National consultant – THE DOT عودة إلى الفرص

Recruitment of an expert for the capacity assessment of four startup support organizations located in Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine (One SSO per country) and for the establishment of an effective supporting plan according to country’s specificities.

Position Title: National consultant

Numbers of positions: 1

Project name: Bridge ‘Up – From innovation to creation

Description of the assignment: Evaluate the programs and services of the identified startup support structures. Prepare an intervention roadmap and coaching of the identified partners.  

Duration of assignment: 68 man-days

Duty Station: Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine

Type of assignment: Home based and on site

Start date: June 2023

Background, Objectives and scope of the consultancy, Scope of the work :

Background :

The Dot, first hub for entrepreneurship and digital innovation in Tunisia, is supported by the Ministry of Communication Technologies as part of the Smart Tunisia project, in partnership with the “Innov’i” program led by the European Union through Expertise France, GIZ, and the Tunisia Development Foundation.

It aims to support and strengthen the Tunisian innovation and digital transformation ecosystem through programs and services that promote a high value-added economy, place youth at the center, and develop synergies between national, regional, and international actors.

About SPARK: SPARK is an international non-governmental development organization active in 14 regions throughout the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. For over 25 years, SPARK has been creating pathways for young people to rebuild their futures. SPARK provides opportunities for youth, particularly women and refugees, to study, work and grow their own businesses in fragile communities through the provision of higher (vocational) education scholarships, entrepreneurship development and SME support.

About European Union (EU): The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European countries. It is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. It acts globally to promote sustainable development of societies, environment and economies, so that everyone can benefit.

About the ‘From Innovation to Creation’ Programme: The From Innovation to Creation programme strengthens innovation through supporting cluster cooperation and start-up ecosystems in the South Neighbourhood countries. Through a 4-year programme financed by the European Commission, SPARK is strengthening innovation and startup ecosystems, together with implementing partners in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia.

The Dot has partnered with Spark to implement the activities defined in the “Bridge ‘Up” regional project, answering two outcomes.

The first outcome focuses on the capacity building and support of the identified innovation support organizations in Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.

The second outcome focuses on supporting startups in their scale-up and internationalization phase in those four countries.

Objectives and scope of the consultancy :

As part of the first outcome, the objectives of the consultancy are to:

●       Undertake a capacity gap assessment of the identified Startup Support Organizations (SSOs) and propose strategic capacity development responses in the form of an intervention roadmap.

●       Develop a comprehensive capacity development project document which can enable the partner to advance and accelerate the implementation of programs and services.

●       Establish a coaching program for partners, including best practices for program implementation.

●       Assess the state of SSOs in the ecosystem.

●       Evaluate the implementation of programs and services.

●       Analyze strategy documents in terms of programs.

●       Organize focus group discussions (or other research methods) with key members of the SSOs teams.

●       Based on the established diagnosis, define the framework for strategic orientation, develop a strategic plan, and identify priority actions.

●       Additionally, the adequacy of program design, local context, and implementation duration should be questioned based on the study.

These objectives provide an opportunity to assess the SSOs and determine key activities to improve their impact and capitalize on lessons learned, specifically by:

●       Assessing to what extent programs have achieved their objectives and results.

●       Collecting and presenting evidence to examine the extent to which the programs have achieved their overall goals.

●       Providing key lessons on successful operational approaches and practices, as well as areas where programs have worked less effectively than expected.

●       Documenting progress or achievements, good practices, innovations, and emerging lessons from programs, particularly in terms of coordination.

●       Examining the reorientation of activities according to the country’s environment.

●       Evaluating the relevance and timeliness of programs in terms of objectives to be achieved.

●       Assessing the effectiveness of the project, including its implementation strategy.

●       Examining the extent to which the SSOs have contributed to strengthening support for startups.

●       Examining the extent to which the SSOs has contributed to creating sustainable partnerships and collaborations with local and international partners from the public and private sectors.

●       Examining the extent to which the SSOs have contributed to integrating gender equality.

●       Assessing the likelihood of program results sustainability and the quality of the exit strategy by identifying the next steps planned for startups.

●       Documenting progress or achievements, good practices, innovations, and emerging lessons from programs, particularly in terms of coordination.

●       Providing actionable recommendations and a reflection note for improvements and future programming.

The evaluation process will be participatory and involve all stakeholders and partners involved in the project.

Scope of the work and methodology :

The consultancy service will be based in Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine and aims to conduct capacity gap assessment of the identified SSOs to plan, implement, monitor, and deliver key targeted interventions. In addition, the consultancy work is expected to develop a response strategy for the identified gaps.

The methodology to be applied would involve the three levels of capacity development (Startups, SSOs and Organizational operations) at the various levels that the partner operates at (national and regional) and would be expected to provide capacity development plans that address those three levels. The exercise should go beyond the traditional capacity building approach.

