Workplace Integrity and Gender Mainstreaming Expert – CDR

Country: Lebanon Organization: UN Development Programme Closing date: 21 Oct 2026 POSITION INFORMATION • Organization: UNDP Lebanon Through Stars Orbit Consultants and Management Development • VA No.: UNDP/LBN/VA26/198 • Position Title: Workplace Integrity and Gender Mainstreaming Expert – CDR • Duty Station: Beirut • Duration: 3 months (without exceeding 9 working days per month). • Vacancy Date of Issue: 14 October 2026 • Vacancy Closure Date: 21 October 2026 • National or International consultancy: National consultancy To review the full Terms of Reference (TOR), please follow link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I4CjphA3f10d4Xemt4XjIPPy2AeOVK9z/view?usp=drive_link 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 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. 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. The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), operating under the Council of Ministers, plays a central role in Lebanon’s development planning, infrastructure projects, coordination with development partners, and reconstruction efforts. The prolonged crisis has placed pressure on its human resources and operational capacity, highlighting the need to strengthen its institutional arrangements, organizational structure, and business processes to respond effectively to evolving priorities. In response, a comprehensive Functional and Business Process Review of CDR was undertaken to assess the institution’s existing functions, organizational arrangements, business processes, governance mechanisms, and staffing requirements, and to identify measures to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. The findings and recommendations of the review have been consolidated in an implementation roadmap. The roadmap distinguishes between measures that can be implemented within the existing legal and regulatory framework, referred to as the Interim Arrangements, and reforms that require amendments to Decree No. 10941 of 2003 and Decree No. 10942 of 2003, referred to as the Target Roadmap. The implementation of these reforms is structured in stages, with the present assignment supporting measures identified for implementation under Stage 1. Workplace integrity and employee protection arrangements are particularly relevant to the implementation of CDR's broader institutional reform programme. As organizational structures, responsibilities, processes, and management arrangements evolve, CDR requires clear institutional policies and mechanisms governing workplace conduct, employee protection, reporting of concerns, and equal treatment. Such arrangements need to be embedded within CDR's regular management and human resource practices rather than treated solely as requirements associated with individual donor-funded projects. They should also be supported by practical reporting, awareness, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms that can operate within CDR's existing institutional framework. Accordingly, UNDP seeks to recruit a Workplace Integrity and Gender Mainstreaming Expert to support CDR in developing the institutional instruments and operational arrangements required under Stage 1 of the reform roadmap. The Expert will prepare the policies and mechanisms governing whistleblowing and protection from retaliation, workplace conduct, discrimination, harassment, and gender equality in a form that can be adopted by the Board of Directors within the existing legal framework. The assignment will also establish a practical gender-mainstreaming framework, with defined entry points across workforce management, recruitment and promotion, staff development, workplace policies, reporting, and monitoring. The assignment will further support the establishment of a confidential reporting channel and the awareness and communication arrangements required to ensure that staff understand their rights, responsibilities, reporting options, and available protections. Through these measures, the assignment will contribute to strengthening workplace integrity and employee protection at CDR and to embedding gender mainstreaming within the institution's management and human resource practices as an integral component of the broader reform programme. 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 the initiative’s team leads from UNDP and CDR, the Workplace Integrity and Gender Mainstreaming Expert will be responsible for the following: Workstream 1: Whistleblower Protection and Workplace Integrity • Identify the provisions of Lebanese law applicable to whistleblower protection, equality and non-discrimination, sexual harassment and other relevant workplace protections that bind CDR, citing the instrument, article and date for each, and determine what those provisions already require of the institution and what they leave to internal policy. • Review the safeguarding and reporting arrangements that already operate within donor-funded project frameworks at CDR and determine which staff categories they cover and which they leave unprotected, including staff on all employment categories, contractors embedded within CDR and project implementation unit personnel. Identify relevant gender-related provisions, including measures addressing gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. • Draft the Whistleblower Policy, covering a designated confidential reporting channel separate from line management and accessible to all staff and embedded personnel; a non-retaliation commitment enforceable by the Board that prohibits adverse employment action against a person making a good-faith report and defines the disciplinary consequences of retaliation; an