Call for an Evaluation Expert- Act Smart

Position:

Evaluation Expert to conduct a Midterm Evaluation of the Agri-food and Clean Technologies (A.C.T.) SMART Innovation Hub programme (2023-2026), a programme managed by Berytech and funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beirut, Lebanon.

Introduction of the Organization and Programme

Berytech, initiated in 2002 by the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, offers a dynamic and adapted environment to work with entrepreneurs while creating and developing innovative startups and SMEs. Berytech plays a major role in Lebanon’s economic growth through projects and initiatives, in collaboration with both local and international partners and stakeholders, that generate value and create jobs.

The ACT Smart Innovation Hub 2.0 builds upon the success of its predecessor, taking a sector-wide approach to economic growth by stimulating innovators and entrepreneurs to develop solutions for the agrifood and cleantech sectors. This initiative encourages the creation of local solutions to challenges faced by Lebanon and the global economy.

Originally launched in 2019 with funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, ACT Smart was renewed and upgraded starting 2023 for another four years to maximize its impact in scaling innovative startups, supporting the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem, and contributing to economic recovery.

The programme is running over 48 months, from January 2023 to December 2026. It aims to:

• Create at least 250 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs, with 60% targeting youth (≤35 years old) and 25% targeting women, reducing brain drain and unemployment while fostering decent job creation.
• Empower ecosystem partners to conduct ideation and validation programs, ensuring sustainability and economic development.
• Support at least 60% of incubated startups to remain operational and generate revenues, with a minimum of two pre-seed or seed-stage startups raising at least $100K in investments.
• Strengthen innovation clusters, achieving sector leadership through certifications, waste valorization, and renewable energy adoption (20% of SMEs), and creating 100 full-time jobs.

Collectively, these initiatives will drive sustainable economic growth and innovation in key sectors focusing on the agrifood and cleantech sectors, enhancing competitiveness and growth in these industries, scaling Lebanon’s most innovative startups across all sectors, and driving the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem nationwide.

The programme is housed in Berytech’s Technology Pole in Mar Roukoz, Beirut, with a nationwide impact and a global outlook for growth opportunities. It focuses on strengthening innovative business solutions that enhance livelihoods, create jobs, and result in tangible economic, environmental, and social benefits.

Objective of the Evaluation

This midterm evaluation aims to assess the program’s progress in achieving its planned objectives and results for the period January 2023 - December 2024. The evaluation will follow the OECD-DAC criteria, analyzing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact of the program. It will also examine Berytech’s performance in implementing the program and provide recommendations for improvements for the remaining program duration.

The specific questions for the evaluation are listed below.

Relevance

1. The relevance of the programme to the beneficiaries targeted. How relevant is the program to its targeted beneficiaries? How effectively does it address employability and competitiveness across the Agrytech, Clyntech and ScaleSmart accelerators, QOOT, Waste Valorization and Renewable Energy Clusters, Partners Growth Pillar including Idea Lab implementation? Detail how appropriate was the quality of the problem analysis and the programme’s intervention logic. To what extent was the programme relevant and appropriate to the needs of the beneficiaries initially stated in the proposal?
2. How well has the program adapted to address emerging needs, including economic and geopolitical shifts?
3. How effectively are the clusters engaging with accelerator alumni and contributing to the startup ecosystem?
4. How well does Partner Growth equip regional innovation support organizations to strengthen the startup pipeline?

Effectiveness (Outcomes):

1. To what extent were the outcomes, as indicated in the project proposal, achieved?
2. What support for capacity development (mentors, coaching, workshops, experts, advise, trainings etc.) worked well and why? What did not work well and why?
3. How impactful has the clusters’ strategy (QOOT, waste, renewable energy) been in driving industry-wide collaboration?
4. How has Scale Smart contributed to the sustainability and growth of startups?
5. How effective has Partner Growth and Idea Lab been in supporting ecosystem partners and early-stage entrepreneurs?

Efficiency

1. How efficiently has Berytech managed program inputs and resources to achieve outputs?
2. How has Berytech managed program timeline and delays and adapted to changing conditions?
3. How flexible and adaptive has the program been, particularly in light of Lebanon’s economic and political challenges? To what extent did this affect the overall coherence of its design and what are the lessons learned from the process?

Sustainability

1. How will the program implementation help Berytech improve its offerings to its beneficiaries, and what is the program providing to improve knowledge transfer and upgrade of support to beneficiaries that can be used beyond the term of this program?
2. How effective is Partner Growth in fostering self-sufficient innovation support organizations beyond the program's duration?
3. Berytech will take a success fee equal to 10% of all investments raised 1 year following the end of the acceleration program to help support Berytech Foundation in its commitment to continue the program and support future batches in Agrytech and Clyntech. the success fee will be capped at $100,000. Following this statement, How many ideas were developed into actual, healthy start-ups that can operate, grow? And how can this be reflected in sustaining support.

