Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Starting on September 23 2024, Lebanon experienced the most significant escalation of hostilities with Israel since the 2006 War. Intense Israeli airstrikes coupled with evacuation orders to residents in areas across Lebanon, including in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, resulted in mass displacement and heightened socioeconomic vulnerabilities among the affected populations. As of November 24, 2024, close to 900,000 individuals were tracked as displaced due to the violent conflict; women and girls made up 51 per cent of the internally displaced population. Of an estimated 260,000 households, nearly 21 per cent were women-led. The conflict also took a profound toll on people’s lives and has disproportionately impacted women and girls in Lebanon, including women-headed households and women with disabilities in areas such as food security, shelter, WASH, Mental Health and Protection, including Gender Based Violence and Violence against Women.

Since the start of the conflict, the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) in Lebanon has played a central role in responding to the displacement and humanitarian needs of the crisis-affected population and host communities. MoSA social workers, the majority of whom are women, were on the front lines, working to ensure those affected receive the lifesaving support and assistance they need. In addition to providing emotional care, social workers are trained to assess immediate needs, whether securing emergency shelters or coordinating and overseeing assistance and service distribution. In addition, specialized social workers played a critical role in identifying and conducting case management for child protection and gender-based violence survivors. Social workers were indispensable in ensuring that vulnerable displaced populations, including women, children, older people, and those with disabilities, were not overlooked in the humanitarian relief efforts. In parallel, many were among those displaced by the conflict but remained committed to their work regardless of the toll that displacement put on them and their families. The stressful work conditions of social workers can contribute to burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue and hence require mental health and psychosocial support and self-care to enable them to cope with the emerging situation and continue supporting affected and vulnerable groups. The sessions should focus on detecting and dealing with signs and symptoms of common mental health problems that emerge during or after war, learning and practicing self-care techniques, relaxation techniques, understanding and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, dealing with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, improving self-resilience, coping and healing strategies, understanding body and mindset, and establishing professional boundaries.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Management Specialist and day to day supervision of the Social Inclusion Technical Advisor, UN Women seeks to recruit a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist (MHPSS) to conduct PSS sessions for around 60 MoSA social workers. The sessions should focus on detecting and dealing with signs and symptoms of common mental health problems that emerge during or after war, learning and practicing self-care techniques, relaxation techniques, understanding and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, dealing with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, improving self-resilience, coping and healing strategies, understanding body and mindset, and establishing professional boundaries.The specialist is expected to conduct a needs assessment to identify the needs of social workers, develop tailored PSS sessions covering various topics, and deliver them.

Deliverables:

The MHPSS specialist is expected to:

1. Conduct a needs assessment to understand the specific psychosocial challenges social workers face in their current roles and identify gaps in existing PSS knowledge and skills among the social workers. The needs assessment should be based on a short online survey with social workers, followed by two or three FGDs to confirm the findings and fill gaps. The findings should be presented in a needs assessment report and should conclude by proposing a tailored PSS program agenda extending over two days per session.
2. Develop a tailored and advanced PSS training program that builds on social workers’ needs and considers their educational and professional background and experience. The sessions should focus on detecting and dealing with signs and symptoms of common mental health problems that emerge during or after war, learning and practicing self-care techniques, relaxation techniques, understanding and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, dealing with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, improving self-resilience, coping and healing strategies, understanding body and mindset, and establishing professional boundaries. The sessions should be contextually relevant and address the unique challenges social workers face in the current context. The PSS program should include sessions extending over two days for each group of social workers.
3. Deliver the PSS program for six groups of social workers. Each group will involve ten social workers. The sessions should be interactive and participatory to engage participants effectively.
4. Draft a report of the outcome of the PSS sessions with recommendations for support for social workers.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy that requires some visits to the UN Women Lebanon’s office.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Strong knowledge of the work context of social workers in Lebanon;
• Excellent experience in conducting PSS sessions;
• Commitment to accomplish work;
• Strong knowledge of the Lebanon context and the humanitarian response;
• Excellent communication skills;

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• A Masters degree in psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, clinical social work or related field with a valid license to practice in country is required.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in the provision of MHPSS interventions is required.
• Experience working in humanitarian settings is required.
• Experience providing training and capacity building on MHPSS and related topics is required.
• Experience in working with specialized social workers in Lebanon is required.
• Experience in working and developing partnerships with governments, relevant experts, international organisations, civicsociety organisations, assistance agencies and donors is desirable.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently is required.
• Excellent Arabic communication skills is required.

Languages:

• Fluency in Arabic and English is required.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements