Lebanon Enterprise Development (LED) Project Grants Annual Program Statement (APS) No.02 Amendment 02 / 2020-2021 Funding Round

LED is a 5-year (October 2017-September 2022) project funded by USAID. LED’s goal is to increase private sector employment opportunities (jobs) for Lebanese citizens. To achieve this, LED provides technical assistance and grants focused on two objectives:

1. Create jobs by increasing competitiveness and enhancing growth of Lebanese client firms
2. Improve Lebanon’s business enabling environment to catalyze private sector investment and enable growth of enterprises and industry sectors

LED will work through private sector associations, syndicates, or other non-government organizations to identify, analyses, propose, and advocate for solutions to problems that are affecting the business enabling environment and that will lead to positive impacts such as reducing the the cost of doing business, promoting exports, or improved access to foreign finance.

The objective of this grant program is to support LED’s goal of creating new jobs for Lebanese citizens by leveraging the ideas, knowledge, skills, and resources of selected local organizations. The outcomes achieved by LED’s grantees will enhance LED’s overall impact on the Lebanese economy.

LED invites private not-for-profit and for-profit associations, syndicates, or cooperatives or private enterprises to propose activities they wish to implement with LED grant funding.

Grants Program Support Areas

As noted above, LED grants are to support activities in two primary areas as follows:

1. Entreprise or Industry/Sector Competitiveness: : While taking into consideration the current economic and financial challenges confronting Lebanon’s private sector, grant activities should result in improved business performance for individual firms or groups of firms, especially those that are exporting or able to export; producing locally previously imported goods or services (import substitution); or serving growing local market niches. Preferred grant activities are those that address economic challenges faced by groups of enterprises rather than single firms.

2. Improved Business Enabling Environment: Grants shall address policy, regulatory, or administrative constraints to doing business that will reduce the cost of doing business, increase investment, or have other beneficial impacts, thereby accelerating private sector growth and job creation.

Applicants may propose grants that relate to one or both areas, but enterprise or industry/sector competitiveness grants ideas are preferred.

Total available funding for all awards is $230,000. LED expects to make 2-6 awards. The maximum duration of any grant is 9-months, grants of 3 to 8-months are preferred. Apply today if you qualify to be considered in LED’s August 2021 concept evaluation.