Call for Consultancy - Environmental Expert - Lebanon

CESVI, international, secular, independent organisation based in Italy, is working for global solidarity in 23 different countries overseas. CESVI is a member of “Alliance 2015” and is recognised as recommended NGO for consultative status to ECOSOC. Further information is available from the following sources:

http://www.cesvi.org (introduction to CESVI),

https://www.cesvi.eu/who-we-are/transparency/mission-and-financial-acco…;(CESVI Annual Reports, English version)

http://www.alliance2015.org/ (Alliance 2015 web-site)

General Background

CESVI has started its operation in Lebanon in 2001 with emergency assistance, food security and livelihoods actions. From 2013 onward, it has developed programs primarily focusing on vulnerabilities generated by the Syrian crisis, and from 2019 has reshaped its intervention to be able to tackle most impelling needs caused by the country meltdown.

The Consultancy

CESVI is seeking to procure the services of a university or a private consultant to support in the selection, evaluation and capacity building of 20 MSMEs with the aim of reducing their environmental impact. The selection and evaluation of the MSMEs is meant to grant them access to the business development programme provided by the project, including financial support and capacity building over a period of 1 year and a half.

The consultancy aims at providing the technical expertise on environmental impact reduction of MSMEs and guidance to the overall project architecture, taking into consideration international best practices and the specific context of Lebanon. The consultancy will provide concrete tools, inputs and support in the selection phase of the MSMEs participating in the process and tailored training sessions aimed at developing resource-efficient processes to reduce their environmental impact.

In particular, the consultant will provide:

i. Support in the definition of the environmental impact component and of the selection tools (market assessment questionnaire, due diligence, in-depth assessment)

ii. Support in the selection phase by participating in the evaluation committee

iii. Analysis of MSMEs needs and design of the capacity building methodology and curricula

iv. Training per business cluster: the MSMEs will be divided in groups based on their business models and the project ideas they presented in the selection phase, in order to receive relevant trainings. Ideally, the trainings will be done partially on-line and partially in presence.

v. Identification of viable technological solutions to improve current MSMEs practices, in order to promote economic development, safeguard employment and safety and reduce environmental and impact, also through the support in conducting a co-design workshop;

vi. Support in increasing MSMEs understanding of the market through specific capacity building, in particular about appropriate solutions, and methodologies to evaluate and monitor impacts, critical international standards and certifications related to waste management;

vii. Guidance to project staff with ideas to better involve and engage local stakeholders and support the introduction of innovative and sustainable solutions in the sector;

viii. Produce technical project documents – including reports and tools with a focus on the selection/development of appropriate methodologies to apply, identification of useful reference documents and revision of draft versions;

ix. Promote and facilitate networking (e.g. technical networks and community of practice, academic networks, institutional networks) for both the stakeholders involved – including private companies and authorities – and the project, with the aim of information sharing (e.g. market opportunities, financial and technical support, technologies available and their cost, identification of potential partners) and establishment of collaborations/synergies with other actors/initiatives;

Duration of the service contract

The consultancy shall be conducted over a time period of 11 months from February/March 2023 to of February 2024. The consultancy shall include up to 8 days of field mission in Lebanon – ideally in the second quarter of 2023.