POSITION INFORMATION
- Organization: UNDP Lebanon Through Stars Orbit Consultants and Management Development
- VA No.: UNDP/LBN/VA26/168
- Position Title: National Consultant – Crisis Management consultant
- Duty Station: National Commission of the missing and forcibly disappeared offices in Sodeco Achrafieh, with occasional visits to the UNDP Office in Beirut as required.
- Duration: 4 months (with a total of 30 working days).
- Vacancy Date of Issue: 17 September 2026
- Vacancy Closure Date: 24 September 2026
- National or International consultancy: National consultancy
To review the full Terms of Reference (TOR), please follow link:
BACKGROUND
Dealing with the Past is a fundamental milestone in the peacebuilding journey. It is a process aimed at promoting reconciliation, restoring victims’ dignity, and preventing the recurrence of conflict.
Adopting a holistic approach, it seeks to transform conflicts by addressing both individual and structural dimensions within society. This process encompasses efforts to shift attitudes, beliefs, values, relationships, and interests, as well as to reform institutions and structures that may contribute to or perpetuate violence.
The Lebanese experience vividly illustrates the urgency and relevance of such an approach. For decades, from the end of the Lebanese civil war until today, families of missing and forcibly disappeared persons have endured a painful and unresolved tragedy. Left uncertain about whether their loved ones were dead or alive, they were denied access to truth and justice and deprived of any form of closure. Many families faced intimidation and social isolation simply for seeking information. Successive governments failed to meaningfully address the issue, instead adopting policies of silence, amnesty, and reconciliation that overlooked the profound suffering and rights of these families.
A major milestone was reached in 2018 with the adoption of Law 105 on Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, which formally recognized the right of families to know the fate of their loved ones and provided for the establishment of the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared (NCMFD). The Commission is mandated to investigate cases of disappearance, establish and maintain a central database, and locate, document, and identify mass graves using forensic and scientific methods.
Recent developments in Lebanon, including increased national attention to the issue of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, provide an important opportunity to strengthen the implementation of the NCMFD’s mandate under Law 105/2018. The Commission’s mission is fundamentally humanitarian, aiming to uncover the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, ensure the dignified treatment of their remains, and provide truth and recognition to their families.
While the Commission was initially established to address cases resulting from the Lebanese civil war and other historical circumstances, its humanitarian mandate also extends to new cases of missing persons arising from armed conflict, internal disturbances, natural disasters, mass casualty incidents, or other emergencies. Recent crises in Lebanon have therefore highlighted the need for the NCMFD to strengthen its institutional preparedness and capacity to rapidly activate its mandate during emergencies, particularly in relation to managing information on newly reported missing persons and engaging affected families in a timely, systematic, and dignified manner.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this initiative is to strengthen the institutional preparedness and operational capacity of the NCMFD to respond effectively to new cases of missing and forcibly disappeared persons arising during emergencies and crises.
More specifically, the initiative aims to:
- Strengthen the NCMFD’s capacity to rapidly activate appropriate procedures and mechanisms when new cases of missing persons are reported during emergencies.
- Enhance the Commission’s systems and procedures for the collection, verification, management, protection, and sharing of information related to newly reported missing persons.
- Strengthen the Commission’s capacity to establish and maintain systematic records and databases that can support case management, tracing, identification, and future investigations.
- Enhance coordination among relevant institutions and stakeholders involved in reporting, documenting, investigating, and responding to cases of missing persons during emergencies.
- Contribute to the NCMFD’s longer-term institutional readiness to implement its mandate in line with Law 105/2018 and relevant humanitarian and human-rights principles.
Dealing with the Past, a fundamental milestone in the peacebuilding journey, is a process aimed at promoting reconciliation, restoring victims’ dignity, and preventing the recurrence of conflict.
Accordingly, UNDP seeks the services of a national consultant to conduct an institutional assessment of the NCMFD’s existing capacities, systems, and procedures for responding to newly reported cases of missing persons during emergencies. The assessment will identify key gaps and areas for strengthening, with a focus on information management, case documentation, data protection, coordination, and database management, and provide practical recommendations to enhance the Commission’s operational readiness and implementation of its mandate in line with Law 105/2018 and relevant humanitarian and human-rights principles.
SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall guidance of the Peace Building in Lebanon Project Manager, and close coordination with the NCMFD Commission Coordinator, the crisis management Consultant will perform the following functions:
1. Institutional Assessment and Emergency Coordination Mapping
- Conduct an institutional assessment of the Commission’s current emergency preparedness capacities.
- Conduct an institutional and operational gap analysis and identify priority requirements.
- Map relevant stakeholders and existing emergency coordination mechanisms.
- Develop recommendations for establishing the Emergency Coordination and Crisis Management Cell.
2. Institutional and Operational Framework for the Emergency Coordination and Crisis Management Cell
- Design the institutional and governance framework of the Emergency Coordination and Crisis Management Cell.
- Define the governance structure, institutional arrangements, activation criteria, roles and responsibilities, and decision-making processes.
