Consultancy: MAKANI Mid Term Review

 

Project Title: MAKANI, MY PLACE. Economic development, decent work, and social inclusion in Tripoli, Lebanon

Donor: Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS)

Project Location: Tripoli, Lebanon

Project Duration  : 1 November 2019 – 31 October 2022

Evaluation to be conducted in:      October – November 2021 (approximately 25 days)

Oxfam in Lebanon

Oxfam in Lebanon works to ensure that women and men are protected and empowered to enjoy their basic rights and access services that support a dignified life within a more equitable society. To achieve our mission, Oxfam implements activities under two programmatic pillars: Good Governance and Economic Justice, and Humanitarian.

 

Projects under our Economic Justice program work with vulnerable women and men, especially youth, to cope with the effects of poverty and improve access to and control over productive resources for sustainable poverty reduction. In the aftermath of the Beirut blast and in response to deteriorating economic conditions, we’ve increased our focus on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), supporting them to maintain their workforce and improve business operations while ensuring decent work standards and advocating for a decent work agenda.

 

Project Overview

Oxfam seeks an external consultant for a mid-term review of our project Makani: Economic development, decent work, and social inclusion in Tripoli, Lebanon, which is funded by AICS.

Designed in 2018 and funded in 2019, Makani is in line with Strategic Objective 4 of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2020: "Reinforce Lebanon’s economic, social and environmental stability” and contributes to Result 1 of the Livelihoods sector: “Stimulate local economic development and market systems to create income generating opportunities and employment”. In addition, the project is in line with the Lebanon Voluntary National Review of Sustainable Development Goals (2018), particularly with SDGs 1, 5, 8 and 10. The project also contributes to the goals articulated in the “Three-year Programming and Policy Planning Document 2017-2019” of the Italian Cooperation around migration and development, and culture, development, and creative industries. In addition to this, the promotion of inclusive business and a focus on decent work are key elements of the project.

Makani focuses on entrepreneurship as a driver of inclusive, sustainable employment and economic growth for young men and women in Tripoli, one of Lebanon’s most economically fragile urban areas. The project is a multi-stakeholder partnership reaching 3,190 direct beneficiaries and aimed at inclusive economic development using a mix of training, entrepreneurial support, service networks, protection of workers' rights, promotion of new opportunities for youth, and reactivation of traditional economic sectors.

Makani brings Oxfam together with two local partners in Tripoli and two Italian organizations based in Trento. In Tripoli, the Tripoli Entrepreneurs Club (TEC) works with startups and established MSMEs

providing a range of business supports, while SHIFT provides on job training and mentorship to young job seekers. In Trento, Industrio and CCI are private sector partners that co-developed the mentorship program and provide business consulting support, with an eye to fair and sustainable local development.

General Objective: To support inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Northern Lebanon

Specific Objective: To promote innovative institutional, social, and economic solutions for entrepreneurship as a driver of inclusive and sustainable development for youth in Tripoli

Result 1. Identification of the main obstacles that hinder growth and inclusive job opportunities in MSMEs and startups, and development of strategies to overcome them.

• Under this outcome, Oxfam and TEC support 125 MSMEs and 90 startups with coaching and business development services
• A committee made up of TEC, Oxfam, Industrio, and NGOs selected 28 MSMEs and 10 startups from the bigger group to receive financial support in Years 2 and 3

 

Result 2. Creation of new working opportunities for women and young people in the intervention area, and reduction of their vulnerability.

• Under this outcome, Oxfam and SHIFT are providing on the job training, including mentorship, for 150 youth over 3 years
• Industrio and CCI developed the mentorship program and training package for SHIFT
• SHIFT and Oxfam will align with UNICEF’s new national mentorship program with Lebanon’s

Ministry of Education

Result 3. Advocacy and awareness-raising actions carried out to promote decent work and enhance inclusive business as a driver of local economic development.

• Decent work training and integration into business plans for MSMEs and startups involved in

TEC’s intervention

• Decent work awareness raising with larger audience of MSMEs and new job seekers
• Awareness-raising and training on minimum standards in the workplace

Purpose of Mid-Term Review

The goal of this mid-term review exercise is to assess the continued relevance of Makani’s intervention mix and progress made towards achieving the results noted above. Oxfam and partners will use the review findings to make strategic modifications to Makani that help us to meet the project objectives, achieve and understand impact, and wisely use resources.

Mid-Term Review Objectives

• To assess the design, planning, delivery and management of the project by Oxfam and its partners in accordance with Oxfam Programme Standards, AICS 2020 – 2024 strategy, and the OECD-DAC Gender Equality Marker;
• To identify and assess key internal and external factors that have contributed to, affected, or impeded the achievements of the project, and how Oxfam and partners have managed these factors;

 

 

 

• To assess the effectiveness of the project’s approach to MSME and startup business

development support, including (but not limited to):

• • The differential impact of financing and business coaching services in the current economic environment;
  • Decent work activities;
  • The value of startup support.

