Labor Market Assessment - Chouf Region - (Gender-Sensitive & Disability Inclusive)

1. BACKGROUND

Asmae-Association Soeur Emmanuelle ("Asmae") is a French international NGO and registered charity, specialised in the education and protection of vulnerable children. Independent, secular and apolitical, it is open to all. Founded in 1980 by Sister Emmanuelle, based on her experience with rag pickers in the slums of Cairo, Asmae continues its actions in line with the values and methods inherited from its founder: listening and proximity, pragmatism, taking account of differences, professionalism and reciprocity. Asmae's actions aim to support vulnerable children and their families through personalized and continuing support for local actors working in the fields of education and child protection.

National Rehabilitation Development Center (NRDC), which is a Lebanese association established in 1986, initiated a partnership in 2021. In 2018, NRDC has established a technical institute (TI) in Bchatfine (Shouf region) which offers vocational courses and protection workshops for youth with disabilities (YWD).  NRDC works to reduce ignorance and prejudice faced by individuals with special needs through increasing awareness & understanding. They focus on supporting youth with disabilities to access proper vocational education in order to take part in the labor market.

1. Project Description

Project Location: Chouf

Country: Lebanon

Project Calendar:

Project duration: 36 months

Start Date: March 1st, 2022

End Date: February 28^th, 2025

The overall objective is to: Promote socio-economic inclusion of the most vulnerable youth, in particular, Lebanese and Syrian refugees with disabilities in Shouf region (Lebanon).

The three specific objectives are:

OS 1: Improve access to inclusive vocational education to most vulnerable youth, including Syrian refugees and youth with disabilities, under which the two expected results are a/ at least 135 vulnerable youths have acquired vocational and professional skills in an inclusive environment and b/ at least 100 youths have an Individualized Educational Plan

OS2: Increase most vulnerable youths' autonomy through access to work and/or income-generating activities, under which the two expected results are: a/ At least 90 youths are enabled to generate income from productive activities and b/ Increased awareness within the local communities about YWD's abilities and potential

OS3: Strengthen NRDC technical, operational, and organizational capacities and support the newly established vocational center with the following expected result: NRDC's team has developed its institutional and financial capacities as well as technical capacities in socio-economic inclusion, child protection, and gender.

1. OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES

Vulnerable youth often have limited access and awareness of safe and decent employment opportunities which can further hinder their ability to set long-term goals and meet their psychosocial and economic needs. To better support young people to identify and access these opportunities, Asmae and NRDC aim to provide additional guidance and support by conducting a gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive labor market assessment (LMA) as part of the project implemented by Asmae in partnership with NRDC.

The LMA will be conducted to understand the demand side of Chouf labor market and youth aspiration for life and career respectively for young women and young men, the findings of the study will lead to better knowing the sector of employment for youth and to include in the VT curriculum the necessary training for getting the skills and knowledge required by the labor market, as well as  the aspiration of the youth

This LMA, in addition to creating linkages with key stakeholders and market actors, will provide the youth with an understanding of labor market demands for skills needed in the market, both technical and transferable.

Results of the LMA will be shared with Vocational Training Providers (VTPs) and employment agencies openly to inform their services are demand driven also across the humanitarian actors.

Important note to consider that this assignment should result in clear outcomes on the Shouf labor market demand for YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES that can be either Lebanese or Syrian, females or males. The type of disabilities is mild to moderate; therefore, the study shall clearly explore the demands, opportunities, and market requests in addition to the accessibility of youth with disabilities to decent jobs and work environments.

1. Methodology

The first part of the study will explore the labor market by visiting selected hiring entities, stakeholders, potential employers, SMEs and other industries, the number of entities to be selected in each area will be agreed upon between Asmae and the consultancy firm.

