Consultant - Feasibility Study on Lebanon Civil Society Network to promote resilience among marginalized communities and advocacy for inclusive response and development

Background and rationale:

Lebanon has been facing a major socio-economic and humanitarian crisis due to years of mounting public debt and a high fiscal deficit and further aggravated by the COVID-19  pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in August 2020.

There are several factors that drives the country into such crises such as the continuous devaluation of the Lebanese pound, increased unemployment and poverty, business closures, inflation, limited access to foreign exchange and imports, and decreased foreign remittances. In addition, since July 2021, the government stopped subsidizing the medications, reduced the fuel subsidies and removed the preferential official government exchange rate price resulting to increase in price, shortage and hoarding of fuel, affecting the services in Lebanon, including healthcare, power supply, and water treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected Lebanon as it did other countries, but with particular impacts due to the vulnerability of the poorest segments of the population. At the time of this writing about 650,000 people had contracted the virus, and more than 8,500 people had died as a result. The pandemic put the public health system to the test.

The Beirut port blast of August 4th, 2020, resulted not only in 219 deaths, but also in hundreds of thousands of people made homeless, with a large number of homes deteriorated to a more or less significant extent and also made 70,000 workers un-employed.

While the entire country has felt the economic hardship, the already poor and vulnerable Lebanese and refugee populations have been particularly affected. An estimated 1.5 million members of the most vulnerable Lebanese populations, 1.5 million Syrian refugees, 180,000 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon, and 27,700 Palestinian refugees from Syria are considered vulnerable and in need of humanitarian assistance.[1]

In this context and even during the full lockdowns, the local civil society actors remain the main responders on the ground and are constantly at the forefront of humanitarian responses. However, the civil society actors have been facing many operational and structural challenges and constraints such as restriction on mobility, banking and heightened scrutiny.

Since the beginning of the acute economic crisis, banks have been imposing ad hoc measures that restrict access of account holders to their accounts in foreign currencies, additional charges on transfers and withdrawals, only allowing withdrawals of sums in foreign currencies in LBP and at a depreciated rate. This has particularly affected the civil society sector, as a large majority of the funding CSOs receive is in foreign currencies and has been practically inaccessible to them and their beneficiaries.

The mobility restrictions linked to lockdown measures aiming at curbing the spread of the COVID-19  virus, don’t allow them to perform their role, or to access their beneficiaries, or access to their suppliers. The government had put in place a mechanism to counter these mobility issues, but the process of obtaining permits to circulate was particularly difficult for these actors.

On February 17 2021, the Ministry of Interior issued a request demanding access to personal data of aid beneficiaries in order to approve permits for movement for civil society actors implementing life-saving activities.

The perspective of Donors of humanitarian interventions in Lebanon is quite different from one another and mostly considered as “Middle Income Country” with relatively low levels of poverty. However, in recent years, the context has changed with economic slump has made not only the Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees impacted, but most of the Lebanese population are pushed to vulnerability.  The lack of will of State to resolve the problems and similarly the Civil Society Organizations unable to present the situation effectively with the donor community for an effective humanitarian funding to avert the situation from becoming a humanitarian catastrophe.

In terms of donor relationships, Civil Society Actors described it as “subcontracting”, rather than based on “equal partnership”. This implies that local CSOs are mere implementers of donors' agendas, and it considerably undermine the role of civil society in driving democratic change, restricting them to a service provision and implementation role.[2]  On this background, the network building includes three primary tasks, first is to build a platform for national NGOs working with refugees and host communities to document and present the situation for wider audience. Secondly, to strengthen the member organizations to make them comply with humanitarian standards and ability to seek funding from donors to implement need based programming. Lastly, to advocate for policy influence with Donors and State/Government to inclusive and sensitive support to the needs of the affected communities, i.e. refugees, IDPs, host community.

With the suggested project idea for which the feasibility study is to be conducted for “Lebanese Civil Society Network to promote resilience among marginalized communities and advocacy for inclusive response and development” aims to establish a NGO/CBO network in Lebanon, which builds organization capacities of these NGOs/CBOs, research based advocacy around the issues of economic crisis and its impact on Lebanese host community and  refugees (Syrian and Palestinian- One Refugee One Approach, integration (durable solutions) with Triple Nexus approach, social cohesion with host communities) shall also be part of the project, as well as to collaborate and advocate to the response of the needs of these target communities in Lebanon with respective donors and government.

The aim of the project is to strengthen resilience of vulnerable population include refugees and poor host communities to the multiple effects of economic crisis, COVID-19 Pandemic, Beirut Port Blast and refugee crisis in North, South and Central Lebanon, through Network of NGOs/CBOs working in all three regions of Lebanon to lobby for pro-poor strategies with Lebanon government structures from national to local, Donor communities and UN system.

The network building of the civil societies will henceforth build capacities among the member NGOs/CBOs in the areas of community engagement, assessments, report writings, advocacy initiatives, coordination and linkages with forums and donors. Networking activities support the NGO's own activities, and facilitates linkages with other organizations in other sectors, including government agencies. Networking also assists NGOs in administrative, financial and legal problems that they may have.

In addition to capacity building of Network members, the actions proposed in the project will (i) raise the voices of the people in peaceful means at various forums, (ii) Public awareness on the issues for more clarity and organized responses for representation of their rights and seeking entitlements; (iii) conduct consultation  meetings/workshops specific to the issues and finding solutions with stakeholder engagement (iv) Lobby with media, government institutions and donor communities to influence policy and improved assistance/aid  (v) all advocacy initiatives are based on research reflecting field level realities. (vi) the resource centres of two current partners sustain the network actions even after the completion of the project.

