Economic Context and Project Design Consultant – The International Rescue Committee عودة إلى الفرص

Background:

The mission of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. IRC works with government partners and communities to deliver programs that support safety, health, economic wellbeing, education and governance outcomes and achieve meaningful change in people’s lives. IRC implements high-impact, cost-effective programs, and shapes global policy and practice by sharing our learning and experience with others. IRC is operational in over 40 countries.

IRC began operating in Libya from 2011 to 2012, assisting people fleeing violence and supporting the growing recognition of women’s rights through a women-operated Libyan organization, Phoenix. IRC re-entered Libya in 2016, providing targeted support to the failing health system in Misrata. Through a multi-donor portfolio supported by the UN, US, UK and European institutional donors, IRC’s work in Libya has expanded to Tripoli, Bani Walid, Khoms, and other sites in Western Libya with health, protection, governance and civic engagement programs supporting vulnerable host communities, internally displaced persons (IDP), refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants. In partnership with local and international organizations, IRC additionally manages programs in Eastern and Southern Libya.

USAID recently announced an upcoming opportunity for a $15 million, 3-year project focused on economic stabilization in Libya. The Libyan Economic Acceleration Project, or LEAP, will aim to support vulnerable Libyans in efforts to secure meaningful and stable financial security for themselves, their families and their communities. Project activities are intended to cover all of Libya, including the West, East and South, and to benefit vulnerable groups, including youth, women and people with disabilities. The project will promote private sector development by supporting Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in order to increase employment opportunities and to diversify Libya’s economy to promote resiliency in general. The activity will strengthen entrepreneurship skills and opportunities for business growth for the target population and provide entrepreneurship and MSME business development services through local organizations, such as incubators and accelerator programs.

IRC is a well-established actor in Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) programming at the global level and within the Middle East and North Africa region specifically, employing proven approaches to enterprise development and employment, financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment activities, among others. The LEAP project provides a timely opportunity for the IRC in Libya to develop an ERD program to complement its work in other sectors. IRC has recently commissioned two separate ERD-focused pieces of work, including a desk review and a stakeholder assessment, that have helped to provide some valuable foundational information on the economic context in country. However, some information gaps remain on specific aspects of the Libyan context that need to be filled in order to ensure the strongest, most appropriate project design.

Scope of Work:

The “Economic Context and Project Design Consultant” will build on the recently completed desk review and stakeholder assessment by gathering and interpreting key information to help the IRC develop a context-appropriate, feasible and detailed project design for the LEAP opportunity. Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Developing a rapid understanding of the IRC’s typical approaches to enterprise development and employment programming as well as reviewing the contextual information the IRC has gathered to date
• Gathering primary information on the specific employment-related needs, challenges, preferences and assets of Libyan youth, women and people with disabilities in the West, East and South
• Conducting key informant interviews with Libyan livelihoods stakeholders to better understand the specific business services available to Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in different parts of the country and significant gaps, along with challenges that limit the feasibility of specific livelihoods activities or support services
• Supporting IRC Libya staff to identify and evaluate potential implementing partners in Libya
• Working with selected partners, IRC Libya staff and ERD Technical Advisors to co-design project activities

Where feasible and practical, the consultant will be asked to gather primary information in person. However, in some cases, remote information gathering will likely be required.

Several IRC resources will be available to guide and support these activities, including an internal Labor Market Assessment Toolkit from which tools can be adapted, several members of the IRC Libya team who can support with some data collection activities, and ERD Technical Advisors who can provide ongoing technical guidance and contribute to project design.

Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to begin work immediately and to continue through the first week of January 2021. USAID is expected to release the formal opportunity solicitation on December 22^nd, 2020, with an expected proposal submission deadline in late January, 2021. The precise dates of the consultancy may shift depending on the exact dates announced in the solicitation.

The Economic Context and Project Design Consultant will provide the IRC with inputs and formal deliverables at various stages of the proposal development process, as shown in the table below.

• Presentation to IRC of analysis of potential partners (in PPT form, with complete, typed notes from interviews submitted separately)
• Presentation to IRC on the findings from the research on the employment-related needs, challenges, preferences and assets of Libyan youth, women and people with disabilities, noting any differences in the West, East and South regions (with complete, typed notes from interviews/FGDs submitted separately)
• Input into logical framework
• Presentation to IRC on the research on specific business services available in different parts of the country, gaps and challenges that limit the feasibility of specific livelihoods activities or support services, plus recommendations for specific activities that IRC should pursue for the LEAP project with complete, typed notes from interviews submitted separately)
• Inputs into 1^st draft of technical narrative
• Additional inputs into 2^nd draft of technical narrative based on IRC feedback
• Input into final draft of technical narrative based on IRC feedback