The following highlights the expectations from this section of the study:

1. Identify potential employers in the study area (Chouf), especially those who are open to receiving employees with disability.
2. Assess the labor market demand and skills requirements
3. Provide detailed analysis in the study area taking into consideration the gender sensitivity and gender policies (Is the sector/company, etc. more “male” or “female” (in terms of social perception as well as objectively, in terms of the number of male / female staff)? If it is a male/female sector, what’s the situation of staff from the opposite sex (not only in salary or type of contract but also in terms of working conditions and environment)? Is there anything set up for child care? What’s the policy for working from home? What’s the policy for maternity leave? And paternity leave? If there are much more female staff or male staff, what does explain this situation? Is there any policy / any measures set up by the employer to promote more balance / mixity?... Do we anticipate any issues in the recruitment process (female candidates not being recruited in a male sector, etc.)? What are the perceptions of female/male applicants, and staff by the employer? Are there any policies to fight against any discrimination in the company? To prevent and respond to GBV?)
4. Identify possible job creation sectors in each area.
5. identify the average wage scales and type of contact provided by each sector, and has there any differences between men’s and women’s average scales? If so, how can this be explained?
6. Identify workers and skills in high demand by the industry, and what is the opportunity of creating employment for young women, young men displaced people, and people with disabilities, to ensure inclusive and accessible job creation
7. The study should highlight the accessibility of all types of disabilities in the job areas targeted.
8. Produce an explorative report on gender-sensitive labor market assessment analyzing all the above market conditions. And providing gender-disaggregated data as well as analysis for any gaps
9. The study should include a map of the geographical areas of targeted SMEs, employers, etc.

The second part of the study focuses on youth aspiration, under this part the following deliverables are expected:

1. Perception, challenges, and opportunities for unemployed young men and young women, this analysis should be gender-age-disability disaggregated during FGDs.
2. Characterization and mapping of young women’s and men’s aspirations, and challenges in getting employed by gender, disability level, nationality, and age range.
3. Assess barriers of employment, skills and knowledge, financial situation, social network, discouraging and encouraging factors for employment respectively for young women and young men (lack of startup capital, lack of skills required, lack of training opportunities, legal framework, policies, soft skills, access to market, subcarriers/norms, child marriage, early parenting, …)
4. Highlight how the challenges differ among different youth, women, men, girls, boys, PwD, refuges, and host communities.
5. Assess the labor market conditions for young women, young men, women, people with disabilities, refugees and the current level of barriers to employment in the host community.
6. Identify the needs young women and young men to start sustainable profitable jobs

Finally, the assignment will provide comprehensive recommendations, including recommendations to deal with gender stakes that have been identified based on the finding of the Labor Market Assessment from the industries side and the young women’s and young men’s aspirations assessment from randomly selected unemployed young women and young men. The findings will be used to guide the program operations. To identify the skills in high demand from demand side, and preferred by the young men and young women to diversify the vocational training in areas where the intervention brings higher impact, and propose the intervention to meet to demand challenges in the employment landscape taking gender sensitivity into consideration.

1. Tasks and expected deliverables

Deliverable

Timeline

Kick-off meeting with Asmae and NRDC to establish an understanding of the scope of the assignment

1 day

Inception report including detailed planned study

3 days

Design of assessment methodology and tools for data collection

3 days

Data collection including meetings with stakeholders and providing updates to Asmae FP

5 days

Data analysis and draft preliminary report with recommendation

5 days

Meeting/workshop to present recommendations and validation of inputs

1 day

Draft final report including with decent design including graphs, photographs and notes where needed

3 days

A second version of final report after HQ revision

1 day

Prepare a summary report to be established among relevant stakeholders

1 day

Qualifications

This is a freelance post for individuals or companies with the below minimum requirements:

• hold a degree in business, Social sciences, or any other related field;
• Minimum of 5 years in local community development work;
• Minimum of 5 years in design research;
• Proven track record of successful work in a similar field;
• Experience working with youth, livelihoods and gender programming, and disability is preferable
• Professionalism in dealing with a wide range of possible stakeholders;
• Understanding of Cultural sensitivities especially among refugees taking into consideration gender sensitivity and disability issues
• Fluency in Arabic and English language skills: Written skills - reporting writing.
• Adherence to deadlines;