- Establish a coordination and liaison mechanisms with national authorities and humanitarian partners, and integration within Lebanon’s national emergency response architecture.
3. Operational Framework, Information Management and Toolkit
- Design the operational framework and toolkit for the Emergency Coordination and Crisis Management Cell.
- Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), emergency activation protocols, and operational guidance.
- Ensure alignment and integration of the Cell within Lebanon’s existing national emergency response architecture.
- Design emergency information management procedures and tools for missing persons, ensuring integration with the Commission’s existing Information Management System.
4. Validation, Capacity Development and Implementation
- Facilitate stakeholder consultations and multi-stakeholder validation workshops to review and validate the proposed institutional and operational frameworks.
- Incorporate stakeholder feedback and finalize the institutional and operational frameworks.
- Develop a capacity development plan and related training materials.
- Design and facilitate tabletop/simulation exercises to test and refine the proposed operational framework.
- Develop a phased implementation roadmap for establishing and operationalizing the Cell.
- Identify resource requirements, partnership opportunities, and capacity development priorities.
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
The consultant is expected to adopt a participatory, evidence-based, conflict-sensitive methodology combining desk review and consultations with key NCMFD staff and relevant national stakeholders.
The assessment will examine existing institutional capacities, procedures, information and case management systems, and coordination mechanisms related to missing persons, identify key gaps and challenges, and provide practical recommendations for strengthening the NCMFD’s operational readiness.
The consultant should build on existing national mechanisms and structures and complement ongoing national efforts to strengthen preparedness and response to cases of missing persons during times of crisis.
REPORTING
The Consultant shall ensure the timely submission of all output and progress reports, including the following:
- Inception and institutional assessment report, including the workplan, methodology, stakeholder mapping, detailed consultancy approach, institutional assessment, and emergency coordination mapping.
- Institutional and operational framework for the Emergency Coordination and Crisis Management Cell report.
- The Operational Framework, and Toolkit.
- Final report and Validation, Capacity Development and Implementation roadmap report.
WORK PLAN
The proposed work plan shall clearly demonstrate the sequencing of activities across the inception, implementation, and reporting phases, and reflect realistic timelines aligned with the consultancy duration.
Upon contract award, the Consultant shall submit a revised and detailed project work plan within 1 week after contract signature. Once approved, the revised plan shall be adopted and shall form the basis for project monitoring and performance tracking.
As part of the work plan, the Consultant shall include:
- A clear timeline of activities and deliverables.
- Key milestones and expected outputs.
- A stakeholder engagement and data collection plan.
- A basic risk assessment identifying potential challenges and mitigation measures.
- A quality assurance approach to ensure the reliability and validity of findings.
During the inception phase, the Consultant shall submit:
- A refined methodology and institutional assessment approach and data collection tools.
- A detailed work plan with milestones.
- Stakeholder mapping tools.
Throughout implementation, the Consultant shall:
- Monitor progress against agreed deliverables and timelines.
- Update the work plan as needed, in coordination with UNDP and the NCFMD.
- Ensure proper documentation of stakeholder consultations and field activities.
- Triangulate data sources and validate findings prior to finalization.
- Shall ensure compliance with data protection, confidentiality, and ethical standards.
REPORTS VALIDATION MODALITIES
Provisional approval by UNDP team, of the deliverables and submitted narrative reports (refer to section 5) shall take place at each of the defined milestones shown in the delivery schedule (to be agreed with the Consultant at the start of the project). It is expected that such approval shall not exceed seven working days from the submission of the completed milestone.
DELIVERY SCHEDULE
The Consultant is expected to complete and submit the deliverables specified below as per the identified time schedule. The expected overall duration for project completion is Four (4) Months.
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
- The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Local Peacebuilding Coordinator in the Mount Lebanon and the Peacebuilding Project Manager.
- UNDP will be responsible for providing the Consultant with all necessary guidance in a timely, thorough, and transparent manner.
- UNDP will provide clarifications and facilitation of the work as needed.
- All transportation and site logistics costs are included in the consultant’s daily rate.
DURATION OF WORK
The total duration of the consultancy is 4 months (with a total of 30 working days).
- The mission is expected to commence on October 15, 2026, and to be completed by January 15, 2027.
- The time needed to review/comment/approve deliverables and outputs is (5) five working days.
DUTY STATION
The National Consultant will be field based at the National Commission of the missing and forcibly disappeared offices in Sodeco Achrafieh, with occasional visits to the UNDP Office in Beirut as required.
The National Consultant shall ensure regular and consistent field presence throughout the duration of the assignment.
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Education: At least MA degree in Public Administration, political sciences, law, Crisis Management, or a related field.
- Experience: At least 10 years of professional experience in emergency preparedness, crisis management, humanitarian coordination, disaster risk management, or related areas preferably within the non-profit and UN agencies and public sector.
- Language: Fluency in English and Arabic.
“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
To apply for this position please follow the link below. Kindly note only CVs received through the link will be considered for this position.
Link to Apply:
https://vacancies.my-soc.org/apply/20260917065414/VACANCY-6AAB8E9659139