Legal Expert to Conduct Functional Legislative Analysis – OMSAR At UN Development Programme

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Position Information

  • VA No.: UNDP/LBN/VA26/029
  • Position Title: Legal Expert to Conduct Functional Legislative Analysis – OMSAR
  • Duty Station: Home-based with regular coordination meetings/consultation workshops at OMSAR premises in Beirut, as required.
  • Duration: 4 months (total of 40 working days without exceeding 10 working days per month).
  • Contract Type: Consultancy
  • Vacancy Date of Issue: 5 March 2026
  • Vacancy Closure Date: 10 March 2026
  • National or International consultancy: National (LEBANESE NATIONALS ONLY)

Background

For over six years, Lebanon has been facing a prolonged economic, financial, and social crisis. The country experienced multiple shocks, including economic and financial collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Port explosion, and, most recently, more than a year-long armed conflict that caused extensive damage and losses. These developments led to a severe economic contraction, depreciation of the Lebanese Pound, soaring inflation, fiscal imbalances, and a sharp decline in the real value of income, particularly affecting public sector employees. As a result, state institutions have been struggling to deliver on their mandates due to a lack of financial resources and a significant loss of skilled professionals in the public sector. Against this backdrop, the capacity for evidence-based policymaking, regulation, and the delivery of priorities has been severely constrained by the crises.

While the election of a president and formation of a new government mark a positive political turning point, the state continues to face major resource and capacity constraints in responding to the crisis, supporting post-conflict recovery, and addressing structural challenges. At the same time, there is limited visibility over development aid directed to Lebanon. Since the 2019 collapse, most donors have made funding conditional on broad reforms and progress toward an IMF agreement. As a result, only a small share of aid has been channeled through government systems. Most grants and loans remain off-budget, creating a disconnect between aid inflows and national public finance management.

To address the implications of these crises, UNDP has been supporting the Government of Lebanon (GoL) in restoring core functions and in resuming its role in service delivery, and to help in implementing priority reforms, while linking traditional public administration, civil service, and policy reforms with a digital transformation process, with the ultimate aim of reactivating the social contract.

In response, the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) has launched “Reinventing Government 2030” which represents one of Lebanon’s most ambitious efforts to modernize the State and rebuild citizens’ trust in public institutions. The reform vision is structured across three phases:

Phase 1: Stakeholder Aspirations (Listen, Analyze, Prepare)

OMSAR engaged thousands of stakeholders – citizens, youth, diaspora, civil servants, municipalities, civil society, unions, media, political and religious leaders – through surveys, workshops, town halls, and interviews. This participatory phase has produced a unified vision and validated national reform aspirations.

Phase 2: Blueprint Design for Government Restructuring.

This phase aims to reorganize ministries and public agencies by 1) redefining mandates; 2) eliminating fragmentation and duplicated functions; 3) designing a Target Operating Model (TOM) tailored to Lebanon; 4) benchmarking against global governance models; 5) ensuring alignment with stakeholder aspirations and future state needs.

Phase 3: Full Implementation (2026–2030)

Execution of the restructuring plan, introduction of digital and process reforms, reskilling of human capital, and establishing performance-based management across government.

After completion of Phase 1, the OMSAR has launched Phase 2 of the Reform. Central to this phase is Baseline Assessment of the current state of affairs of GoL. The Reform’s design is manifested in the Conceptual Framework, which provides basic outline for the Baseline Assessment. It envisages functional analysis of the government of Lebanon along horizontal and vertical axes. The horizontal axis established four universal Functions of the Government: 1. National Directions and Policy Setting; 2) Licensing and Regulation; 3) Service Delivery; 4) Delivery Oversight and Surveillance; The vertical axis provides thematic or area classification of the governance model. In particular, it identified a number of sectors that could reach 28 Sectors and around 120 Subsector.

Following to the several rounds of consultations with the OMSAR, UNDP Lebanon has developed and validated a methodology for the Baseline Assessment in line with the priorities enshrined in the Conceptual Framework.

The methodology is based on a rigorous research design that ensures data is collected from multiple sources. In total, it includes four research methods. Each method is designed to build upon the previous one, moving from theoretical mandates to operational realities:

  • Desk Research
  • Survey
  • Key Informant Interviews (KIIs)
  • Focus Groups/Validation Workshops

To this end, UNDP seeks to recruit a national legal Expert to support OMSAR in the implementation of the reform from legislative perspective. The primary objective of this assignment is to provide high-level legal advisory services to OMSAR to streamline and harmonize the government’s organizational landscape. The Legal Expert will ensure that the development of a new Target Operating Model (TOM) is legally sound, consistent across various ministries, clusters and sectors, and compliant with national administrative laws.Ultimately, this work will inform the next phases of Lebanon’s “Reinventing Government 2030” national transformation agenda.

