Learning Journey on Business Support Programs Tender - 45547650

Request for proposals are invited for Learning Journey on Business Support Programs Consultancy.
Terms of Reference for Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Regional Middle East Livelihoods
Learning Journey on Business Support Programs Consultancy funded by Danida
Country Office DRC Middle East
Project Area Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq
Timeline 30st September 2020 - 31thDecember 2020
INTRODUCTION
1. Background
The Danish Refugee Council assists refugees and internally displaced persons across the globe: we provide emergency aid and facilitate access to rights. We work in conflict-affected areas, along displacement routes, and in the countries where refugees settle. In cooperation with local communities, we strive for responsible and durable solutions. The Danish Refugee Council was founded in Denmark in 1956, and has since grown to become an international humanitarian organization with more than 7, 000 staff and 8, 000 volunteers. Our vision is a dignified life for all displaced. All of our efforts are based on our value compass: humanity, respect, independence and neutrality, participation, and honesty and transparency. DRC has been operating in the Middle East region for over a decade, running a combination of emergency, livelihood, protection and advocacy programs through Country Offices in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey with a Regional Office in Amman.
2. Context for the work
The Regional Office Economic Recovery team over the last three years has been coordinating a regional Livelihood Learning Journey (LLHJ) supporting country teams in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. This learning journey was initially primarily focused on refugee response activities in countries affected by the Syrian crisis, however as the response has evolved it has now been extended to IDP integration activities in Syria and Iraq. The initial stage of the research was focused on identifying what was the specific role and added value of INGOs (and DRC more specifically) in livelihoods support programming in the middleincome context of the Syria displacement crisis. After the initial three-year period of the
journey, the project was extended with funding from DANIDA to focus on operationalising the learnings from the LLHJ with particular focus on DRC Business Support activities.Business Support activities in particular, support to enterprise start-up, scale-up and development, is seen as a core program area by all country teams, and key activity where DRC is able to bring added value when supporting refugee and IDP to become economically secure. Building on the work undertaken in the past years, each of the DRC country teams in the region are currently undertaking internal assessments of their business support activities using existing data and past research, trends, lessons learnt and evidence around the impact of their programs.
However, it has been identified that a key challenge for undertaking regional learning on the topic of Business Support activities is that DRC-s programs at the country level have developed organically over the last 10+ years. And there now exists a range of program models, with similar names but significantly different program designs. In particular when looking at the area of support to micro business, there is a clear need for the development of common program models, which capture and build on DRC-s experience and value add in this type of programming. Additionally initial discussions with country offices have made it clear that while each country implements activities in different ways, the models are still similar enough that there are significant number of practical learnings that could be captured, with field staff particularly interested in practical and tangible learnings, common definitions, common ways of implementing activities, etc.
THE CONSULTANCY
The DRC Middle East Regional Office seeks a consultant or consultancy company to act as learning coordinator and to lead a Business Support Learning Journey involving the DRC country teams in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. This Learning journey will produce a series of products:
3. Purpose of Consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy is for an external actor to review the status of DRC-s business support programs in the middle east, facilitate an information exchange between the countries to promote the sharing of information and collection of relevant lessons learnt and program details and then the development and sharing back to country teams of regional level program notes, providing the details for the most commonly used program models used in the region.
4. Proposed Methodology
Step 1 Data Collection and initial analysis
• Conduct a desk review of existing information related to business support programming.
• Conduct key informant interviews with key team members of DRC Country teams related to Business Support programing (Program Managers, Coordinators, Head of Programs, Team Leaders etc)
• Development and presentation of an initial program mapping report
The first step would be to map, via literature review and discussions with the DRC country teams, the ways in which the business support program activities are conducted in each country as well as the perceived strengths, weaknesses and impact in each country. Thisway, the consultant can identify exactly what the activities look like, where they are similar and where they are different, and what the relative strengths in each country are and possible areas that could be transferred. It is expected that the ongoing review of program data by country teams will feed into this analysis. The consultant could also conduct a SWOT analysis during this process to identify areas to be focused on.
Using that mapping the consultant will identify the standard program models that are identified as central to the work of DRC teams in the five countries.
DRC MERO has conducted an initial program mapping and has identified several areas that it would like this Business Support Learning Journey to cover and which could be used to map the program models;
Components of Business Support Programming

Objective Emergency response, solutions to displacement, addressing root causes

Targeting

Approach-s

Vulnerability Criteria / Protection Referrals

Self-Selection via submitted business plan

Program

activities.

Support to starting a vocational business1

(Skilled Trade Self Employment),

Support to starting a Homebased Business 2

Support to starting a MSME3

Support to restarting a vocational business (Skilled Trade Self

Employment),

Support to restarting a Homebased Business

Support to restarting a MSME

Support to an existing vocational business (Skilled Trade Self

Employment), to grow or provide additional services.

Support to an existing Homebased Business to grow or provide additional

services.

Support to an existing a MSME to grow or provide additional services.

Models of

support

Direct models of support

• Provision of information about the legal framework relating to

business management.

• Provision of business development services (e.g. mentoring,

training, market linkages)

• Provision of access to physical and financial capital (grant based)

Indirect models of support

• Facilitate access to business development services and financial

products / services provided by existing market actors

• Support to existing MSME and associated services (e.g. credit

facilities, training, etc.) to develop pro-refugee products, services

and practices

• Support to existing MSMEs aimed at addressing social or

environmental issues, refugee-led social enterprises, and

regenerative livelihoods.

Examples of

Integrated

programming

Any elements of the projects that have been integrated with other sectors

of DRC in particular Protection or Humanitarian Mine Action.

1 DRC defines the term Vocational Business (Skilled Trade Self Employment), to refer to an enterprise

that has only one employee, and involves the employee selling a service, such as plumbing or electrical

repair rather than a physical product.

2 DRC defines a home business as a MSME that operates exclusively from the home of the enterprise

owner.

3 DRC defines Micro Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) as Micro enterprise 1-2 employees, Small

enterprise 3-5 employees, Medium enterprise 6-15 employees.

Consultancy ToR / Danida F

Step 2 Facilitation and Learning Journey.

• Facilitate a series of discussions via an online platform between field staff related to

the different program models to identify and capture program lessons learnt and

best practices.

Using the identified program models from step one as a frame the consultant would

facilitate a sharing of information, best practices and lessons learnt between the country

teams. This is expected to be done via series of discussions (via webinars) with field staff

where staff from each country present their programming, the strengths, the weaknesses,

and others ask questions, try to identify how it works in their contexts, etc. Ideally there

would be at least five webinars so that each country team could take a lead role. During the

webinars stage the country level best practices that were pre-identified in the Program

Mapping step should be either validated or rejected, and a shortlist of transferable best

practices for each model identified.

Step 3 Consolidation and analysis.

• The creation, using the program mapping, of a series of regional level guidance

notes related to the most commonly used program models.

• For each of the common models three outputs are expected that combined create a

consolidated guidance note. These outputs are;

o A report with the common theory of changes and implementation processes

for each model

o A summary of SWOTs, Lessons Learnt and Best Practices, impact

assessments and recommendations for each model. This would in