Change Management and Communications 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/VA26/197 • Position Title: Change Management and Communications Expert - CDR • Duty Station: Beirut • Duration: 3 months (without exceeding 5 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/1hW6l0y4j6wBZ5kkyu0wVnQfOhYf1Oxt4/view 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. The successful implementation of the reform roadmap requires more than the introduction of revised structures, processes, roles, and governance arrangements. The sustainability of the reforms will depend on the extent to which they are understood, accepted, adopted, and integrated into the day-to-day functioning of CDR. This requires a structured approach to managing organizational change, engaging internal and external stakeholders, communicating the rationale and expected benefits of the reforms, anticipating and addressing sources of resistance, and ensuring that emerging challenges are identified and managed in a timely manner. Effective communication will also be important in maintaining transparency and confidence throughout the reform process, particularly where reforms affect institutional roles, responsibilities, reporting arrangements, and working practices. Furthermore, inclusive change arrangements, transparent and reform-focused communication, and active management of resistance are key conditions for the successful institutionalization of the reform. These instruments form part of the reform governance arrangements identified, including the role of the Change Management Committee in monitoring reform adoption and reporting progress and challenges to the Board of Directors. Accordingly, UNDP seeks to recruit a Change Management and Communications Expert to support the implementation of Stage 1 of the reform roadmap. The Expert will develop a comprehensive Change Management Plan for the CDR reform programme, incorporating a reform-focused Communications Strategy, a Crisis Communication Plan, and practical measures for identifying, anticipating, and managing resistance to change. The assignment will also support the establishment of appropriate arrangements, tools, and mechanisms through which the Change Management Committee can monitor the adoption of reforms, identify implementation and change-management challenges, and report to the Board of Directors. Through this support, the assignment will contribute to ensuring that the reforms identified through the Functional and Business Process Review are effectively communicated, progressively adopted, and embedded within CDR’s institutional practices and governance arrangements. 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 Change Management and Communications Expert will be responsible for the following: Workstream 1. Change Management Plan • Review existing reform governance, change management and risk management arrangements, implementation priorities and interim measures to establish the baseline for the Plan. • Validate, through structured consultations with Heads of Division, with staff at non-managerial level and with the Change Management Committee, the internal and external resistance factors identified, including restructuring and redeployment, shifts in authority and oversight, procurement formalization, digital transformation and remuneration constraints. • Identify the stakeholder groups affected by each reform measure, the concerns specific to each group, and the points in the roadmap at which those concerns are expected to arise. • Prepare the Change Management Plan, setting out the intended change process stage by stage in line with the consolidated roadmap, the responsibilities of the Board, the Change Management Committee and the Heads of Division, and the decision points at which the Plan is reviewed. • Link the Plan explicitly to the Risk Register maintained by the Risk Management Committee, so that each identified resistance factor carries a recorded response approved by the Board. • Define the measures to manage resistance, including the schedule of outreach used to gauge sentiment across the organization, the early-warning signals that trigger remedial action, and the approach to involving potential opponents of the reform in its implementation. • Define a set of change indicators covering institutional uptake and adoption, distinct from the activity-completion indicators already carried identified in indicator tables, together with the method and frequency of measurement and the reporting format to the Board. • Prepare the operating arrangements of the Change Management Committee, comprising its composition of eight to twelve members drawn from across the reform areas, its terms of reference, its meeting calendar, its liaison with the Risk Management Committee and the form of its formal updates to the Board. Workstream 2. Communications Strategy and Crisis Communication Plan • Conduct baseline assessment of the internal and external communications of the CDR, identifying key challenges starting from the practical issues, including institutional and organizational arrangements, tools and channels used for the communications. • Design the internal communication arrangements, including regular all-staff meetings led by senior management and a channel through which employees can raise questions and receive answers, and specify how the feedback received is reported to the Committee and to the Board. • Prepare the Communications Strategy for CDR, defining for each internal and external audience the messages, the channels, the frequency and the responsible speaker, and covering staff, line ministries, oversight bodies, financing partners, contractors and consultants, and the public. • Prepare the Crisis Communication Plan, identifying the categories of crisis to which CDR is exposed, designating prepared spokespeople and pre-positioning approved messaging, with specific attention to public perception of corruption and to the demonstration of CDR commitment to oversight and audit compliance. EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES The consultant is expected to complete the above tasks and activities within 3 months (without exceeding 5 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 5 working days a month. The mission is expected to commence immediately after contract signature and be completed within three months from the contract signature date. 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 Organizational Development, Change Management, Communications, Public Administration, Public Policy, Business Administration, Management or a related field. Specialized focus on organizational change, institutional development, strategic communications, or public sector reform is highly preferred. • Experience: At least 10 years of combined professional experience in: (i) designing and implementing change management approaches for organizational or institutional reforms, including stakeholder engagement, resistance management, change adoption, and organizational communication; and (ii) developing and implementing strategic communications strategies, internal communications arrangements, stakeholder engagement plans, and/or crisis communication frameworks. • 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/20261013100247/VACANCY-6ACE01C7CE4A5 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.