ILO CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Local consultant for a Mapping and rapid assessment of business associations in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in Lebanon.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

1. General Background

The forced displacement crisis has increased in scale and complexity in recent years. According to UNHCR, 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2019. Forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) face specific vulnerabilities, including loss of assets and psychological trauma, limited rights, lack of opportunities, a protection risk as well as a risk to be out of school, and a lack of planning horizon. In addition, the communities hosting FDPs also struggle to pursue their own development efforts.

In response to the considerable challenges facing FDPs and host communities, a new partnership initiative titled: ‘PROSPECTS' Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons, was launched by the Government of the Netherlands, that brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. Through the PROSPECTS partnership, the five partner agencies aim to leverage their comparative advantages and areas of expertise to programme complementary and interdependent interventions that address education and skills, employment and protection challenges. The partnership spans eight countries, namely Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Sudan, and Uganda and covers the period 2019-2023. 

2. PROSPECTS in Lebanon

Under PROSPECTS in Lebanon, the partnership focuses on reducing multidimensional vulnerabilities and increasing social stability for both Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities, under the following key areas within the three pillars:

• Education & Learning
• Employment with dignity
• Protection & Inclusion

ILO’s focus is on enhancing resilience of the country’s crisis- distressed labour market and creating better livelihoods for both Lebanese host communities and Syrian refugees. It is doing so by promoting the development of market relevant skills, enhancing employment placement services and labour market governance, promoting strengthened and more inclusive social protection schemes, and supporting micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) as well as sectors, including the agriculture and agro-food with potential for decent job creation.

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

As part of the Employment Pillar of PROSPECTS Lebanon, the ILO is supporting selected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the agriculture and agro-food sectors to cope with the multiple crises in Lebanon, namely the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the intervention is to promote business continuity, resilience and decent employment retention in Lebanese SMEs operating in the agriculture and agro-food sectors, and employing vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees, and specifically:

1. Increase business resilience/continuity and decent employment retention in 20 SMEs employing vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees in the agriculture and agro-food sectors, through a number of interventions targeting business resilience/continuity planning, business management, productivity and working conditions, equal treatment of refugees and gender equality.
2. Install in Lebanon an institutional capacity made up of business organizations, trade unions and private consultants that is able to support companies in the agricultural sector and their workers in facing the current financial and pandemic crisis in Lebanon.

To date, 20 SMEs operating in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in Beqaa, Akkar and North-Lebanon have been assessed and selected to be part of the business continuity, resilience and job retention programme in Lebanon. In addition, five business consultants were selected to assist the ILO in the delivery of training and coaching of SMEs on business continuity, resilience and job retention as well as demand-driven technical areas such as business management and planning, digital marketing, finance, HR, and and OSH.

In parallel to the direct intervention targeting the 20 selected SMEs, there is need to assess the presence and involvement of institutional actors in the agriculture and agro-food sectors who currently support SMEs in this context of multiple crises. To this end, and given the scope and potential expansion of ILO activities in the agricultural sector in Lebanon, it deems essential to conduct an assessment to have a clear overview on organizational strengths of the different membership-based associations representing the interest of farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and food processors. The assessment should provide a detailed mapping and insights on major agricultural, commercial and industrial associations in Lebanon with a focus on:

• Territory/Areas of operation
• Degree of representativeness
• Institutional capacity
• Governance structure

This information will help the ILO in establishing partnerships with those organizations guaranteeing higher probability of impact, sustainability and good governance standards.

SCOPE OF WORK AND METHODOLOGY

The consultant will be responsible of the rapid assessment process up to production of the report and is expected to:

i)             Undertake a desk review to identify the membership-based business organizations in agriculture and agro-food sectors in Lebanon (with a clear division between the two sectors)

The following organizations should be mapped:

• Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture 
• Farmers associations
• Association of agriculture traders
• Local level (municipal, district or governorate) business associations in areas where agriculture is the prevalent activity.
• Agriculture and food processing sectoral associations

The ILO will provide a template table to be filled in with information needed.

