Public Tender Announcement nb. 83490486 "Provision of Needs Assessment for MSMEs in Shouf, Aley and Zahle" 21.1823.0-001.00 ACE

Context

Lebanon is facing severe challenges such as an economic crisis, increasing poverty causing worsening food security, a financial crisis due to the constant depreciation of the Lebanese lira and all this exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion in the Beirut port. Economic downturn, business closures, a deterioration in working conditions and lost livelihoods are consequences of this multi-layered crisis that the Lebanese population is going through. Due to the value loss of the Lebanese Lira, imports have become so expensive that importing necessary production inputs has become almost impossible putting food security at risk.

The project Strengthening Agriculture, local Communities, and small and medium Enterprises (ACE) aims to strengthen economic stabilization and improve social stability through targeted measures to promote cooperation and exchange in three areas of action:

1. Agriculture: Support farmers to form agricultural associations and to produce in accordance with market needs, including training and sharing of good agricultural practices.
2. Support of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME): Targeted promotion of income prospects with financial and capacity-building measures to promote entrepreneurial action and closing important gaps in the value chains.
3. Local communities & social stability: Joint planning & implementation of low-threshold community initiatives both within civil society and together with local governments to strengthen positive intergroup experiences as well as increasing confidence in local capacity to act.

The project is categorized as part of the transitional development assistance, and under the second area of action will promote private sector engagement, improving individual skills so that the parties responsible in agricultural businesses, food processing enterprises and other MSMEs downstream of food security and climate change, will be able to understand changes and adapt their actions.

This will involve the provision of knowledge for the development of new products or the adaptation of existing products, in addition to helping MSMEs complete a just transition towards green energy via in-kind grants and technical assistance. Our objectives also include realizing the potential of local agriculture. They involve MSMEs, for example, exploring alternative sources of procurement from the local agricultural sector, re-evaluating and, where necessary, adjusting the sales strategy for the local and international market. In addition, ACE project will help MSMEs evaluate and, if necessary, adjust the product range in line with changed demand on the local market and analyse and, if applicable, reduce the costs of maintaining a business. GIZ’s private sector support in the ACE project will focus on seven main value chains: Olive, Dairy, Honey, Legumes, Wheat and Barley, Agroforestry, and Protected Agriculture value chains.

As part of this effort, 45 MSMEs have been pre-selected across Shouf, Aley, and Zahle within the value chains mentioned above, under the food security umbrella.

This Needs Assessment & Baseline Study will identify operational, growth, procurement, and energy requirements, ensuring targeted support that will come thereafter through Business Continuity Management (BCM) training and in-kind, or REEE (renewable energy and energy efficiency) measures. Based on the findings and results of the assessments.

Objectives of the Assignment

The main objectives of this assessment are:

• Conduct a comprehensive Needs Assessment & Baseline Study to understand the current operational capacity, financial health, and sustainability of the 45 MSMEs, and providing recommendations and intervention strategies to improve MSME resilience and ensure alignment with ACE’s objectives via identifying growth barriers such as supply chain challenges, market access limitations, and key operational bottlenecks.
• To identify the baseline of MSME performance indicators and identify the needs for business development services (BDS) under BCM, and to identify in collaboration with the MSMEs baseline values and specific areas of support needed and provide a set of recommendations aiming at (but not specific to) : business growth, improving their competitive position, protecting jobs, and providing new work and income opportunities to women, youth, and people with disabilities in their communities.
• Categorize MSMEs based on their eligibility for REEE measures and identify their energy needs, ensuring alignment with green energy transition and sustainability.
• Identify their eligibility for procurement needs under the potential in-kind grants including machinery, raw material, ISO or other certifications, and any additional services.