Mercy Corps - Tender 464 - Women Focused System labor market assessment

The study is expected to focus on two geographical areas, Lower Chouf and Saida, though there is flexibility to adapt this where there is a clear rationale.

The target group of the SLMA will be only women as the study focuses on understanding and addressing barriers for women’s participation in the labor market. Men may be interviewed for comparative analysis purposes. The research should focus where possible on sub-group characteristics used by FORSA II and 3amaly programmes, such as age ranges of 16-34, vulnerable women  and to consider similarities and differences between vulnerable Lebanese women, Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees, across the focus georgraphical areas.

The acronym SLMA is used as most MC employment programs carry out labour market assessments (LMAs) that, broadly speaking, focus on counting job vacancies in sectors to steer training efforts. A Systems LMA then refers to bringing a systems lens to this work, where the focus is rather on understanding the relevant system(s) and the capacities and incentives of actors to suggest sustainable and scalable interventions for large scale employment. This is in line with the approach taken in market system development (MSD) market assessments. It is anticipated the activity will focus on three specific systems/pathways to work (as included in the image above): the labor supply system, the micro-enterprise system, and the wage system/larger employment systems. The identification of these systems relates to broader work MC is doing in taking an MSD approach to its employment approach, which will be shared with the Contractor. Again, there is flexibility here (e.g. to focus on specific sectors), where there is a clear rationale.The SLMA will be fully women-focused. We believe that this will build on existing research and thus provide a systemic assessment and updated data on the labor market in  both Saida and Lower Chouf in light of the recent economic crisis. By women-focused, we mean that it will examine the full market system for each of the target systems mentioned above, covering core activities, supporting functions, and rules and norms. For each, it will examine the level of discrimination against women within each market function and provide recommendations specifically focused on how to address this discrimination against women. Analysis will be used to help display and rank the significance of the gender discrimination at each function, and the potential and feasibility of intervention ideas (which will be developed in-line with MSD principles).The contractor will be responsible for leading their own research team to carry out all field work for the purposes of this activity. Mercy Corps team members will help set up introductions and interviews and will be able to provide limited support with data collection.