This should include at least: name, address, main organizational objective, website and social media links, territorial coverage, estimated number of members, estimated number of staff (employed by the organizations)

ii)            Assessment of organizational capacity of selected organizations and final report writing

Undertake an assessment through telephone calls or face to face meetings with selected associations and development partners or national institutions which have worked with such associations in the past and/or agricultural companies/farms which are part of the associations. The list of the associations for more in-depth assessment should be cleared by the ILO.

The aim of this assessment is to shed light on organizational capacity of the selected organizations and analyse its external interactions with stakeholders, in particular in the current context of financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.

This process will assess the selected associations in terms of: Representativeness, Mission & Vision, Policy objectives and influence, Services, Governance, Resources (Financial & Human), Partnerships & Communication.

*The EO assessment Tool (an excerpt of questions) from the EESE Toolkit will help and guide these discussions - http://eese-toolkit.itcilo.org/images/stories/pdf/part1_01.pdf

The structure of the assessment report will follow the template provided in Annex 1 to capture all the needed information which guarantees a fair level of details that would allow efficient and targeted assessment of the organizational strength.

DELIVERABLES

The consultant is expected to submit the following deliverables:

Deliverable 1: Table with a rapid mapping of existing associations

Expected days of work: 2

Deliverable 2:

Final draft report on Rapid mapping and assessment of business associations in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in Lebanon.  The report (expected number of pages 20-25) will be analytical in nature and is to be considered confidential for the ILO.

Expected days of work: 10

All data and information received from ILO for this assignment are to be treated confidentially and are only to be used in connection with the execution of these Terms of Reference (TOR). The contents of written materials obtained and used in this assignment may not be disclosed to any third parties without the express advance written authorization of the ILO. All intellectual property rights arising from the execution of these TOR are assigned to the International Labour Organization. The intellectual property rights of the materials modified through the assignment remains with the International Labour Organization.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

The consultant is expected to have the following qualifications:

• 5-7 years of experience in SME development in Lebanon
• Knowledge of the ecosystem of business associations in Lebanon, specifically those involved in the agriculture and agro-food sectors  
• Experience in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in Lebanon
• Good  understanding of the current context of multiple crises in Lebanon
• Fluent in English and Arabic
• Knowledge of the ILO mandate and ILO tools and methodologies used for private sector development in Lebanon

SELECTION CRITERIA

A call for applications will be published on the Daleel Madani platform and ILO ROAS webpage to receive a wide number of competent and qualified applicants. Terms of reference will also be sent to specific consultants that the ILO know of or has previously worked with.

SUPERVISION AND LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

The consultant will conduct the assignment under the supervision of the PROSPECTS Lebanon SME Technical Officer and the overall guidance of the ILO PROSPECTS Chief Technical Adviser for Arab States. All technical clearances will be obtained by the ILO ROAS Senior Employers’ Specialist.

TIME FRAME AND ESTIMATED BUDGET

This assignment should take place from 1 to 25 June 2021

Consultancy breakdown of days:

1. Initial meeting and Desk research: 2 days
2. Organization and realization of Telephone and face to face meetings: 6 days
3. Report Writing and report finalization: 4 days

Total day count: 12 days

The consultant will be remunerated the full amount upon completion of work to the satisfaction of the ILO which includes the submission of the final report.

ANNEX 1: ASSESSMENT REPORT STRUCTURE

Outline:

• Title page
• Table of contents
• List of acronyms
• Short introduction: overview of the SME sector in agriculture/agrofood (based on secondary research)
• Organizational assessment of selected organizations. For each organization

1. Main features
2. Representativeness
3. Mission & Vision
4. Policy Objectives/Priorities and Policy influence
5. Services available to members
6. Governance & Management
7. Human Resources – employed staff and volunteers
8. Financial resources and facilities
9. Main successes of the organizations (policy or service level)
10. Ideas for further organizational development in the interest of members
11. Work /reference with other national and international development partners

• Conclusions on overall strength and capacity to duly represent and serve the interest of agricultural and food processing, and farms by the existing organizations

ANNEX: table with membership-based business organizations in agricultural sector in Lebanon