Call for Expression of Interest for National Enumerators in Lebanon on Independent Cluster Evaluation for Employment Intensive Infrastructure Programmes

ILO Regional Office for Arab States is seeking Expressions of Interest from individual consultants based in Lebanon to provide support in data collection for an independent cluster evaluation for Employment Intensive Infrastructure Programme in Lebanon.

1. Background

The civil war in Syria led an influx of refugees to neighbouring countries including Lebanon and Jordan. It is estimated that Lebanon hosts about 1.5 million Syrians as of 2021, whereas 1.36 million Syrians reside in Jordan.

With the influx of refugees, labour market challenges have been exacerbated in both countries. High unemployment, competition for work and informality have contributed to social tension between Syrian refugees and host communities. Unskilled local workers perceive their unemployment and the poor working conditions have resulted from competition with Syrian workers. Syrians have traditionally worked in agriculture, construction, and services and have mostly relied on temporary and informal work. Migration flows generated a heavy strain on public infrastructure, services, natural resources, and economy, including the labour market.

To minimize the labour market impact of the crisis, the Government of Lebanon has exempted Syrians from the general prohibition on foreigners working and have identified areas of work, namely agriculture, construction and environment activities, as the sectors where Syrian refugees can legally work. However legal stay and permit requirements are complex and have changed frequently. To regulate their employment, refugees can either have a Lebanese sponsor or apply through UNHCR and work in the identified sectors. Yet, employers are not motivated to arrange work permits. While there are some challenges, such as lack of documentation, limited professions and sponsors, complexity, cost, time and effort, workers with permits benefit from increased confidence, rights and entitlements and improved working conditions.

Similarly, the Government of Jordan has restricted employment of refugees but gradually eased the regulations, including amendments to the work-permit issuing process and de-linking work-permits from employers in some sectors, such as construction and agriculture. Moreover, the Government of Jordan introduced new pathways for refugees to stay legally in the country. Refugees not registered with UNHCR are now entitled to obtain a Ministry of Interior card for them to stay legally in the country, including outside of camps. Currently, employment of Syrian refugees is permitted in five sectors: agriculture, construction, manufacturing, food and beverage services and wholesale & retail trade.

The Government of Lebanon through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan has indicated a strong need for assistance in job creation and infrastructure to enable communities to cope with increased demand. Key mechanisms highlighted at the London and subsequent conferences as a means of creating productive infrastructure and employment, were the Local Host Support Programme and the Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) in Lebanon.

Germany, through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), launched an initiative called “Partnership for Prospects – Cash for Work” focused on Syria and its neighbours, with the purpose of creating jobs for refugees using employment intensive construction methods and skills development. With support from BMZ through the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Development Bank (KfW), the ILO and UNDP have jointly been implementing EIIP Phases I and II in Lebanon, engaging with Ministry of Social Affair and Ministry of Labour. Phase III continues the same partnership with the UNDP with adjustments based on experiences gained and lessons learnt in Phase I & II.

The Government of Jordan and international actors agreed on the implementation of the Jordan Compact to promote sustainable livelihoods for Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians. The Jordan Compact is to respond to concrete vulnerabilities and needs in priority sectors, including Livelihoods. The response plan designed for the Livelihoods sector includes a large number of initiatives to stimulate local economic development and support sustainable employment creation through vocational training, employability skills, job matching and placement services, self-employment and entrepreneurship. In this regard, it is critical to ensure that there is a capacity to respond to the short-term needs of the vulnerable Syrian refugees and Jordanians. This is where the EIIP assumes an unequivocal and enormous strategic importance as an instrument for social cohesion and stability. The ILO has been partnering with BMZ and KfW to assist the government in ensuring that Syrian refugees and Jordanians can access better living conditions through increased employment and improved infrastructure.

2. Project Background

Lebanon EIIP Phase III & IV

Phase III and IV of the EIIP Lebanon build on Phases I & II, using the similar objectives and approaches. The emphasis is on decent employment creation for Lebanese host community members and Syrian refugees through the construction of locally prioritised infrastructure, maintenance, and environmental works. The project will work with local contractors, distributing wages and improving working conditions. The project objectives are,

Phase III

1. Decent employment generated for Lebanese host communities and Syrians refugees through sustainable infrastructure development and environmental works and maintenance of public assets.
2. Enhanced capacity for decent job creation and asset management through institutional development and training.