investigation protocol owned by the Audit Committee that specifies handling, confidentiality and escalation, including referral to the internal audit function and, where appropriate, to the competent legal or regulatory authority; and a requirement that all staff are reminded annually of the policy, the channel and the protections in place. • Draft the Workplace Conduct Policy covering discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment, setting out the prohibited conduct, the reporting routes, the investigation and decision procedure, the sanctions available, and the protection of complainants and witnesses. • Draft the employee protection provisions that accompany both policies, including confidentiality of records, protection against secondary retaliation and the treatment of reports made in bad faith, in coordination with the human resource provisions on employee protection prepared by the Human Resources Expert. • Specify the confidential reporting channel in operational terms, covering intake, case registration and numbering, confidentiality safeguards, conflict-of-interest handling, response timelines and record retention, and prepare the case-handling forms and the case register. • Prepare the submission pack for the Board decision adopting the instruments, and brief the Audit Committee on its responsibilities as policy owner and oversight body. • Deliver an awareness session for staff, and prepare the annual communication calendar and the awareness materials through which the policies are recalled to staff and embedded personnel. Workstream 2: Gender Mainstreaming • Assess the existing CDR institutional and human-resource arrangements from a gender-mainstreaming perspective, including women’s representation and participation across grades and decision-making levels taking into account the current workforce profile, recruitment and promotion arrangements, career development, performance management and staff development, and identify key gaps and opportunities for strengthening gender equality within CDR. • Identify priority gender-mainstreaming entry points across CDR's human-resource and institutional management processes, including workforce planning, recruitment and selection, promotion and career development, performance management, staff development, workplace conduct, internal communication and staff engagement, as well as, where relevant, institutional planning, programmes/projects and decision-making processes. • Review the existing workplace and employee-protection arrangements from a gender perspective and identify measures required to strengthen prevention of gender-based discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment, as well as gender-sensitive reporting and protection arrangements. • Define the institutional framework for gender mainstreaming, including the roles, responsibilities and accountability of relevant CDR functions, priority areas for action, and appropriate arrangements for monitoring and periodic review of progress, including the use of sex-disaggregated data across relevant HR and institutional indicators where relevant and feasible. EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES The consultant is expected to complete the above tasks and activities within 3 months (without exceeding 9 working days per month). INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS • The consultant shall perform tasks with day-to-day management and the direct supervision of the designated project manager or institutional 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 (and vice versa) shall be covered by the consultant’s own means. The Consultant will rely on his own means of communication and transportation. DURATION OF WORK The assigned duration for this consultancy is 3 months without exceeding 9 working days a month. The mission is expected to commence immediately after contract signature, and to be completed by the 31st of January 2027. The time needed to review/complete/approve deliverables and output is (5) working days. DUTY STATION The consultant will work from home with regular field visits to CDR - Beirut, Republic of Lebanon. STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS • Education: Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender Studies, Gender and Development, Law, Human Resources, Management, Public Administration, Public Policy, Social Sciences, Organizational Development, International Development, or a related field. Specialized focus on gender equality, workplace integrity, employment law, anti-discrimination, safeguarding, sexual harassment, or institutional development is highly preferred. • Experience: At least 10 years of combined professional experience in: (i) developing and implementing institutional policies and mechanisms relating to workplace integrity, whistleblower protection, discrimination, harassment, employee protection, safeguarding, or related areas; and (ii) designing and implementing gender-mainstreaming frameworks within organizations, including gender-responsive human-resource policies, institutional assessments, staff engagement, and monitoring arrangements. • Language: Fluency in the Arabic and English languages (both written and oral). “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/20261013100827/VACANCY-6ACE031B96E01 TERMS AND CONDITIONS TO APPLY • CV or P11 Form including 3 references must be submitted online in PDF along with your Education Graduation Certificate. • Use English language only. • indicate clear years of experience with each job (Month/Year) • 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. • Only candidates who are short-listed will be contacted. • 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.