integrated local development framework. It focuses on working at the area-based level within clusters and unions, with a strong emphasis on strengthening municipal capacities to enhance the sustainability and impact of stabilization efforts.
At the local level, LHSP 2.0 aims to bolster the coping and sustainable development capacities of host communities. Its key objectives are to create a more enabling environment for mitigating and preventing tensions by:
- Reducing competition over public services, livelihood, and economic opportunities: This is achieved by supporting the maintenance and expansion of service delivery and creating economic opportunities, especially in the context of the significant incapacitation of both public and private sectors.
- Providing conflict-sensitive and inclusive dialogue and decision-making spaces: These spaces allow local communities to engage in peaceful discussions, identify common interests, and collaboratively chart a path towards a sustainable future.
The Local Development Project (LDP) further complements the objectives of LHSP 2.0 by enhancing local governance, capacity building, and economic resilience across Lebanon. This initiative focuses on the long-term recovery and stability of host communities, ensuring that development strategies are inclusive, sustainable, and responsive to the complex needs of both displaced and host populations. By fostering an environment where local governments and communities can manage development processes effectively, LDSL seeks to integrate economic, social, and environmental resilience at the community level:
Output1: Established mechanisms for inclusive, conflict sensitive and participatory local planning enabling the implementation of sustainable local development strategies.
Output 2: Strengthened capacities of local development stakeholders to generate decent livelihoods opportunities, including for women and youth, through implementing inclusive infrastructure and local economic development interventions.
In complement, LHSP 2.0 and LDP are critical in addressing Lebanon's multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and ensuring the country’s capacity for sustainable, inclusive recovery. They aim to create a harmonious, integrated approach to local development that not only addresses immediate needs but also builds resilience for the future.
Under the direct supervision of the UNDP Resident Representative, the Area Manager primarily reports to the Chief Technical Adviser (CTA-LHSP/LDP) and will be responsible for ensuring the implementation of all the programme-related activities in the Bekaa, including support to inter-agency coordination efforts.
Scope of Work
The responsibilities and functions of the Area Manager include:
- Provide strategic leadership for effective overall management of the Project in the area, focusing on the following results.
- Contribute to the preparation of annual project work plans and ensure their effective implementation at area level.
- Lead the development of comprehensive/detailed concept notes and work-plans for interventions at area level that reflect all scope of activities as well as roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and set relevant milestones.
- Initiate and prepare inputs and progress updates on projects for donors as well as support for technical donor visits to the area.
- Proactively and regularly exchange with the CTA on any emerging developments at the area-level that have bearing on successful project implementation.
- Support the CTA in providing day-to-day decision making for project implementation, taking into consideration the need to adapt the activities to the emerging context and ensuring that the results (outputs) specified are achieved at the level of maximum quality and within the specified time and cost.
- Establish and maintain relationships with and support to local stakeholders (e.g. municipalities, Union of Municipalities, Governors, civil society, NGOs), as well as engage groups and communities in project activities that affect them so as to promote ownership and sustainability at area level.
- Provide all necessary information and documentation for reporting and resource mobilization including coordinating missions of donors and partners.
- Support and facilitate complementarity of interventions with other initiatives/projects/ programmes existing at area level.
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders and actively participate in relevant meetings at area level and at country-level.
- Ensure the principles of gender equality, democratic governance, social inclusion and disaster resilience are effectively reflected in all project activities.
- Share findings and lessons learned and ensure that an adequate flow of information is disseminated.
- Ensure that financial disbursement records and inventory records are according to rules and regulations of UNDP and certify various expenditures in conformity with the area work plan and operational activities.
- Ensure that procurement is as per the UNDP rules and regulations.
- Proactively promote gender equality and inclusion of vulnerable groups including youth and disabled people
- Lead area-level coordination and build strategic partnerships focusing on the following result.
- Active engagement with local authorities and partners for UNDP programming and as advised by RR in the respective covered area, as well as co-lead for coordination at the regional level on all issues associated with coordination of the LRP in the Bekaa area (e.g. Co-chair the regional Inter-Sector Working Group together with UNHCR and MOSA, involving all government sector leads and UN coordinators, INGO and NNGO representatives);
- Advise the RR, DRR, programme manager and other senior staff on all issues associated with the LRP and the crisis response at the regional level, including emerging policy developments, institutional positioning and partnerships as relevant to the effective co-leadership and implementation of the LRP.