The expert is asked to:

·      * Conduct capacity assessment: During the capacity assessment, data and information are collected on desired and existing capacity. This data and information can be gathered by a variety of means, including interviews and focus group discussions.

·        * Review of best practices from other countries or other organizations in the country will also form an essential part of the assessment.

·           * Identify capacity gaps: During the capacity assessment, the consultant shall gather information from all partners supporting the organization.

·    * Identify development opportunities: The comparison of desired capacities against existing capacities determines the level of effort required to bridge the gap and informs the formulation of a capacity development response.

·      * Formulate project document (reports): Based on the capacity assets and needs identified, develop a project document. This is an integrated set of deliberate and sequenced actions (a combination of quick-impact initiatives (less than one year) and short- to medium-term (one year or longer) initiatives) embedded in a program or project. The project document is expected to include: the expected outcome contribution, outputs, indicators, targets, and cost of the project.

The criteria on which the expert can rely

·       * Relevance: This criterion applies to both the design and execution phases of the programs. It evaluates the degree of conformity of the initiatives and its products or expected effects to the needs of the targeted beneficiaries. This criterion also encompasses the notion of responsiveness, which is the ability to adapt to evolving and emerging priorities, contexts, and needs. Another important aspect is to determine whether the challenges that the project was supposed to address were clearly defined, whether these objectives were achievable, and whether the relationship between the objectives, products, activities, and contributions related to the programs were evident, logical, and proportionate given the context, available resources, and fixed deadlines.

·       * Efficiency: This criterion measures how resources or inputs (such as funds, skills, and allocated time) are optimally converted into results. An initiative is efficient when it uses resources appropriately and economically viable to generate the desired products. Efficiency is important to ensure that available resources have been used wisely and to highlight more effective uses of those same resources.

·       * Effectiveness: This criterion measures the degree of achievement of expected results (products or effects) of the initiative or the importance of the progress made in achieving the desired products and effects. Another aspect to consider under this criterion is the implementation and operational performance of the project, with an attention paid to the contributions of donors in terms of quality, quantity, and compliance with the specified deadlines, as well as the impact of these factors on the SSOs work plan and overall management arrangements.

·       * Sustainability: The evaluation of sustainability requires understanding the presence of favorable social, economic, political, institutional, and other conditions and making projections based on this assessment of the capacities to maintain, manage, and guarantee future development results.

·       * Duration, innovation, and coherence of the project: Was the duration of the planned initiatives appropriate for achieving the expected results? To ensure stakeholder ownership? To ensure sustained engagement of the beneficiaries? To what extent was the program’s approach new or innovative? Can lessons be drawn to inform similar approaches elsewhere? To what extent did the project/programs complement the work between different entities? How were stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the project?

Any other issue raised during the assessment may be addressed with responses and recommendations from the consultant.

Expected Results :

The expected results are as follows:

·        * The components of the SSOs are analyzed and their documentation is consulted.

·        * A complete evaluation of the programs and services of the SSOs is carried out and presented in the form of a final report.

·        * The intervention plan is drafted and validated by the project’s responsible parties.

·        * A SWOT analysis is conducted.

Deliverables :

The following are the key deliverables of the consultancy work for each country:

·      * Initial report (4) containing overall approach and methodology, main lines of inquiry and interview protocols, tools, sources and mechanisms for data collection, proposed list of people to be interviewed, key documents and materials that the consultant will review as part of this process, a work plan and report submission timelines, and expected outcomes. It must be approved by “Bridge ‘Up” stakeholders.

·        * Final evaluation report (4) covering the evaluation output reports, reports per activity, SWOT analysis report.

·        * Coaching program report (4)

·        * Project document (4) including the intervention plan and a roadmap.

Duration of the assignment and timeframe for deliverables

The mission will start as soon as the contract is signed for a duration of 68 working days spread over 4 months. The dates of the missions will be determined by the project team.

Competencies, academic qualification, experience, and language :

This mission will be carried out by a consultant with proven and relevant experience of at least seven (7) years in evaluating programs, particularly programs supporting startup structures.

It is open to all candidates who meet the following requirements:

●       Hold at least a master’s degree or equivalent in innovation management, international development, economics, social sciences, or a related discipline.

●       Demonstrate a minimum of seven years of experience in developing evaluation documents for startup support programs and in establishing intervention plans.

●       Show excellent knowledge of the project intervention areas, language, and local traditions and cultures.

●       Demonstrate a basic understanding of the legal, institutional, political, and economic framework of MENA region countries.

●       Have proficiency in written and oral French, English, and Arabic.

●       Have a good knowledge of computer tools.

●       Previous experience in MENA regions with SSOs