Request for Proposal - External Evaluation and Research Services for LINKED Consortium

Request for Proposal

 External Evaluation and Research Services for LINKED Consortium

RFP BEY/22/06

FOR

DANISH REFUGEE COUNCIL (LEBANON)

The Danish Refugee Council assists refugees and internally displaced persons across the globe: we provide emergency aid and facilitate access to rights. We work in conflict-affected areas, along displacement routes, and in the countries where refugees settle. In cooperation with local communities, we strive for responsible and durable solutions.

The Danish Refugee Council founded in Denmark in 1956, and has since grown to become an international humanitarian organization with more than 7,000 staff and 8,000 volunteers. Our vision is a dignified life for all displaced. All of our efforts are based on our value compass: humanity, respect, independence and neutrality, participation, and honesty and transparency.

DRC is currently operating protection and economic recovery programming in Lebanon, focusing on refugees and vulnerable members of the host community in rural and urban settings. The protection activities include GBV, CP and PwSN case management, GBV prevention, PSS, legal aid, Individual Protection Assistance, awareness raising and information dissemination, and evidence generation. DRC has offices in 3 governorates, including Beirut, Akkar, and Beqaa.  For further information about DRC, please refer to our website: https://drc.ngo/

Consultancy:

As part of the Economic Recovery activities of DRC in Lebanon, one of the biggest interventions is implemented through the LINKED Consortium. The LINKED Consortium is a multi-stakeholder partnership between four NGOs (Al Majmoua, DRC, Mercy Corps and Oxfam), funded by the European Union. The Consortium aims at contributing to sustainable economic development of vulnerable job seekers, Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities in Lebanon and strengthening the resilience of MSMEs affected by the Beirut blast. The Consortium started on August 2020 and consists of two grants - both funded by the European Union - with each specific objectives and outcomes.

The first one, named "LINKED" as the Consortium, has as overall objective "to contribute to sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic development in Lebanon", with two specific objectives (SO):

• Access to employment opportunities of vulnerable job seekers (Syrian and Lebanese) is improved, through enhanced marketable skills and linkages with employers (SO1);
• Capacities of selected local economic actors are strengthened to provide decent, inclusive, and sustainable income generation opportunities (SO2).

At the individual level, the program will equip job seekers with soft and technical skills that enhance employability and will provide access to short and mid-term income generating activities opportunities (such as cash-for-work, work-based learning and support for home-based businesses). While on the other hand, LINKED aims to work with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and their local market surroundings to develop more and better income-generating opportunities for the local populations.

The second grant is instead a specific response to the MSMEs in Beirut impacted by the explosion of August 4th 2020. The overall objective is to strengthen the resilience of MSMEs affected by the Beirut blast, by ensuring that:

• Business management and governance practices of MSMEs are improved (SO1);
• Financial resilience of MSMEs affected by the blast is improved (SO2).

Scope of the research & evaluation service:

DRC is seeking to appoint a highly qualified firm who will be supporting the LINKED Consortium by conducting the final evaluations of the two grants implemented as well one ad hoc research identified by the partners as part of the Consortium's Learning Agenda, which aims at generating learning for program's adaptation and future programming.

Regarding the final evaluations, the aim is to analyze the projects, their achievements or lack thereof, to assess the impact as per the definition of the logical frameworks, and to provide evidence-based information and recommendations for organizational learning and future programming. The final evaluations will have to focus on the below:

• Relevance and appropriateness: to assess whether the program served the needs and priorities of the target audience within the challenging Lebanese context.
• Effectiveness (outcome evaluation): to assess the extent to which the program achieved the intended results.
• Impact: to assess the direct and indirect, positive or negative changes on the target audience, resulting from the intervention, whether intended or unintended; and to understand if the program contributed to sustainable development in Lebanon.
• Sustainability: to assess if the positive changes will continue after the program ended, and if the impact achieved will last (this can also assess sustainable connectedness with other stakeholders and actors achieved through the program).

Regarding the ad hoc research, the Consortium has prioritized a better understanding of the implementation of Decent Work Conditions (DWC) in the Country, in light of the multiplicity of crisis ongoing since October 2019. In the following table, the topic and research questions are listed while in the Annex I more detailed Terms of Reference (TORs) are provided.

RFP Details:

RFP Issuing date: 18^th of July 2022

Online technical meeting: 22^nd of July 2022 at 11:00am on TEAMs (link inside Cover Letter)

RFP Closure Date: 1^st of August at 14:00 (Beirut time)