National Consultant SOLIFEM

BACKGROUND:

The ILO is implementing the SOLIFEM project which will support the transition from the informal to the formal economy through tripartite social dialogue in Lebanon and other countries in the region, including Algeria, Egypt, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). It will pursue this objective through strengthening the capacity of the ILO tripartite constituents to act through social dialogue on two fronts –first, the development of integrated strategies on formalization and second, the development of skills training and recognition systems, with a particular focus on women and youth in the informal economy. Following the bilateral consultation that ILO CTA conducted with each of the constituents, five sectors in the informal economy were proposed to ILO as follow: Agriculture, agrifood, fisheries, construction, and Daily workers in the private and public sector (Mouyawimin). The consultancy aim is to conduct a study to be able to identify 3 out of the 5 listed sectors in which there is i. a high number of youth men and women working ii. Have prominent economic growth in the future. The consultant will be working in close collaboration with trade unions (CGTL and FENASOL) and the Association of Lebanese industrialists.

The SOLIFEM project intends to identify 3 main sectors of focus out of the 5 sectors identified during the consultations, with particular attention to those encompassing youth men and women – where the employment of those is high or there is potential to increase it in the coming future. The main objective of this consultation is to feed in tailoring interventions, programs and activities planned under SOLIFEM Project in Lebanon in terms of; Enabling national policy frameworks to facilitate the transition of informal economy workers and economic units to the formal economy in place, developed through dialogue between the tripartite constituents; And identify Skills development systems that enable young people and women in the informal economy to access formal employment

OBJECTIVE

A diagnostic analysis of factors, characteristics, causes and circumstances of informality in selected economic activities to inform the design and implementation of a national strategy on formalization and validate it by tripartite constituents.

SCOPE OF CONSULTANCY

The Work will be performed under the guidance and supervision of the National Project Officer in Beirut and the CTA for SOLIFEM in the region.

DELIVERABLES

1. Deliverable 1: A Methodological note including the work plan describing the methods and actions that will be used to complete the study for each of the deliverables.

No longer than 10 pages.

2. Deliverable 2: First Part of the comprehensive report on the informal economy in Lebanon covering:  an overview of the informal economy in Lebanon,  a situational analysis for each of the 5 economic activities and the selection of three of them
3. Deliverable 3: Second Part (additional sections) of the comprehensive report providing an in-depth analysis of the informal economy for each of the 3 selected economic activities.
4. Three lobbying papers
5. Presentation of findings

Phases and detailed Description of deliverables

Deliverables will be considered final once approved by the National Project coordinator and the CTA

Phase 1:

Deliverable 1:

• Will be submitted within 7 days of the start of the contract after concluding internal discussions with the National Project Coordinator, the CTA, the labour market specialist at HQ.
• This note should include the work plan, a description of the different phases of the study and information collected to cover the various sections of the report; and for each section and issue, the main method used, a preliminary list of contacts for KPIs and the modalities for Focus group discussions, and draft of interview guides for primary data collection tools, etc.
• This note should be concise and practical and should not exceed 10 pages (excluding interview guides or issues covered by focus group discussions).

Deliverable 2: Part 1. of the comprehensive report: Analytical overview of informality in Lebanon and the 5 pre-selected economic activities and recommendation for 3 economic activities to focus on in phase 2.

For this deliverable, the consultant will use existing baseline:

1) Existing internal report: inputs to be used and complemented for further analysis

2) Outlines developed by ILO

3) Selection criteria of the 3 sectors developed by ILO

Building on the existing internal report, the consultant will need to complement and adjust the report and where needed conduct further research and analysis on the informal economy in Lebanon, including in the five economic activities. That would include for example but not limited to: a desk review, analysis of existing surveys and studies, KPIs with specialists at ILO, with constituents, with any other relevant stakeholder to the study in addition to FGDs with workers and employers, FGDs with reference group or any other party that ILO deem important during the course of this phase.

This will result with the submission of the First Part of the comprehensive report covering three sections i) section 1 — an analytical overview of the informal economy in Lebanon and ii) section 2 — specific situational analysis of the 5 economic activities; and section 3 — Recommended focus on 3 out of the 5 economic activities. The first section should not exceed 25 to 30 pages excluding annexes, the second section of this report will provide specific notes on each of the 5 economic activities with no more than 5 pages per economic activity. Finally, the last section will recommend three economic activities identified based on the list of criteria which will be provided by the ILO. The report is in English, but a summary of the report needs to be submitted in Arabic this summary needs to provide key points covering each section of the report, in addition to a power point in Arabic.

Upon submission of this deliverable, ILO will take 7 working days to examine the report and revert back to the consultant who will need to adjust the report based on ILO comments and submit a clean version.

Upon review of the clean version within 5 working days and clearing the report, the ILO will organize a meeting with the reference group to validate the selection of the three economic activities before moving to Phase 2.

Phase 1 of this consultancy cannot be considered completed before validation of the findings by the government, and ILO constituents.

Phase 2:

Deliverable 3: Part 2 of the comprehensive report: in-depth diagnostic on the 3 economic activities

For this deliverable the consultant will need to complement the outline under phase 1 deliverable 2 to include a more detailed analysis of each of the  3 selected economic activities. The consultant will need to submit the outline of Part 2. prior to beginning the drafting of this second part of the report.

