Solar Energy Labor Market Assessment Consultant

About Chemonics

Chemonics International is an international development company based in Washington, D.C. Our mission is to promote meaningful change around the world to help people live healthier, more productive, and more independent lives. Since 1975, we have worked in 150 countries around the world, and we are currently implementing 118 projects in 84 countries. Our main partner is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and we also work with foreign donors such as the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Global Fund. We have more than 4,000 staff in our project offices around the world, and more than 500 staff based in our headquarters in Washington, D.C.

1.  Project Background

The Lebanon Community Support Program (CSP) is a multi-year project funded by USAID to support municipalities and underserved and vulnerable communities in providing better services and enhanced economic opportunities to improve lives and reduce tensions that contribute to conflict and violence, primarily in Lebanon’s North, South, and Beqaa regions.

Under Task Order No. 4 (TO 4), the Workforce Development (WFD) project will provide technical assistance and other support to improve labor skills and job placement opportunities through partnerships with companies, private sector associations, private technical and vocational education, and training (TVET) providers, municipalities, and other public sector entities.  The main objective of this 3-year task order is to improve skills and job placement opportunities for at least 1,000 beneficiaries from vulnerable communities.

CSP WFD (TO4) is designed with a confirmed commitment to promote a “demand-driven TVET system” that provides competencies and skills relevant to the labor market needs/gaps to enhance access to dignified work and meet the skills demand for economic growth.

2. Rationale

Since 2019 – coinciding the launch of the CSP WFD/TO4 project – Lebanon has been struggling to cope with prolonged economic and financial crisis, an outbreak of COVID-19, and continuing implications of the Beirut blast. This triple-crisis is causing multi-faceted challenges and disruptions, leading to rising unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, and overall poverty.

This context is associated with growing skills shortages and youth seeking employment opportunities, putting high pressure on the Lebanese vocational and technical education (VTE) system not only to deliver more skills, but also different skills sets tied to the changing needs in the economy. Furthermore, the anticipation of the labor market’s needs through the Lebanese VTE system is rather mismatched. There is a consensus that training providers are predominantly supply-led and that vocational streams do not provide adequate relevant practical skills for employability. The profound skills mismatch in Lebanon leaves many firms struggling to attain and retain a high-quality workforce. As a result, the private sector finds it difficult to recruit skilled young professionals, but at the same time is only prepared to play a minor role in their training.

CSP WFD/TO4 has been designed as a “pilot” initiative with a robust learning and evaluation component to adapt and identify existing and/or emerging windows of opportunity and interventions worth scaling for programming interventions. Despite the ongoing crisis and collapsing economy, Lebanon is witnessing an emerging need for new skills in promising employment sectors such as the renewable energy field. Indeed, observation suggests that renewable/solar energy offers promising potential for job growth in Lebanon considering the on-grid energy crisis there is potential for vocational and technical education (VTE) interventions related to the renewable/solar energy sector needs.

According to Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon (EUD) research in 2018, there is a striking need for the booming renewable energy sector to set and enforce policies, regulation, and standards, introduce curricula in technical education and training institutions, on the job training, set up education/training programs, provide supplementary education and training, build on existing skills, and setup a platform for coordination between renewable energy firms, contractors, suppliers, and operators. All these needs are coupled with a general lack of public awareness about the importance of social and ecological issues, as people seem to be insufficiently aware of the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

According to UNDP-CEDRO (Country Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Demonstration Project for the Recovery of Lebanon) in 2015, the amount of university graduates with renewable energy technology qualifications theoretically covers the local requirements. Yet, manufacturers and importers are having greater difficulty finding workers with requisite expertise, namely skilled workers, and technicians, which constitute the bulk of their respective workforces. Renewable energy technologies are relatively new in the local market so there is a general lack of experience and knowledge, which forces the companies to invest significant time and money in employee training where skilled employees and technicians tend to gain their experience through on-the-job training. However, emigration of professional staff and skilled workers to better paying countries remains a major obstacle for renewable energy industry owners. Unfortunately, both importers and manufacturers suffer from the brain drain Lebanon is experiencing and from a lack of sufficiently qualified staff.