Phase IV

1. Direct employment creation using EIIP, LRBT and DWP approaches for sustainable infrastructure development, environmental works and maintenance of public assets
2. Enhancing capacity for job creation and asset management with the Ministry of Labour (MoL), the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) and the private sector

EIIP Lebanon Phase III and IV contributed to Decent Work Country Programme 2017-2020 for Lebanon, primarily the second pillar (improving decent working conditions, enhancing productive employment opportunities) but also the first pillar (establishing a sound legislative environment, improving governance and social dialogue). The projects fall under the livelihood sector of the Government-led Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, particularly under Livelihood Outcome 1 (Stimulate local economic development and market systems to create income generating opportunities and employment), Outcome 2 (Improve workforce employability), and Outcome 3 (Strengthen policy development and enabling environment for job creation). The project is aligned with the United Nations Strategic Framework (UNSF) for Lebanon 2017-2020 with a focus on supporting the country to preserve peace and consolidate stability.

3. Evaluation Background

ILO considers evaluation as an integral part of the implementation of development cooperation activities. Provision is made in the projects in accordance with ILO evaluation policy and based on the nature of the projects and the specific requirements agreed upon at the time of the project design and during the projects as per established procedures.

This cluster evaluation serves as the independent final evaluation for EIIP Lebanon Phase III and Jordan Phase V and as the independent mid-term evaluation for EIIP Lebanon Phase IV. EIIP Lebanon and Jordan share similar characteristics, including their focuses and areas of work. Given that they are also funded by the same donor, it is strategic to cluster evaluations and generate lessons learnt and good practices collectively for the on-going and future phases as well as other similar projects.

4. Evaluation Purpose and objectives

This cluster evaluation will examine the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and potential impact of the projects. It will provide recommendations for immediate adjustments of EIIP Lebanon Phase IV, while it also provides recommendations for the future phase of EIIP in Lebanon and Jordan. This evaluation will consider previous evaluations of EIIP projects for Jordan and Lebanon to respond some of the evaluation questions, particularly under sustainability and potential impact as well as to identify persistent challenges in EIIP projects.  

5. Work Assignments

The national enumerator will provide support to the evaluator in data collection: Arabic key information interviews and focus group discussions.

1. Data Collection Preparation

The evaluator will discuss specificities of required support, such as background, timeline, and modality, with the national consultant. The evaluator will provide documents for the national enumerator to review to be familiarized with the subject project and context. The evaluator will explain the level of detail of the report to be submitted by the national enumerator. The national consultant will schedule key informant interviews and focus group discussions in coordination with ILO project officers.

2. Key Informant Interviews

The national consultant will interpret dialogue during key information interviews with stakeholders where interpretation is required.

3. Focus Group Discussions

The national consultant will conduct on-site focus group discussions, using pre-agreed focus group discussion guide with a set of questions.

4. Report on Focus Group Discussions

The national consultant will develop a report which describes the detail of focus group discussions, particularly detailed opinions expressed by the discussion participants, in English. The report will be submitted to the evaluator and the ILO evaluation manager for their approval.

6. Evaluation Timeframe

The evaluation is to commence in April and complete in August 2022. The table in the attached Call describe the tentative timeline.

7. Deliverable

The deliverable for this consultancy is the focus group discussion report.

The deliverables for the national enumerators are,

• Deliverable 1: Transcription of focus group discussions in English for the assigned country, approved by the lead evaluator and evaluation manager

8. Payment Term

100 per cent of the total fee against the deliverable above approved by the evaluation manager. Travel costs will be reimbursed accordingly with the ILO regulation.

9. Responsibilities

The national enumerator will report to the evaluator and the ILO’s evaluation manager. The ILO project office in Lebanon will provide administrative and logistical support during the data collection.

National enumerators are responsible for,

• Provide interpretation support for key informant interviews in the assigned country when necessary
• Conduct focus group discussions as per inception report
• Transcribe the focus group discussions and submit the transcriptions to the evaluator and evaluation manager

10. Legal and Ethical Matters

• UNEG ethical guidelines will be followed throughout the evaluation.
• The consultants will not have any links to project management or any other conflict of interest that would interfere with the independence of the evaluation.

11. Qualification

The national enumerators are expected to have following qualifications,

• At least three years of professional experience in qualitative data collection and reporting
• Relevant translation experience between Arabic and English
• Excellent command of English and Arabic.
• Demonstrated experience in qualitative research is an advantage
• Previous experience with the UN agencies is an advantage
• Extensive knowledge of Lebanon context
• Excellent drafting skills
• Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and ability
• Professional facilitation skills preferred
• Understanding of project evaluation is an advantage