 

• To assess the effectiveness of support to individual job seekers, including (but not limited to):
  • on-the-job training and mentorship;
  • Job placement;
  • Gender-specific data and learning, building off previous Oxfam research in Tripoli.
• To draw key lessons and learning from the project and make recommendations that will help inform the design of Oxfam’s future economic justice projects;

 

Target Audiences

• Primary users of the evaluation findings will be Oxfam’s project team, management, and technical

advisors, as well as partner staff, and AICS departments

 

Mid-Term Review Criteria and Key Questions

The following is a guide to the proposed evaluation questions, which must adhere to OECD/DAC criteria for development evaluation:

 

Relevance: To what extent does the project design and intervention mix respond to

participants’ needs, especially with the rapidly changing economic environment?

Effectiveness: At this midway point, how well is Makani achieving its stated outcomes? Are there differential results thus far between groups of participants?

• Partnerships: How well are partnerships working? What has been the experience thus far of having private sector partners? Of having partners in different countries and economic contexts? Is this of value for the program participants (including Lebanon partners, startups, MSMEs, and mentors)?
• Gender and social inclusion: To what extent is Makani effective along axes of gender, ability, age, and nationality?

Coherence: What are synergies between Makani and related Oxfam projects in Lebanon? What about synergies or misalignment with other initiatives in the same sector, markets, and locations? How well or not does Makani coordinate with necessary area and national coordination mechanisms?

Efficiency: How well are resources being used, especially given implementation changes driven by Covid-19 and fluctuating exchange rate, and subsequent strains on logistics, resources, and movement?

 

 

Methodology

The evaluation must be conducted in line with evaluation best practices, use quantitative and qualitative data, and draw upon both primary and secondary data collection techniques. The evaluator is expected to develop a detailed methodology that will be reviewed and approved by Oxfam. The evaluation methodology must make use of existing Makani cohort baseline and endline data, MSME profiles, and other available monitoring and evaluation data that Oxfam’s MEAL team will provide.

 

The methodology requires that the consultant(s) have experience with participatory approaches to learning and inquiry, particularly in seeking the views of key stakeholders such as:

• Targeted beneficiaries
• The implementing partners TEC and SHIFT;
• Community leaders (if applicable) and representative bodies of the affected populations;
• Local market actors;
• Oxfam staff involved the implementation of the project (e.g., PM, coordinators and field team).

Timeframe, Key Activities, and Expected Level of Effort

Timeframe

The evaluation is to be carried out in October and November 2021, with the final report submitted to Oxfam as per the timeline below. The exact dates will be confirmed with the selected consultant(s).

 

Total expected level of effort: 25 working days

• Review essential documents of the project, including but not limited to the original project proposal, interim or on-going internal reports, and existing internal and external research reports. Propose evaluation questions based on the review. (5 days, all documents will be shared by Oxfam via the online platform Box);
• Develop a detailed evaluation plan (to be endorsed by Oxfam) (1 day);
• Primary data collection (10 days, a mix of in person and remote);
• Data analysis and preparation of draft evaluation report (6 days);
• Validation workshop (0.5 days);
• Finalize the final evaluation report and send it to Oxfam (2 days). Oxfam will then prepare a management response to be annexed to the evaluation report.

 

Reporting

The consultant will report directly to Oxfam’s Makani Project Manager and will work closely with Oxfam’s Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (PMEAL) Coordinator and other Oxfam staff in Lebanon.

 

Consultant Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years experience in evaluation of economic development initiatives, including work with MSMEs
• Proven track record of producing gender data, learning, and related program recommendations in the economic development sphere
• Experience working in the geographic region required; experience in Lebanon preferred
• Strong English writing and facilitation skills
• Professional fluency in Arabic required

 

Expected Outputs

1. Develop a detailed inception report and evaluation plan (to be submitted after the document review but before the data collection - to be endorsed by Oxfam), outlining the proposed methodology;
2. Draft evaluation report (English) to be presented to Oxfam and partners;
3. Online validation workshop and slide deck (English and Arabic) to present and discuss draft findings with Oxfam and partners;
4. Final report incorporating Oxfam and partner comments.

 

Please note that Oxfam will review all outputs and provide comments for the consultant to consider and incorporate. Partner comments must also be taken into account before the final report is submitted and approved.

 

Instructions for interested consultants

Payment will be done in two instalments: 25% upon contract signature, and 75% upon Oxfam’s approval

of the final evaluation report.

 

Costs to include in the offer: Consultants should include the following costs in their proposed budget: daily rate, cost of travel (in the case of an international consultant living outside Lebanon), per diems, accommodation in Tripoli, communication costs, miscellaneous costs (e.g. visa costs, depending on nationality of consultant).

 

Note that payment will be made based on the budget in the offer (not based on actual expenses incurred by the consultant). No receipts will be requested from the consultant towards the end of the evaluation.

 

Codes of Behaviour

The evaluation process must adhere to Oxfam’s guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluations and research. The consultant and team are expected to consider key ethical implications at every stage of the evaluation.

 

Sharing and Using Findings

 Oxfam International’s Policy on Program Evaluation requires Confederation members to act on the commitment to transparency by making public the Executive Summary and a Management Response to all final evaluations.

 

Disclosure

Although free to discuss with the authorities on anything relevant to the assignment, under the terms of reference, the consultant is not authorized to make any commitments on behalf of Oxfam. All data

collected as part of this consultancy belongs to Oxfam and public dissemination of the data and evaluation products can only be done with the written consent of Oxfam.