NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND MAPPING CONSULT - ACTSmart Innovation Hub

Since 2019, Lebanon has been assailed by compounded crises; specifically, an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, COVID-19, and the explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

Of the three, the economic crisis has had by far the largest and most persistent negative impact. The Spring 2021 Lebanon Economic Monitor finds that Lebanon's economic and financial crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century. Since 2019, Lebanon's currency has lost more than 90% of its value. The country's economic meltdown – one of the world's worst since the 1850s – has pushed an estimated four million families into poverty in the last two years. In fact, Lebanon’s GDP plummeted from about US$55 billion in 2018 to an estimated US$20.5 billion in 2021, while the real GDP per capita fell by 37.1%. Such a brutal contraction is usually associated with conflicts or wars.

The banking sector, which informally adopted strict capital controls, has ceased lending, and does not attract deposits. Additionally, inflationary effects are highly regressive factors, disproportionately affecting the poor and middle class. The social impact, already dire, is becoming catastrophic; more than half the country’s population is likely below the poverty line. Like poverty, unemployment is on the rise. Lebanon has witnessed a dramatic collapse in basic services, driven by depleting foreign exchange (FX) reserves and the high cost of the FX import subsidies on food, fuel and medication. Acute shortages of fuel have led to severe electricity blackouts across the country.

In the fall of 2021 — before the Ukraine crisis exacerbated problems with global food supply chains — the United Nations estimated that a quarter of Lebanon’s population struggled with food insecurity. Estimates now suggest that 75% of the population is struggling to put food on the table.

Beyond the human tragedy, the impact of the Port of Beirut explosion has had implications at the national level, despite its geographical concentration. These add to Lebanon’s long-term structural vulnerabilities, which include low-grade infrastructure—a dysfunctional electricity sector, water supply shortages, and inadequate solid waste and wastewater management—as well as weak public financial management, large macroeconomic imbalances, and deteriorating social indicators.

With the severe currency deterioration and the lack of basic infrastructure, many Lebanese have emigrated further exacerbating Lebanon's brain drain. This drain slows down the revival of the economy and reduces the prospect of the creation of jobs.

Additionally, the deficiencies in major facets, including food security, energy generation, waste and water management and valorization, and water, land, and air pollution are severely increasing.

The need to tackle the impending energy, waste, water, and wastewater as well as transportation crises has never been more urgent as they are affecting livelihoods. Effective response pathways are needed to shift to sustainable, circular, innovative, and technological systems and unlock opportunities for socio-economic growth.

In 2016 and then in 2019, Berytech received funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to design and implement the Agrytech Program and consequently the Agri-food & Clean Technology Innovation Hub Program – entitled ACT Smart. The objective of the ACT Smart program was to strengthen business advancement and job creation in the agri-food and cleantech sectors in Lebanon through a sector-wide approach to economic growth, by stimulating innovators and entrepreneurs to put their creativity and energy at the service of the two sectors and encouraging them to develop local solutions to the environmental and food security challenges faced by the Lebanese economy at large.

Similarly, all previous models and assumptions that kept the cleantech system operating up until mid-2019 and especially following the drastic increase in fuel prices are being challenged and in dire need of sector-wide approaches from public transport alternatives and carpooling to waste treatment and optimization and from (affordable) green energy to upcycling, and beyond.

ACTSmart program represents an opportunity for Lebanon to showcase how innovation and technology can transform socio-economic and livelihood problems in the agri-foodtech and cleantech sectors into opportunities to boost and create a promising sustainable economy through job creation and entrepreneurs’ empowerment.

Berytech seeks an external consultant to carry out mapping, identifying the different organizations and stakeholders working on innovation in the agri-foodtech and cleantech sectors. The main purpose is to map the different players on the innovation scene and brainstorm on the current challenges to set priorities for the accelerator programs. The stakeholders may involve, but not exclusive to:

• Three food system pillars (food production; food transformation; and food consumption): input providers, farmers, labor, service providers, post-harvest facility owners, retailers, wholesalers, exporters, consumers etc.
• Cleantech pillars: (Renewable Energy: Solar, Wind, geothermal, Hydro, Biomass - Water and Waste Management, Green Transportation, Smart Grid, Clean Energy Storage)
• Donors and actors working within the Lebanon food security sector and cleantech sectors
• National and international stakeholders’ agendas and strategies: WFP; Ministry of Agriculture, FAO, United Nations (UN). International Energy Agency (IEA), Water Innovation Lab (WIL), International Water Management Institution (IWMI) and others.

The consultant will work under the overall direct guidance of Program Manager, in close coordination with Agri-Food Officer and the CleanTech specialist. The key activities should include:  

• Conduct desk review of major studies, reports, assessments produced by international organizations and donors such as FAO, USAID, AFD, ILO, EU commission, IFI-AUB, World Bank among others. Main purpose is to obtain more up-to-date information on general country situation and identify the main challenges, needs and gaps in the agri-food and Cleantech sectors.
• Undertake research to identify the different players and innovation support organizations and map them.
• Conduct Key Informant Interviews with different stakeholders for the challenges to be tackled through innovation in both sectors
• Identify areas of complementarity with organizations as well as areas overlap to gear the project into a more beneficial direction.
• Provide Detailed Reports on the findings including but not restricted to, the challenges in the agri-foodtech sector, the challenges in the cleantech sector, the map of innovation support organizations with and without experience in the 2 sectors and a summary of relevant stakeholders working in both sectors. 

The consultant should provide the following key deliverables:

• List of Stakeholders Identified and interviewed for the mapping along with recommended stakeholders further interested in collaboration.
• List of documents, reports reviewed and considered for more updated referencing on the needs and gaps of the agri-food and cleantech sectors
• Final Report with the Main Findings (in terms of challenges in different areas, gaps and needs for innovation), Priorities, and Key outcomes for moving project forward.
• Presentation of the main findings that summarize the outcome

The consultant should have the following qualifications:

• BSc/BA diploma in management or a relevant field; MSc/MA is a plus
• 7 to 10 years’ experience in the economic development sector with focus on agriculture and food sectors and cleantech sector or a related field
• Proven experience in working on projects preferably within the Agri-Food and cleantech sector at policy or ground levels;
• Possession of strong network and links to different organizations working in the field
• Excellent moderation skills and experience in qualitative research

The Consultant will work for 3 weeks, starting 23rd of January 2023 till 13th of February 2023 for a total of 20 days, at a daily rate of $250 and a total budget of $5000.