Parallel to that, up to now there are no training institutes focusing on environmental protection, with only a few VTE institutes and schools that offer courses related to renewable energy. Meanwhile, in the context of the many skills development initiatives related to the Syrian refugee crisis, several donors offer short-term courses related to renewable energy. Whereas in terms of vocational training, the assessments have identified a need to embed skills to sustain the industry in vocational education and training programs, including development of new curricula, upskilling VTE trainers to be able to deliver training on renewable energy skills. The largest need is for technicians, with the most direct impact on VTE interventions, may well be in the construction, installation, operations, and maintenance of solar energy systems. Yet, one of the main constraints facing employers and providers of VTE education and training from responding quickly to emerging skills requirements is the shortage of suitable trainers and educators.

3. Summary of Activity

Chemonics, USAID’s implementer of CSP, is seeking a firm, consultant, or a consortium of consultants to undertake a comprehensive detailed assessment and validation study of required labor skills in renewable and solar energy construction, installation, operations, and maintenance. The target areas for this study are the Beirut, Mount Lebanon, North, Bekaa, and South regions of Lebanon.

The ultimate goal of the study will be to identify skills needs/gaps, required training courses and curricula, subsequent upgrades to existing curricula, technical and non-technical skills and occupations, relevant soft skills, trainer/instructors’ qualifications and skills, VTE programs infrastructure and equipment, demands by the job market, and employer perceptions of skills.

The study will consolidate quantitative and qualitative data (rapid desk review) on current and available research on Lebanon’s labor needs and gaps, labor market dynamics and specific private sector employment opportunities in the field of renewable solar energy. Once needs and gaps are identified, the study will then undertake focused labor market analysis to fill in missing information specific to those gaps.

The study will map and assess the range, quality, infrastructure, and asset availability of current training programs offered by VTE schools, INGOs and relevant programs, to identify the best positioned TVETs and VTE programs to meet private sector needs in the renewable energy sector. The study will use key informant interviews and focus group discussions to investigate and identify the needs of lead private sector firms.

The offeror will work closely with the CSP WFD/TO4 team through regular check-ins on the progress of the assessment. The assessment shall include the below tasks:

• Map the landscape of TVETs, vocational programs, and NGOs that offer renewable energy/solar courses to assess the range and quality of training programs currently offered, including infrastructure/asset availability
• Map the landscape of private companies, distributors, construction firms, and government entities working in the renewable energy/solar sector, and identify what skills they need and what challenges they face
• Identify skills gaps/needs of required technical and non-technical occupations (construction, installation, operations, and maintenance).
• Identify relevant soft skills essential in the renewable energy/solar context.
• Identify needed vocational curricula, courses, as well as required updates to available vocational curricula and courses in renewable energy/solar, along with required equipment if needed, and related qualification requirements and standards.
• Identify gaps in ensuring qualified training personnel in terms of upskilling and/or development of trainer / instructor skills).
• Identify supplementary education and training that might target:

• New graduates of less specialized courses designed to prepare them to work in renewable/solar energy.
• People with relevant skills from other sectors, to provide them with the specialist skills and knowledge that they require to work in renewable/solar energy; or
• People already working in renewable/solar energy, to fill gaps in their skills or to upskill them.
• Recommend continuing education and training initiatives to keep skills and knowledge up to date as technologies change, to prepare people with relevant skills from other sectors to work in renewable/solar energy, and to develop cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge (cross-cutting skills) among across relevant sectors.

The consultancy will be divided into three phases.

Phase 1 - Consolidate and review all labor market assessment/workforce related to solar/renewable energy research to identify promising areas of intervention and gaps for further field research.

In this phase the offeror is expected to review and analyze the available research on renewable energy related workforce development in Lebanon (compile a comprehensive database of reports, data, interviews, and analysis of existing activities in the sector).

In this phase, the offeror will develop the research tools and questionnaires and adapt and finalize the research methodology based on the Chemonics approval of the inception report. The Consultant shall deliver an inception report within 2 weeks of starting the consultancy.

