Project Officer – Formalisation

1. Context 

The crisis in Lebanon has increased levels of informality in business and in employment. Informal enterprises unfairly compete with formal enterprises Workers in the informal economy lack basic protections such has health care, a written contract and access to social protection.
Supporting enterprise formalization as a means of creating level playing field for companies and decent work opportunities for workers in the informal economy is a prominent pillar of policy recommendations driven by Association of Lebanese Industrialists, the ILO and many other international organizations sand CSOs. 

2. Main tasks  

The main tasks of this assignment are to:

I. Develop information and awareness raising material by adapting the ILO training package “Formalize your business”

This package, entitled aims to build the capacity of micro and small informal enterprises through Employers and Business Member Organisations (EBMOs). It consists of two parts: the first part deals with generalities around the topic of formalization (e.g. what is enterprise formalization, why is it important); the second part describes procedures for registering an economic unit in a specific country and for complying with national requirements in terms of:

• Enterprise and worker registration
• Bookkeeping 
• Taxation
• Social security 
• Decent work and labour law 
• Sectoral and cross-sectoral requirements

Within this framework, the present assignment aims to gather detailed information on registration and compliance procedures for micro and small informal enterprises in Lebanon

The assignment will include:

• Desk research to gather information on relevant registration and compliance requirements as well as official agencies implicated in different steps of formalization;
• Interviews with the relevant institutions and agencies responsible for the registration and compliance of economic units and their workers, as well as with formalized/formalizing entrepreneurs;
• A national validation workshop, in order to present the gathered information while also increasing the visibility of the project and further involving stakeholders.

The Association of Lebanese industrialists together with ILO will provide guidance and technical support, and will propose a list of key topics and guiding questions on which information should be collected. The consultant will adapt the learner and trainer handbooks on Formalization and will be giving these trainings to ALI EMBOs.

The final outputs will be a trainer and a learner guide that will be used by ALI in information  awareness raising and training sessions

II. Run the Help desk office at ALI by providing technical support to informal companies to transit into the formal economy

The assignment will include:

• Organizing and animating awareness raising trainings and workshop for informal economic units.
• Provide coaching to companies in their registration processes
• Identify training and funding opportunities and other possible benefits for newly registered companies or start ups
• Support in the design of national campaigns to promote formalization 

3. Duration

The assignment will take place from February 2023 to January 2024

4. Required Profile

• Advanced university degree in Public Policy, Economics, Business Management or related disciplines to the formalization of the informal economy
• A sound knowledge of the laws, regulations and procedures for the formalization of micro and small enterprises in Lebanon, as well as of the institutions/agencies that support them;
• Proven experience in SMEs business development services
• Proven experience as trainer
• Experience in working with start-ups is an asset
• A capacity to communicate effectively with the representatives of the institutions/agencies involved in formalization.
• Excellent spoken and written English and Arabic language skills;
• Excellent ability to synthesise and organise information.

5. Supervision and coordination

The consultant will work under the supervision of the ALI Director general and selected ILO staff