OQC-OCA Beirut Explosion Emergency Response

 

Project Title

OQC-OCA Beirut Explosion Emergency Response.

Donor

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) & Humanitarian Coalition (HC)

Project Location

Beirut, Lebanon

Project Duration

1 October 2020 – 31 December 2021

Evaluation to be conducted in

January 2022 – February 2022 (approximately 25 days)

 

Oxfam in Lebanon

Oxfam in Lebanon works to ensure that women and men are protected and empowered to enjoy their basic rights and access services that support a dignified life within a more equitable society. To achieve our mission, Oxfam implements activities under two programmatic pillars: Good Governance and Economic Justice, and Humanitarian.

 

Projects under our Economic Justice program work with vulnerable women and men, especially youth, to cope with the effects of poverty and improve access to and control over productive resources for sustainable poverty reduction. In the aftermath of the Beirut blast and in response to deteriorating economic conditions, Oxfam has increased its focus on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), supporting them to maintain their workforce and improve business operations while ensuring decent work standards and advocating for a decent work agenda.

 

Project Overview

Oxfam seeks an external consultant for a final external evaluation of our project Beirut explosion Emergency response: Contribute to a more resilient and sustainable small and social business environment in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion, which is funded by Global Affairs Canada(GAC) and the Humanitarian Coalition.

On August 4, 2020 at approximately 18h00, a warehouse at the Beirut Port containing 2,750 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded. After an initial explosion, a subsequent blast caused widespread damage, with reports of destruction more than 20 kilometres from the port area. The explosion impacted several neighbourhoods in Greater Beirut and adjacent quarters in the Mount Lebanon governorate as it led to the catastrophic destruction of residential houses, businesses, infrastructure, and the Port.

The destruction affected small and medium businesses (SMEs) and shops across all sectors, especially those in the services sector. Several assessments have been conducted to gauge the recovery capacity of people and business owners in the affected areas: results show that 60% to 100% of the small businesses were damaged in Karantina, Karm El Zaytoun, Bourj Hammoud and Geitawi neighbourhoods and need urgent assistance, 78% of the responders stated that they have no savings, and 37% stated that they have no income. In addition, damages sustained by the Beirut port are expected to severely hamper the trade (import and export) sector, as well as all actors in the supply chain, leading to the unavailability of certain materials and an upward pressure on food and basic commodities. All of this is expected to induce a major shock to the market, labour force and people’s already reduced purchasing power. 

Overall, the explosion has disrupted all aspects of life in Beirut and its surroundings, including its direct blow on the livelihoods and wellbeing of the Lebanese and non-Lebanese people living in the affected areas as well as the social and economic environment more broadly. As such, interventions that aim to respond to needs should consider all affected aspects, both economic and social. Guided by this assumption, the proposed response aims to contribute to the social and economic recovery effort in Beirut and surrounding areas through an integrated approach with three inter-related components: 

1) directly support the SMEs to economically recover, re-establish their presence in the market, and retain lost jobs; 

2) support existing Social Enterprises (SEs) to respond to the social, economic, health, and environmental priority needs of the community; and 

3) develop an SME-SE business clustering approach that aims to strengthen the economic resilience an ensure the sustainability of support to SMEs and SEs. The clustering approach is expected, specifically, to strengthen the social impact of SMEs and provide a form of financial sustainability for the already existing SEs.

The Beirut explosion Emergency Response brings Oxfam together with two local partners in Lebanon, Alfanar and the Lebanese Observatory for Worker’s and Employees’ Rights (LOWER). Alfanar, being the first venture philanthropy organization working exclusively in the Arab world, aims to strengthen grassroots organizations that serve the region’s most vulnerable citizens. The organization supports social enterprises (SEs) to become resilient and financially sustainable in their local communities while bolstering civil society in the Arab world. LOWER is a local CSO composed of a group of labour activists, inspectors, and academics. LOWER’s work focuses on four pillars: increasing knowledge and awareness of workers and employees’ rights; capacity building, monitoring of relevant social civil and economic policies; and challenging violations of rights and legislations. LOWER has developed a track record in working on decent work and rights of workers in Lebanon through the development of awareness-raising audio-visual tools and documentaries, the creation of interactive training modules for vocational students, graduates and workers, research, workers’ rights monitoring, and by setting up a legal support unit for workers.