Phase 2 – Targeted labor market field research

In this phase, the offeror will validate the findings of the desk review with in-depth key informant interviews (KII), focus group discussions (FGD), and/or surveys with renewable energy actors. This phase shall include the profiling of the solar energy sector with a focus on labor market demand and supply, specific occupation vacancies, soft skills, and technical/vocational training gaps. Finally, the offeror will map and profile the existing solar/renewable energy programming landscape to identify potential synergies with CSP WFD/TO4 programming. The offeror is encouraged to explore wide range of survey and assessment tools including digital and mobile platforms to provide statistically significant and accurate findings. The mid-term report will be due 3 weeks after the inception report is approved. The report should be given as a narrative and presented to the CSP team for approval.

Phase 3 – Recommendations regarding development of curricula including required equipment upgrades at VTE schools and vocational programs (i.e., content, duration, trainer’s experience, list of experts who might be contracted to develop the curricula, etc.)

4.  Specific deliverables: The Offeror will be responsible for providing:

Phase 1 – Consolidate and review all labor market assessment/workforce research, and conduct an assessment study to fill gaps and validate findings.

• Brief summary of labor market supply and demand trends for renewable/solar energy
• Initial training and curricula identification for field research
• Development of tools and questionnaires for field research
• Final field research methodology
• List of stakeholders

Deliverable – Inception Report within 2 weeks of awarding the consultancy

Phase 2 – Targeted Labor Market Field Research

• Labor supply validation– FGDs and/or surveys
• Labor demand validation – KIIs, FGDs and/or surveys
• Solar/renewable occupation and skills gap profiles
• Soft skills gaps, needs, and training options
• Proposed private sector firms/SME partners
• Mapping and profiling of complementary WFD programming in Lebanon

Deliverable – Mid-term Report including presentation within 3 weeks after approval of inception Report (in MS Word)

Phase 3 –Curricula and TVET Upgrades Equipment

• Current training curricula, if any
• Recommendation on upgrading training curricula in-line with labor market/sector needs including soft skills
• Recommendation on upgrading TVET training infrastructure and equipment
• Recommendation on upgrading human resources of SMEs
• Recommendations on soft skills curricula

Deliverable – Final Report within 3 weeks of the approval of the Mid-Term Report (in MS Word with PowerPoint summary)

1. A comprehensive final report to be submitted for revision and approval following the below structure:                                             

• Scope and objectives of the study
• Approach adopted for conducting the study
• List of outputs produced during the study (including meetings, KIIs, FGDs, etc.)
• Description of the outputs produced during the study
• Problems and challenges encountered during the study
• Recommendations for the follow-up of the assessment study results

2. Executive summary report reflecting all the above in the form of PowerPoint presentation as well as in word document version.

5.  Submission Guidelines

• Proposed methodology for completing the assignment
• Proposed tools for completing the assignment. Draft examples are not required but are advantageous.
• Past performance of activities undertakes with similar budget and timeframe
• Links to or excerpts of completed similar studies
• CVs of proposed key staff
• Initial workplan with timeline of total Level of Effort required
• Budget

6. Minimum Qualifications

• At least ten years undertaking economic development research and analysis activities with some demonstrated experience in jobs, employment, workforce development in Lebanon.
• Demonstrated experience completing at least one labor market assessment in Lebanon and one program evaluation in Lebanon in the past five years.
• Previous experience working in the renewable/solar energy sector preferred.
• Previous experience working on USAID-funded assessments or programs preferred.
• Copy of legal and financial registrations/certificates (for firms).
• DUNS number (for firms).

7. Level of Effort and Period of Performance

Activity shall be completed within 9 weeks starting awarding date. Offeror shall determine the total LOE needed to complete assignment

8. Place of Assignment

Lebanon (Beirut, Bekaa, North, South, and Mount Lebanon)

9. Reporting

The Offeror will report to the TO4 Director

 Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants that can legally work in Lebanon will be considered for employment based on their qualifications without discrimination.