Scope of work, responsibilities and description of the proposed analytical work

Under the general supervision of the UNDP Senior Economist and LPARD-P Project Manager, and in close coordination with OMSAR, the Legal Expert will be tasked with performing a comprehensive regulatory and functional governance analysis of assigned subsectors/functions. The Legal Expert will be responsible for the following:

  • Review the Reform Conceptual Framework across selected ministries.
  • Review and get familiarized with the Baseline Assessment methodology and templates that need to be filled out during the desk research phase. The consultant could also propose amending these templates if needed.
  • Identify, retrieve, and analyze the full hierarchy of legal instruments governing each subsector/function. This includes primary legislation (Constitutional provisions, Laws, Codes, etc.) and the secondary legislation (Government Decrees, Ministerial Orders, Administrative Instructions, Technical Regulations, bylaws etc.). The analysis must go beyond a simple list, evaluating how these legal instruments empower or restrict specific entities, as well as whether there are any institutional gaps
  • Categorize every legal mandate and institutional power into a four-pillar functional model using the assignment’s specific methodology. This requires a comprehensive approach, where the Expert analyzes what, how, and who (structural units), exactly, within the entity legally does, rather than just the identification of the official names of the entities. Categorization shall be done across the following broad functions of the government in each sector:
  1. Policy Development and Coherence (“Body”): Identification of roles related to strategic planning, sector-wide coordination, legislative drafting, and the alignment of subsector goals with national policy.
  2. Standardization and Authorization (“Brain”): Identification of roles related to setting technical norms, establishing quality standards, issuing licenses, granting permits, and managing registries or certifications.
  3. Service Delivery (“Hands”): Identification of the operational “front-line” roles, including the physical provision of public services, infrastructure management, and the execution of administrative tasks that directly interface with citizens, businesses, or other governmental agencies.
  4. Oversight (“Eyes”): Identification of roles dedicated to monitoring, inspection, auditing, performance evaluation, and the enforcement of sanctions for non-compliance.
  • Conduct a comprehensive legal audit of existing government entities, including but not limited to Ministries/DGs (central administration), Public institutions and autonomous agencies, Independent regulatory authorities, Oversight and accountability bodies (financial audit; administrative inspection; anti-corruption; judicial and quasi-judicial bodies), Councils and advisory / coordination bodies, Local government entities.
  • Map the legislative origins (decrees, statutes, or administrative acts) of these entities to identify overlaps or legal inconsistencies.
  • Classify entities based on their legal status, degree of autonomy, and governance mandates in line with the abovementioned methodology.
  • Draft a set of standardized legal archetypes or templates for different categories of entities to ensure future uniformity.
  • Develop legal recommendations for the dissolution, merger, or transformation of entities identified during the baseline phase.
  • Review and validate the proposed Target Operating Model (TOM) to ensure it aligns with existing constitutional and administrative frameworks.
  • Attend a number of validation workshops to provide real-time legal input on organizational design and governance hurdles.
  • In line with the findings as a result of the Baseline Assessment and after the Validation Workshops with the ministries, develop a comprehensive legislative package for the amendments in the respective legislation of the Republic of Lebanon (both primary and secondary legislation).
  • Identify potential legal bottlenecks in the implementation of the new model and propose legislative amendments to resolve them.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to complete the above tasks and activities, noting that the total duration should not exceed 4 months (total of 40 working days without exceeding 10 working days per month).

Institutional arrangements

  • The consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UNDP Senior Economist and L-PARDP Project Manager and in close coordination with the OMSAR focal point.
  • UNDP will be responsible for providing the contractor with all necessary materials related to the project in a timely, thorough and transparent manner. UNDP will be also responsible to provide clarifications and facilitation of the work.
  • Day to Day transportation from home to office (& vice versa) shall be covered by the Consultant’s own means. The Consultant will rely on his/her own means of communication and transportation.

Duration of work

The assigned duration for this consultancy is 4 months.

The mission is expected to commence on the 26th of of February 2026, and to be completed by the 26th of June 2026.

Duty station

The consultant will be home-based with regular coordination meetings/consultation workshops at OMSAR premises in Beirut, as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education

  • Master’s degree or equivalent (minimum) in Law, Public Administration or Public Policy or relevant field.
  • At least 10 years of experience of relevant experience in legal, institutional, or governance-related fields, with demonstrated experience in regulatory and policy environments.

Language: Fluent in English and Arabic (both oral and written).

“The Personnel will be covered with Health insurance and Personal accident insurance; the fees shall be deducted from personnel’s monthly payment”.

How to apply

How to Apply

To apply for this position please choose one of the two options below:

1. Link to Apply: https://jobs.my-soc.org/apply/20260305100703/60s3yDRGkLcqM91lgiFP7aSme

2. You can send your CV with the cover letter to this email: jobs@starsorbit.org

TERMS AND CONDITIONS TO APPLY

  1. CV or P11 Form including 3 references must be submitted online in PDF along with your Education Graduation Certificate.
  2. Use English language only.
  3. indicate clear years of experience with each job (Month/Year)
  4. If the candidate is currently employed by a government institution, he/she must be able to provide an unpaid leave of absence for the duration of the consultancy.
  5. Only candidates who are short-listed will be contacted.
  6. By submitting your application, you have read the Terms of Reference for this position and agree that any false, wrong, or incomplete information might lead to your disqualification in this recruitment process.