Impact

1. To which extent did the programme contribute so far in creation of jobs, strengthened business advancement in the Agrifrood and Cleantech sectors in Lebanon, and be expected to improve to the sectors?
2. How successful was the programme in solving relevant challenges in the Agri-food and Cleantech sectors? How many were co-founded by youth and women? And were startups supported and incubated at Berytech? Cluster attracted and supported for better growth?
3. How effective have cluster initiatives (QOOT, waste, renewable energy) and Partner Growth been in fostering industry-wide innovation and entrepreneurship?
4. How many startups from Partner Growth's network have progressed into the accelerator?
5. How startups co-founded by women and youth have been supported and if their success rates differ from other cohorts.

Scope of the evaluation

The scope of the evaluation is limited to:

1. Programmatic Scope: Assessing direct services to startups, ecosystem partners, clusters, and support mechanisms provided through the program.
2. Geographical Scope: Evaluating activities in Greater Beirut with selected site visits across Lebanon.
3. Timeframe: Covering January 2023 - December 2024.
4. Population: The evaluation will sample a representative group of startups, partners, and stakeholders.

Intended Users: The evaluation findings will be utilized by the donor, Berytech, project managers, partners, and relevant stakeholders. The recommendations and lessons learned will demonstrate the results achieved by this project and also generate evidence-based knowledge and identify the best practices for PSS, CP, education and community based approach.

Evaluation Approach and methodology

The evaluator is invited to suggest an appropriate evaluation methodology that is in line with the objective and scope of the evaluation. During the design of the evaluation methodology, the evaluator will make sure that:

• Existing resources are used, such as Theory of Change, output and outcome monitoring data, Quarterly and annual reports, Implementaion plan and other secondary materials like evaluations of similar approaches of other (I)/NGOs in Lebanon);
• The views and opinions of various stakeholders of various age groups and gender are taken into account;
• A combination of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods are used, such as surveys, interviews, focus group discussions. Case studies may also provide more in-depth information;
• Evaluation findings are triangulated and validated;
• Sampling decisions, if applicable, are recorded in the evaluation report and justified.
  

  The evaluator should propose a mixed-methods approach, incorporating:

• Desk research using existing program documentation (Theory of Change, monitoring data, reports).
• Stakeholder consultations through interviews, focus groups, and surveys.
• Quantitative and qualitative analysis, ensuring diverse perspectives (age, gender, sector representation).
• Triangulation of data to validate findings and recommendations.
• At the start of the evaluation, the evaluator should develop an inception report, describing the way that the chosen evaluation methods, data sources, sampling and indicators will support the evaluation questions.

Deliverables

The deliverables required from this final evaluation are as follows:

1. An inception report based on this Terms of Reference, initial briefings with Berytech, consultation with other stakeholders which should include:
   1. A desk review of programme documentation and existing data
   2. Any suggested additions/alterations to the proposed evaluation questions and overall Terms of Reference
   3. A detailed methodology, including planned timeframe, list of stakeholders to be consulted, proposed sampling approach if applicable, plan for data collection and analysis, ethical procedures to be followed
   4. Draft data collection tools
2. Presentation of preliminary findings to validate findings with relevant stakeholders and discuss conclusions
3. Draft recommendations for the remainder of the program: for program improvement
4. Draft evaluation report
5. Final evaluation report
6. Evaluation summary (max 4 pages)
7. A clean database / transcripts of all collected data (quantitative and qualitative).

Reporting requirements

Routing of the reporting occurs according to the following guidelines:

• The evaluator will work in close collaboration with the Embassy Program Officer, Berytech COO, Program Director, Program staff and Evaluation Manager to ensure alignment of the activities.
• The budget and financial report should follow Berytech guidelines for financial reporting. These are based on actual costs and documentary proof.

Provisional planning and implementation

• Procurement of the evaluation consultant: March 31^st, 2025
• Evaluation start date: April 2025
• Final report submission: July 31^st, 2025 

Budget

Budget is based on actual hours spent on the evaluation, the evaluator, is to submit a daily rate and an expected amount of days needed to deliver on the above.

Profile of evaluator / evaluation team

An Evaluator with at least a Master’s Degree in a domain relevant to the assignment, as well as a minimum of 10 years of general working experience, including confirmed experience in development cooperation. The Evaluator should also have a solid background in evaluation, particularly complexity-aware methodologies. S/he should be able to provide at least two examples of published evaluation work in complex and/or fragile settings with a focus on economic development.

Essential:

• Familiarity with Dutch development cooperation is an asset
• Familiarity with the target region and the specific program context is an asset.
• Previous experience in dutch programs evaluations
• Leadership role in global evaluation organizations

• Fluency in English (Arabic would be an asset)

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