National Consultant – Sustainable Local Governance and Social Stability Consultant
Local Work Rights Required
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Role Summary
UNDP seeks a National Consultant for Sustainable Local Governance in Tripoli, Lebanon, to enhance community engagement and address social stability issues.
About the Organisation
Lebanon continues to face unprecedented and overlapping crises that have significantly affected social cohesion, public trust, and local governance structures. Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and one of its most vulnerable urban centers, has been particularly affected by rising socio-economic pressures, weakened municipal capacities, unemployment, and recurring inter- and intra-community tensions. These challenges are compounded by longstanding historical divisions, uneven development, and declining confidence in public institutions.
In response, UNDP, in partnership with UNICEF and IOM, is implementing the “Tripoli Peace Initiative: Safeguarding Stability in Lebanon,” funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The project aims to strengthen social stability in Tripoli by addressing the root causes of tensions through inclusive local development, participatory governance, youth engagement, and community-based peacebuilding processes.
As part of the project, UNDP’s Peacebuilding Project, through its local implementing partner NAHNOO, conducted a comprehensive Conflict Analysis by the end of 2025. The analysis assessed local conflict dynamics, social-cohesion challenges, governance gaps, and emerging drivers of tension in Tripoli. Its purpose was to inform conflict-sensitive programming, strengthen local stability mechanisms, and support inclusive and sustainable community-engagement processes.
Building on the findings, consultations, and stakeholder engagement conducted through the Conflict Analysis, the Municipality of Tripoli recognized the importance of moving towards a practical and sustainable next phase focused on strengthening participatory local governance and institutionalized community-representation mechanisms.
In this context, UNDP seeks to recruit a National Consultant to conduct a participatory and conflict-sensitive assessment and develop a practical governance framework and implementation methodology for establishing neighborhood-based representative structures in Tripoli.
Scope of work, responsibilities and description of the proposed analytical work
The overall objective of the consultancy is to support the Municipality of Tripoli in developing:
The proposed neighborhood committees are envisioned as sustainable social-stability and participatory-governance mechanisms formally linked to the municipality. They will support improved coordination between communities, the municipality, donors, and development actors while strengthening legitimacy, representation, accountability, and social cohesion at the neighborhood level.
Under the supervision of the Local Peacebuilding Coordinator in the North and the Peacebuilding Project Manager, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks:
Review and analysis of existing resources and context
Stakeholder consultations and participatory mapping
Development of the neighborhood-classification framework
Development of the neighborhood-committee methodology
Final report and presentation
The Consultant is expected to adopt a participatory, conflict-sensitive, and evidence-based methodology combining desk review, stakeholder mapping, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, participatory mapping exercises, governance analysis, and conflict-sensitivity analysis.
The Consultant shall build on the completed Conflict Analysis and avoid duplicating previously conducted assessments.
Expected outputs and deliverables
The consultancy consists of 30 working days distributed over four months. The Consultant is expected to complete the following deliverables:
Deliverable 1: Inception report – 5 working days
The Consultant shall submit an inception report including:
The deliverable is expected during the first month following contract signature and represents 15% of the total contract value.
Deliverable 2: Stakeholder consultation and participatory mapping report – 15 working days
The Consultant shall conduct a participatory consultation process with relevant stakeholders and submit a comprehensive report documenting:
The deliverable is expected during the second month following contract signature and represents 45% of the total contract value.
Deliverable 3: Draft neighborhood-classification framework and neighborhood-committee formation methodology – 5 working days
- A revised, evidence-based classification and division of neighborhoods and localities within Tripoli Municipality, based on social, demographic, geographic, governance, and conflict-sensitivity considerations.
- A proposed methodology for establishing representative neighborhood committees through locally endorsed community-election processes.
- Conduct a desk review of existing resources related to Tripoli’s governance, urban divisions, social dynamics, local conflict drivers, and participatory mechanisms.
- Review and analyze the findings of the Conflict Analysis Report.
- Identify and document the principal criteria and considerations for redefining and classifying neighborhoods and localities in Tripoli.
- Consider geographic boundaries, demographic characteristics, community identities, social-cohesion dynamics, municipal service coverage, governance arrangements, and conflict-sensitivity factors.
- Conduct consultations with municipal officials, Mokhtars, civil society organizations, youth and women representatives, community representatives, and other local actors.
- Conduct participatory discussions and mapping exercises to validate existing neighborhood boundaries and identify community-representation structures.
- Analyze local-governance dynamics and social-cohesion and tension-related considerations relevant to neighborhood classification and committee formation.
- Submit a summary report documenting the consultations, key findings, and recommendations.
- Develop an evidence-based and conflict-sensitive framework for classifying and dividing neighborhoods and localities within Tripoli Municipality.
- Develop proposed classification criteria, supporting rationale, neighborhood profiles, and recommendations for municipal adoption and future updates.
- Produce a proposed neighborhood-classification map and accompanying methodology.
- Document the recommended boundaries, classification process, data sources, stakeholder-validation process, and justification for the proposed divisions.
- Develop a practical and conflict-sensitive methodology for establishing representative neighborhood committees.
- Take into consideration the applicable legal and institutional framework governing municipalities and community-representation mechanisms in Lebanon.
- Propose the committees’ governance structure, composition, community-election process, institutional linkages with the municipality, and implementation arrangements.
- Develop implementation recommendations and a phased roadmap for operationalization.
- Submit a final consolidated report containing the finalized neighborhood-classification framework and neighborhood-committee methodology.
- Facilitate a validation workshop or presentation with relevant stakeholders.
- Incorporate stakeholder and UNDP feedback into the final outputs.
- The proposed methodology and analytical framework.
- A detailed work plan and timeline.
- Stakeholder mapping and engagement approach.
- Proposed data-collection methods and tools.
- Key milestones and expected outputs.
- A basic risk assessment and mitigation measures.
- A quality-assurance approach.
- The consultation methodology and stakeholder-engagement process.
- Key findings from consultations.
- Participatory mapping results.
- Existing neighborhood boundaries and community-representation structures.
- Local-governance and conflict-sensitive considerations.
- Recommendations to inform the neighborhood-classification framework and committee-formation methodology.
Eligibility Criteria
This position is open only to candidates with legal status to work in Lebanon.
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