Upon clearance of the outline by ILO the consultant will proceed with the following:

• Conduct an in depth, research and analysis in addition to developing interview guides, guides for focus group discussion, and suggest of primary list of contacts and target groups to conduct interviews and focus group discussions in order to gather more detailed field data on the situation and complement as relevant the information gathered in phase 1 for each of the 3 economic activities. The diagnostic of the informal economy in the selected 3 economic activities will notably include:
• The profile of informal economy workers and enterprises, which includes:
  1. The main characteristics of workers and enterprises units in the informal economy and prevalent forms of informality;
  2. Livelihood trends and working conditions (labour income, working time, working agreements and employment security, place of work, representation, etc.) in the informal economy compared to the situation of workers in formal employment; and broader assessment of vulnerabilities or levels of protection (poverty/ income insecurity);
  3. The drivers of informality associated to socio-demographic characteristics of workers' and their employment related features (e.g. low level of education/ inadequate or low skills, poverty, type and duration of contract, working time patterns, etc.)
  4. The main factors that contribute to or constraint the survival and development of informal enterprises (e.g. low productivity, size, etc)
• The identification of drivers of informality associated to the overall economic context  and the capacity of the economy to create formal decent jobs (growth and composition of growth, structure of labour market)
• The review of the legal and regulatory frameworks and their application: how the existing framework limits or enhances the transition to formality;  
• A mapping of actors and interventions (including incentives for formalization); identify existing coordination mechanisms if any and the main obstacles or opportunities for an effective coordination of interventions
• A special focus will be given to on the organizational forms and level within each sector:
  1. The level and types of organizations formed by informal workers (including business owners); their knowledge and perception of existing workers’ and employers’ organizations and interactions they have developed with these organizations.
  2. The involvement of social partners as well as the organizations in the informal economy; assessment of their scope of action, strengths and weaknesses and capacity needs.
• Skills and apprenticeship needs and gaps;
• The perceived obstacles to and advantages of formalization (for enterprises and workers), the awareness trust and perceptions regarding institutions and formalization (of workers and enterprises).
• The report will also include a section on recommendations on how to facilitate the transition to formality of both workers and enterprises as a basis for the development of an action plan. These recommendations should take into account both jobs and enterprise formalization, interventions on the side of institutions and the economy (to enhance the capacity of the economy to absorb informal economy workers and enterprises) as well as on the side of workers and enterprises (to increase their capacity to enter the formal economy); legal as well as implementation issues; respective responsibilities of the different actors including public bodies and social partners; the need for and possible modalities to enhance the coordination of interventions, integrated approaches and effective social dialogue.

This section of the report should be formed of 15 pages per economic activity, for a total of 45 pages. The report is in English, but a brief of the report needs to be presented in Arabic covering key points of all sections. In addition to a power point in Arabic.

Upon submission of this deliverable, ILO will take 7 working days to examine the report and revert back to the consultant who will need to adjust the report based on ILO comments and submit a clean version. After the second review is completed and the report is cleared the consultant can start working on the next deliverable.

Phase 3

Deliverable 4: Lobbying papers

Develop three lobbying papers for each of trade unions, employers and the MoL for them to use with different counterparts (the government, unions, employers) in tackling the transition from informality to formality in the three selected economic activities. This information will be used to design programmes for workers and employers, with a focus on raising awareness on the importance of formalization.  One lobbying paper per constituent amounting to 3 lobbying papers. The paper should not exceed 3 pages and should be submitted in moth AR and EN.

Deliverable 5:  Presentation of findings

Present the outcomes and findings of all 3 phases during a round table discussion including Q/A session with government, trade unions and employers in Arabic and English expected by the end of February.

Responsibilities:

Responsibilities of the consultant:

1. Meet the deadlines per phase as agreed with ILO
2. Work Independently and take all necessary actions to deliver a report of quality and overcome obstacles along the way;
3. Interact with the ILO on a regular basis (e.g. share intermediate results and concerns if any);
4. Incorporate and make necessary amendments to reports based on the comments of ILO after each review.
5. Responsible for organizing all KPIs and FGDs including logistics, contacting, and forming groups
6. Based in Lebanon for the entire period of the consultancy
7. Shall not start working on next phase before the previous phase is cleared by ILO
8. Share the invoice pertaining to each phase upon clearance by ILO on time as per the payment schedule agreed upon
9. Understand that a report needs to be reviewed

Responsibilities of ILO:

1. Feedback on submissions within maximum 7 working days.
2. Schedule meeting for parties inside ILO
3. Schedule one meeting with the reference group to introduce the consultant
4. Responsible for logistics pertaining to deliverable 5.

PAYMENT

Three instalments based on the deliverables subject to the clearance and satisfaction of the ILO:

• 30 % will be paid upon completion of phase 1: Deliverable 1 and 2, as described in the Deliverables section.
• 30% will paid upon completion of Phase 2, deliverable 3 described in the Deliverables section.
• 40% will be paid upon completion of Phase 3: deliverable 4 and 5, described in the deliverables section.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Education: Advanced University degree in economics, law with focus on labor law, public policy, development Studies, social Sciences or a related discipline.
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience in conducting employment-related research.
• Knowledge and previous working experience within the field of labour, employment and development.
• Experience working with Governments and social partners in Lebanon.
• Proven ability to take ownership of all responsibilities, to act with integrity and transparency by maintaining social, ethical and organisational norms, and to meet all commitments within the prescribed time, and quality standards;
• Ability to conduct quality research and craft strategic analysis and recommendations;
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write accurate reports and to build networks to obtain cooperation with partners;
• Ability to maintain effectiveness when balancing multiple tasks
• Ability to understand and work with different cultures, particularly in the context of the Arab States.

Languages

Excellent command of English and Arabic

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity.
• Integrity.
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues.
• Accountability.
• Creative Problem Solving.
• Effective Communication.
• Inclusive Collaboration.
• Stakeholder Engagement.
• Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies

• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Good knowledge of ILO and the UN system.
• Demonstrated analytical and technical skills in managing development projects/Programmes.
• Ability to introduce new approaches and strategic innovations.