- Where relevant, advise on programme design and development processes in line with the LRP, including opportunities for linkages and partnerships with other actors whether they be UN, Private Sector, INGOs or local organizations.
- Strengthen the linkages between the LRP response framework and the DRM/DRR units as established in the governorates and support the establishment of transition response mechanisms to respond to the current crisis.
- Support ongoing key cross-sectoral mainstreaming efforts including conflict sensitivity, environment and gender.
- Maintain close collaboration with relevant Government counterparts including from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and other national sector leads, on all issues associated with implementation of the LRP.
- Ensure that UNDP leads the sectors and support the strategic direction of Social Stability and Livelihoods Sectors, in close collaboration with the area Inter-Agency Coordination Officer (ie. contribute to the development and update of the national sector strategy, in close links with the national sector leads; and ensure the implementation and adaptation of this strategy at the local level.
- Explore area-based and programmatic strategies in close coordination with the inter-agency and programme colleagues.
- Lead knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy.
- Contribute to the development of knowledge products, toolkits, guidelines and SOPs based on trends and lessons learned from the field; and based on collective analysis, provide advice to partners on priorities, targeting and programme design.
- Identify information gaps and define needs for assessments/research to inform the strategies.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Institutional Arrangement
The selected incumbent will be under the supervision of the UNDP Resident Representative and primarily report to the CTA-LHSP.
Core : Full list of UNDP Core Competencies can be found here
Achieve Results:
LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
Think Innovatively:
LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
Learn Continuously:
LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
Adapt with Agility :
LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
Act with Determination:
LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
Engage and Partner:
LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies
Thematic Area: Business Direction & Strategy (Strategic Thinking)
- Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities, linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.
- Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.
Thematic Area: Business Direction & Strategy (System Thinking)
- Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
Thematic Area: Business Development (Knowledge Facilitation)
- Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas. Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.
Thematic Area: Business Development (Collective Intelligence Design)
- Ability to bring together diverse groups of people, data, information, ideas, and technology to solve problems and design solutions or services. Knowledge and understanding of Collective Intelligence Design principles, methodology and practices.
Thematic Area: Business Management (Project Management)
- Ability to plan, organise, prioritise and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
Thematic Area: Business Management (Risk Management)
- Identify and organize action around reducing, mitigating and proactively managing risks.
Thematic Area: Digital (Solutions mapping)
- Ability to engage and build rapport with vulnerable communities and get consent, facilitate participatory processes and navigate intricate power relations and cultural dynamics. Having the sensitivity and ability to identify grassroots solutions, capacities, assets, coping strategies that impacted communities have developed or used to address (emerging) development challenges.
- Being able to understand these solutions from a people's perspective and learn about the conditions that enable or prevent communities from developing such grassroots solutions or coping mechanisms. Understand how solutions and needs are paired, and how grassroots solutions can be used as an entry point to identify unaddressed or unmet development challenges and how to use these insights to inform policy design.
- Ability to reverse engineer solutions, understanding what aspects (artefactual, principles, conditions, configuration) can be scaled and how, being able to assess their potential to be transferred to other domains, regions or contexts and build a case for that.
- Ability to appreciate and integrate various sources of knowledge (academic, experiential, observational, traditional, indigenous) in problem solving processes. Set up structures and processes to collect ideas, solutions and facilitate matchmaking between supply and demand of solutions.
Minimum Qualifications of the Successful NPSA
Min. Academic Education
- Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Social, Economic, Business Administration, International Development or any related fields is required; or
- A first level University degree (bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in the above mentioned fields with additional 2 years of relevant experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree.
Min. years of relevant Work experience
- Minimum 7 years (with a master’s degree) or 9 years (with a bachelor’s degree) of progressive relevant experience in operational planning and implementation of social and economic development activities as well as peace building.
Required skills and competencies
- Proven track record of good knowledge and understanding of the socio-economic development in the country and the region.
- Experience in results-based management and reporting.
- Demonstrated experience in overseeing timely project implementation and to provide the necessary trouble shooting
- Experience in managing budgets and work plans;
Desired additional skills and competencies
- Experience and knowledge of UNDP policies and procedures and experience from previous UN assignments and/or multilateral banks or bi-lateral aid organizations would be an asset.
- Experience in field level and coordination work with international and/or local humanitarian and development agencies is an asset.
- Experience in managing diverse teams is an asset
- Experience in resource mobilization is an asset.
Required Language(s)
Fluency in English andArabic is required. Knowledge of French is a plus.
Professional Certificates
NotApplicable
