Terms of Reference Description of the assignment (Title of consultancy): National Consultant to assess the Regional Technical Office (RTO) operating under the mandate of the Union of Municipalities of Tyre in the frame of the Tyre - Zurich City to City Project Partnership Project Title: Tyre - Zurich Project Partnership Period of assignment/services: 25 working days that shall be conducted over a period of 10 weeks. 1. INTRODUCTION The City of Zurich and the City of Tyre have decided to enter into a City-to-City Project Partnership with the aim to support the City of Tyre/Lebanon to respond to emerging challenges in connection with the Syrian refugee situation. The overall objective of the partnership is to strengthen the role and functions of the RTO at the technical, social, and networking levels to realize some tangible improvements / benefits towards vulnerable groups including the Syrian refugee. This will be done through providing additional staff to, and developing the capacities of the Regional Technical Office RTO operating under the mandate of the union of municipalities of Tyre. For practical reasons, the partnership between Zurich and Tyre will be implemented/facilitated by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme based on its experience in working with municipalities and unions of municipalities, and in establishing and supporting RTOs. For that purpose, the 3 parties (Tyre, Zurich, ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that clarifies that collaboration framework and specifies each party s responsibility for the implementation of the Project s general concern entitled City to City Partnership - Coping with the Syrian Refugee Crisis on The Local Level. 2. BACKGROUND The United Nations Human Settlements Programme () is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. has been operating in Lebanon since 2006, with focus on strengthening local governance, urban planning, and basic services. The Programme works closely with municipalities and unions of municipalities aiming to develop their planning and technical capacities to respond to existing and emerging needs. In addition, collaborates with many public entities at the national level. In the last 3 years, the Programme has been arguing that the crisis in Lebanon is becoming more of an urban nature, having 87% of the population living in cities and urban agglomerations. The influx of the Syrian refugees since 2011 came to add more strain on Lebanon. UNHCR figures show that some 1.2 million refugees have crossed the Lebanese borders (including 1.16 million registered Syrian refugees and 45,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria). Against a pre-crisis population of around 5 million, Lebanon now has the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, with around one registered Syrian refugee for every three Lebanese. With the protracted nature of the crisis, cities have become more and more the recipient of large numbers of refugees seeking affordable shelter and cheap jobs. This has impacted on the security situation within
the poor neighborhoods of the cities, where rising tension has been observed, and on the service delivery resulted from the increase in the sudden number of population. Some quick analysis on cities shows the following: Some 35 % of the refugees coming from Syria are found in the four largest urban metropolitan areas; Tripoli, Beirut, Saida and Tyr. The poor urban neighborhoods have the highest density of Lebanese residents. This further correlates with where the vast majority of the refugees have settled, some neighborhoods have since 2011 doubled its population. The rapid densification within the structures of already dense built urban areas adds to the burden on already underdeveloped and strained infrastructure networks and poorly maintained buildings. 90% of the Palestinian refugee are found within the metropolitan areas of the four largest cities. Within its projects, promotes so called Regional Technical Offices (RTOs) that are established and operated under the mandate of the Unions of Municipalities (UoMs). The RTO is a unit that comprises motivated local experts and technical persons who aim at strengthening local governance, enhance service delivery, and mainstream planned interventions. RTOs also aim at mobilizing public and civil local actors to collectively address local needs based on available resources. They are strongly connected to various actors on the level of communities, local authorities, public service providers, and int l & national organizations. 3. RATIONALE In the city of Zürich, the idea to establish a Project Partnership with a Lebanese City came up in 2015, when the number of refugees arriving in many European cities increased substantially. As a reaction to this situation, Zürich launched a programme of action embedded within its refugee policy, which takes the regular refugee and integration policy of Zürich a step further and covers local as well as international endeavors. On the international level, the idea was to work directly together with a city close to the conflict zone and therefore much more affected by the refugee crisis. Due to its enormous refugee numbers, a Lebanese city seemed to be the right partner for such cooperation. After a fact-finding mission of a small delegation of the city of Zürich in Lebanon, the city of Tyre was invited for discussing a project partnership. As a result, a concept note was prepared, discussed and agreed upon, and finally, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) which specifies the role and responsibilities of each Party was prepared and signed in December 2017. The overall objective of the Project is to achieve tangible improvements/benefits for specific social groups in the City of Tyre affected by the Syrian refugee crises. Further, the Project is expected to achieve the following 2 specific objectives: City performance has been improved through additional resources for the RTO with the intention to achieve a long term positive impact; Expertise of the professional RTO staff in the defined fields of intervention has been enhanced through mutual exchanges and visits between professional staff of the Cities of Zurich and Tyre. The Regional Technical Office in Tyre was initiated firstly in the Union of Municipalities of Tyre in 2008, within the context of the Housing Reconstruction Project implemented by following the July- 2006 Israeli War over Lebanon. In 2010, the operations of the RTO were suspended due to financial
constraints. In 2014, upon request from the Union of Municipalities, the RTO was reinitiated with a costsharing modality with that is still valid until today. Within this context, is willing to recruit a team of two consultants, one male and one female, who will conduct the rapid assessment in the Tyre urban area. Their job is to propose how the RTO functions could be enhanced to ensure feasible outputs within and beyond the city to city project partnership. The consultancy will be for a total period of 25 days extended over a period of 10 weeks, upon contract signature. 4. OBJECTIVES The assessors shall identify the priority areas in which the municipality of Tyre should invest more to improve its response to the needs of specific social groups (local population and/or refugees) in the Tyre urban area. This shall be achieved by a) strengthening the capacities of the RTO to undertake different approaches that enhance the focus on social aspects and will build on coordination and partnerships with concerned stakeholders, and b) make use of knowledge exchange between Tyre and Zurich with regards to addressing impact of refugee crisis. It is expected that the RTO, during the 1 st year of the project, will identify and propose sustainable intervention/s that will include social and/or cultural components. In the context of their field research, the assessors must involve relevant partners and actors in the field of refugee policy and active in Tyre. 5. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Under the supervision of Country Office, and in close coordination with Municipality of Tyre, the Consultant(s) will develop and submit an assessment report with clear propositions / recommendations: - Recommend actions that will strengthen municipal interventions in the social domain as well as in building partnerships and enhancing networking with relevant counterparts; - Propose in which fields the RTO needs additional expertise, recommending the qualifications and background of additional staff and/or eventual external consultants; - Identify the areas where both municipalities (Tyr and Zurich) could exchange of knowledge, practices, and expertise. 6. METHODOLOGY The methodology for conducting the rapid assessment will involve the following steps: a. Desk Review: This involves reviewing contemporary reports relating to the Tyre urban area (defined in the Tyre City Profile 2017) as well as to existing socio-cultural interventions in Lebanese cities relating among others to Syrian refugees.