Purpose and Objective of the study

To evaluate the project objectives, structure, suggested activities, and budget and to develop logical framework based on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria as well as the Guidance notes on feasibility studies by EG/bengo (respective donor)..

The successful consultant will conduct the feasibility study in the North, Central and Southern Lebanon covering the Akkar, Tyre, Beirut, Saida, Bekaa Valley and Baalbek regions of Lebanon. This will be achieved by working closely with Johanniter’s local partners in the country. The output of the study is to highlight the feasibility of the project to achieve the objectives and implement the proposed activities throughout the next three years project period (with a total Budget of 2 Mio Euro).

Relevance To what extent is the planned project doing the adequate thing?

• Does the planned project approach address a developmentally important problem or a crucial development bottleneck of the partner country or region?
• Is the orientation of the planned project oriented towards the needs of the target groups?
• What concrete changes are said to have occurred as a result of the project at the end of the project period?

Effectiveness Which project approach can best achieve the objectives?

• How does the proposed project contribute to the strategies and programmes of governmental or other actors outlined in the context analysis? How does it differentiate itself from them?
• Are the planned measures and the chosen methodological approach suitable to achieve the project objective? Which activities at meso and/or macro level (multi-level approach) are to be planned to increase sustainability?
• Are synergy effects with measures of other donors or programmes used?
• What further measures does the study recommend to achieve the objectives?
  • What impact logic/hypotheses should the project be based on? Who checks the effects, when and at what intervals; how are the changes measured? (Impact monitoring).

Efficiency: To what extent will the objectives be achieved economically by the planned project?

• What financial, structural and human resources are needed?
• To what extent can the planned measures be implemented with the planned funds in the planned period and can the desired effects be achieved efficiently (cost-benefit), economically and sparingly? On what basis is the assessment made?

Significance/overarching developmental impact: To what extent does the planned project contribute to achieving overarching developmental impacts?

• Which goals and effects derived from the problem/needs analysis are to be achieved for which target group?
• To what extent is the planned project structure-building, model-like and broadly effective? Does a multi-level approach (micro, meso, macro level) lend itself to increasing significance and effectiveness?
• To what extent does the objective take into account gender-sensitive, inclusive, culture- and conflict-sensitive and human rights-based aspects?

Sustainability: To what extent will the positive effects (without further external support) continue after the project has ended?

• How can the sustainability of results and impacts be ensured and strengthened (structurally, economically, socially, ecologically)?
• What role/responsibility do state and/or civil society structures assume? To what extent can local potentials, structures and procedures be built upon? Which measures and instruments are best suited to use and strengthen local initiative, participation and capacities?
• What negative consequences and impacts could project measures or sub-objectives entail? To what extent can this be taken into account in the project (concept) (e.g. do-no-harm approach, conflict-sensitive impact monitoring, etc.)?
• What risks (personnel risks for the implementers, institutional and reputational risks, context risks) exist in project implementation that also influence sustainability, and how can they be minimized?

Content of the Programme Design and Feasibility Study

1. Analysis of project relevance

• Socio-economic situation of the target groups
• A detailed assessment of the project concept and approach also in regards to the project period?
• Develop relevant Logical framework/ impact matrix (BMZ format)

1. Analysis of efficiency

• Cost efficiency of outputs/ activities? (with specific indicators to measure efficiency)

1. Analysis of Impact

• Operating efficiency of planned resources
• Coherence with other stakeholders/ national strategies
• Beneficiary satisfaction

1. Sustainability

• Participation of target groups in project design
• Adaptation to the local context
• Plan on how to involve communities to gain ownership and strengthen resilience (e.g. community volunteer initiatives, etc.)

1. Effectiveness

• Assess methodology, envisaged trainings, network building and advocacy work etc.

1. Organizational Capacities

• An organizational assessment of participating partners (management structures, financial controlling mechanisms, their advocacy work and its reachout ) in order to best support capacity development.

1. Risk analysis
2. Conclusion and Recommendations

Methodology

• The Feasibility Study will be conducted a combination of a field and a desk Study, working in close collaboration with the partners and Johanniter colleagues in Lebanon. 
• Participatory research (not limited to this):
  • Interview with Johanniter and partner teams and target beneficiaries and relevant stakeholders
• Analysis of secondary data (existing research papers and lessons learned from other projects)
• Analysis of target groups mapping
• Analysis of partner evaluation reports
• Review and modification of the monitoring system

Reporting Requirements

• Inception report including detailed budget breakdown selected experts (CV) and work plan
• Final report must align and full fill all points mentioned in the Guidance notes (EG-bengo Orientierungshilfe_Machbarkeitsstudie) provided by EG bengo (respective project), including following the DAC criteria (listed above), detailed recommendations on the project concept, feasibility assessment, and developed), logical framework, including an executive summary.
• The Feasibility Study Report has to be submitted to Johanniter International Assistance only and in the English language.

Expert/Consultant Profile

• Holding an Academic Degree in social sciences, International cooperation or similar or sufficient comparable working experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in consultation with humanitarian and social development context include strong civil society networks and institutional building.
• Experience in Advocacy and Networking work of NGOs/CBOs
• Experience in working in the Middle East
• Professional level of English language.

Quotation submission:

• The quotation should contain the gross daily rate and the total cost inclusive (With Tax if applicable) in USD currency.
• The quotations should be submitted by Email before 23^rd of December 2021 to :

Mohammad Mustafa – Logistics and procurement officer

[email protected]

• The quotation should be on an official head letter signed and stamped with the date clearly indicated.
• To mention the contact person in the quotation.
• The CV of the consultant that will be doing the feasibility study should be attached along with the quotation.

Note: The contract will be signed form Amman, Jordan where a 10% withholding tax is applicable, the consultant should take this into consideration when making the quotation.