General Objective: Economic support is provided to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social enterprises (SEs) that were affected by the Beirut Blast addressing their medium and long-term needs while contributing to a decent and economically sustainable business environment

Specific Objective 1: SMEs and SEs are supported to overcome the impacts of the Beirut explosion and maintain their operations

Result 1. SMEs in affected areas in Beirut and surroundings are technically and financially supported to recover and generate jobs

• Under this outcome, Oxfam profiles SMEs to identify their recovery needs
• Oxfam provides specialized technical BDS support for SMEs to recover by the trained business development services’ experts
• Oxfam provides financial support through tailored financial schemes for SMEs to recover
• An SME-SE cluster approach is piloted to support both groups

 

Result 2. Social Enterprises (SEs) are supported to respond to the emerging social, economic, health, and environmental priorities of the affected communities following the Beirut explosion

• Under this outcome, Alfanar provides technical support to SEs to respond to the social needs through a tailored incubation process
• Alfanar provides financial support to the SEs to implement projects with a social impact

 

Specific Objective 2: Decent working conditions are promoted across the response

Result 1. Decent work agenda and compliance with labour rights are promoted

• Under this outcome, LOWER monitors the decent working conditions and the adherence to the labour rights among the SMEs and SEs that will be supported by the project to recover
• Awareness activities are implemented to ensure that all business development activities implemented by Oxfam and other livelihood actors comply with the decent work agenda and labour rights

 

Specific Objective 3: Contribute to the advancement of Oxfam’s Local Humanitarian Leadership agenda through a partner-centered response that prioritizes the rights and dignity of affected populations

Result 1. Local actors partnered with Oxfam in the response have greater voice, visibility, access, and presence in decision making spaces

Result 2. Local Actors partnered with Oxfam in the response have greater programmatic and organisational capacity as a result of the partnership

 

Purpose of Final External Evaluation

The goal of this external final evaluation is to assess the outcomes achieved through the implementation of the project activities and to verify to which extent the project’s activities contributed to improving the ability of SMEs and SEs to recover from the Beirut port explosion. It should provide an objective analysis of the project’s performance in terms of progress and process, relevance, sustainability, and the extent to which the project is contributing to enabling the desired impact. The evaluation should present results, conclusions and document key lessons learnt from project implementation. It should also provide clear recommendations that can guide Oxfam for the implementation of future projects.

External Evaluation Objectives

• To assess the project relevance examining whether the funding and support provided to SMEs and SEs is consistent with the emerging needs, priorities, and possibilities;

 

• To evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the project implementation, delivery of project outputs and outcomes in comparison to the targets set for the performance indicators in the project MEAL framework; including (but not limited to):
  • The differential impact of financing and BDS coaching services in the current economic environment;
  • Decent work activities;
• To assess the design, planning, delivery and management of the project by Oxfam and its partners in accordance with Oxfam Programme Standards;

 

• To evaluate partners’ satisfaction in the partnership with Oxfam and assess the extent to which the Oxfam local humanitarian agenda is promoted 

 

• To identify and assess key internal and external factors that have contributed to, affected, or impeded the achievements of the project, and how Oxfam and partners have managed these factors;

 

• To draw key lessons and learning from the project and make recommendations that will help inform the design of Oxfam’s future economic justice projects;

 

Target Audiences

The primary audience and users of the evaluation findings will be Oxfam’s project team, management, technical advisors, partner staff and donor.

 

External Evaluation Criteria and Key Questions

The following is a guide to the proposed evaluation questions, which must adhere to OECD/DAC criteria for development evaluation:

 

Relevance: To what extent does the project design and intervention mix respond to the needs of SMEs and SEs, especially with the rapidly changing economic environment? To what extent are SMEs and SEs in need of technical support? And financial support? Are SMEs and SEs able to create job opportunities within current context?

Effectiveness: To what extent were the project’s objectives and expected outcomes fulfilled? Are the enterprises able to overcome the impact of the Beirut port explosion and maintain their operations? Are there differential results thus far between SMEs and SEs? What were the constraints that limited the effectiveness of the SME and SE support? Was the modality of delivering technical coaching to enterprises effective? Were SMEs and SEs able to apply the learned concepts on decent work within their enterprise? If not, what limiting factors affected the above?

• • Partnerships: How well are partnerships working? Was the visibility, presence or capacity of Alfanar and LOWER enhanced due to the partnership?

Coherence: What are synergies between Beirut emergency response and related Oxfam projects in Lebanon? What about synergies or misalignment with other initiatives in the same sector, markets, and locations? How well or not does the Beirut explosion emergency response coordinate with necessary area and national coordination mechanisms?