b. Conduct an RTO SWOT analysis: The analysis shall identify the actual strengths and weaknesses of the RTO in Tyre, as well as opportunities and threats, in relation to its capacities in technical and social expertise and in networking capabilities. c. Conduct key informant interviews (KIIs): The Consultants shall conduct meetings with representatives from municipalities in the Tyre urban area as well as local civil society and international aid agencies, to understand the views of different stakeholders with regards to possible fields of intervention and projects for the Tyre/Zurich City to City Partnership. This includes interviewing the mayor of Tyre and at least 2 mayors who represent municipalities of the Tyre urban area, 3 representatives of local NGOs and similar of Int l Support Agencies (UN agencies & Int l Organizations). team shall advise and assist the Consultants in organizing the meetings with the mayors and stakeholders representatives. d. Conduct Focus Group discussion (FGD): Based on the outcomes of the KIIs, the Consultants shall conduct 3 FGDs, each with a different stakeholder category; mayors, NGOs, and Int l Aid agencies. The Consultant shall prepare debatable points which will actively engage participants in discussions aiming to reach clear common directives regarding the RTO future roles and responsibilities as well as the partnership between Tyre and Zurich. e. Focused field research, making in-depth clarifications: Based on the outcome of the group discussion, the Consultants shall analyse the feasibility of the practical implementation of 2-3 possible interventions. f. Draft Report: The Consultants shall develop a draft report capturing the aforementioned process, using the same sequence of the methodology as the report outline. The report shall include a thorough chapter on notes and recommendations as mentioned in Section 5. g. Report Validation Workshop: The Consultants will be responsible to organize and moderate a workshop in which results of the draft report will be discussed with the 3 partners Zurich, Tyre and UN- Habitat as well as with other relevant stakeholders. The 3 partners will then make the strategic decisions about the specificities of the city to city partnership. h. Final Report: The Consultant will submit the final report after incorporating the outcomes of the validation workshop. 7. EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES Deliverables/ Outputs a) Review of existing procedures and literature completed Estimated Duration to Complete 3 working days b) SWOT analysis conducted 3 working days c) Key informant interviews completed d) Focus group discussions completed 5 working days 4 working days Target Due Dates Within 1 weeks after Within 2 weeks after Within 4 weeks after Within 5 weeks after Review and Approvals Required (Indicate designation of person who will review output and confirm acceptance)
e) Report drafted and submitted 6 working days f) Report validated with UN office and key stakeholders 2 working day g) Final report submitted 2 working days Within 6 weeks after Within 7 weeks after Within 10 weeks after 8. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS The consultants will report to and work under the supervision of Country Programme Manager and the Head of the Urban Governance Unit. DURATION OF WORK: The tasks will require a total of 25 working days that shall end after 10 weeks following the. DUTY STATION: The Consultants will report to the duty station in Beirut as per a set time table and agreement with supervisor. 9. REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS The Individual Consultant to perform the works in this TOR shall possess the following: Experience: Minimum experience of 10 years working on the municipal and local governance sector and policies, with prior experience with UN agencies as consultancies or other preferable Experience in urban development, neighborhood management, socio-cultural animation, or comparable fields is welcome. Academic Qualifications: At least Master s degree in Urban or Public Policy, Development, or comparable fields. Ph. D is preferable Competencies: Experience in methodical methods Proven academic and field research experience Previous work with municipalities Project management skills Ability to think out of the box Excellent analytical and communication capacity Fluent in English and Arabic languages, spoken and written 10. Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments All proposals must be expressed in Lump Sum Amount, taking the following into consideration: i) the lump sum amount must be all-inclusive 1 ; ii) the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components. Payment will proceed as following: 20% upon submission and approval of SWOT analysis; 1 The term All inclusive implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal
40% upon submission and approval of the draft report; 40% upon submission and approval of the final report.