Efficiency: How well are resources being used, especially given implementation changes driven by Covid-19 and fluctuating exchange rate, and subsequent strains on logistics, resources, and movement? Has the project been able to adapt to any changing conditions? What coordination mechanisms worked and what didn’t? How has the relationship been between Oxfam and the partners? Between Alfanar and the SEs? Between LOWER and the enterprises? Between the BDS coaches and the SMEs? Was there adequate coordination? To what extent have delays in implementation affected the project?

Impact: What are the long-term effects, both positive and negative, that can be reasonably attributed either partly or entirely to the intervention whether directly or not, or intentionally or not? To what extent have the project outcomes contributed to a decent and economically sustainable business environment?

Sustainability: To what extent are the benefits of the project likely to continue once donor funding has ceased? What concrete steps were/are being taken to enhance the sustainability of the project? To what extent has the SME-SE cluster approach contributed to the sustainability of the operations of the supported enterprises?

 

Methodology

The evaluation must be conducted in line with evaluation best practices, use quantitative and qualitative data, and draw upon both primary and secondary data collection techniques. The evaluator is expected to develop a detailed methodology that will be reviewed and approved by Oxfam. The evaluation methodology must make use of existing baseline and endline data, SME profiles, and other available monitoring and evaluation data that Oxfam’s MEAL team will provide.

 

The methodology requires that the consultant(s) have experience with participatory approaches to learning and inquiry, particularly in seeking the views of key stakeholders such as:

• Targeted enterprises
• The implementing partners Alfanar and LOWER
• Oxfam staff involved the implementation of the project (e.g., PM, coordinators and field team).

Timeframe, Key Activities, and Expected Level of Effort

Timeframe

The evaluation is to be carried out in January and February 2022, with the final report submitted to Oxfam as per the timeline below. The exact dates will be confirmed with the selected consultant(s).

 

Total expected level of effort: 25 working days

• Review essential documents of the project, including but not limited to the original project proposal, interim and final narrative reports, partner reports and existing internal and external research reports. Propose evaluation questions based on the review. (5 days, all documents will be shared by Oxfam via the online platform Box);
• Develop a detailed evaluation plan (to be endorsed by Oxfam) (1 day);
• Primary data collection (10 days, a mix of in person and remote);
• Data analysis and preparation of draft evaluation report (6 days);
• Validation workshop (0.5 days);
• Finalize the final evaluation report and send it to Oxfam (2 days). Oxfam will then prepare a management response to be annexed to the evaluation report.

 

Consultant Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience (minimum 5 years) in evaluation of economic development initiatives, including work with MSMEs
• Proven track record of producing gender data, learning, and related program recommendations in the economic development sphere
• Excellent skills in research and data collection
• Experience working in Lebanon
• Strong verbal communication skills in Arabic and English and facilitation skills
• Excellent report-writing and presentation skills in English and Arabic

 

Expected Outputs

1. Develop a detailed inception report and evaluation plan (to be submitted after the document review but before the data collection - to be endorsed by Oxfam), outlining the proposed methodology including budget, timeline and data collection tools;
2. Draft evaluation report (English), with up to 2 rounds of comments/reviews before validation, to be presented to Oxfam and partners; 
3. Online validation workshop and slide deck (English and Arabic) to present and discuss draft findings with Oxfam and partners;
4. Final report incorporating Oxfam and partner comments.

 

Please note that Oxfam will review all outputs and provide comments for the consultant to consider and incorporate. Partner comments must also be taken into account before the final report is submitted and approved.

 

Instructions for interested consultants

Payment will be done in two instalments: 25% upon contract signature, and 75% upon Oxfam’s approval of the final evaluation report.

 

Costs to include in the offer: Consultants should include the following costs in their proposed budget: daily rate, cost of travel (in the case of an international consultant living outside Lebanon), per diems, communication costs, miscellaneous costs (e.g. visa costs, depending on nationality of consultant).

 

Note that payment will be made based on the budget in the offer (not based on actual expenses incurred by the consultant). No receipts will be requested from the consultant towards the end of the evaluation.

 

Codes of Behaviour

The evaluation process must adhere to Oxfam’s guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluations and research. The consultant and team are expected to consider key ethical implications at every stage of the evaluation.

 

Sharing and Using Findings

Oxfam International’s Policy on Program Evaluation requires Confederation members to act on the commitment to transparency by making public the Executive Summary and a Management Response to all final evaluations.

 

 

 

Disclosure

Although free to discuss with the authorities on anything relevant to the assignment, under the terms of reference, the consultant is not authorized to make any commitments on behalf of Oxfam. All data collected as part of this consultancy belongs to Oxfam and public dissemination of the data and evaluation products can only be done with the written consent of Oxfam.