Junior Non-Key Expert (JNKE) to support ECOSOC to prepare and conduct a Study on “Unemployment in Lebanon “

يتطلب رسالة مع الطلب؟: 
نعم
توجيهات التقديم: 

Interested individuals will submit their application by email, to:  [email protected]

including:

  • Subject: JNKE for Activity 2.3.4 b (Unemployment Study.
  • Application letter (in English)
  • CV in EU Standard Format (template can be requested from the project team))

 

Selection will be done based on pre-determined criteria. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

اسم الشخص المسؤول: 
Josiane Haddad
Contact Person Position: 
Senior Project Assistant
البريد الالكتروني للشخص المسؤول: 
الوصف: 

The EU-funded Project “Promotion of Social Dialogue in Lebanon” aims to enhance the capacity of the Government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Social Partners and Civil Society to be promoters of Social Dialogue in order to strengthen social protection and improve and enforce labour legislation.

 

This project is funded by the European Union under the “Social Justice Programme” (SJP), which is comprised of eight projects. The SJP programme’s objective is to advocate for democracy, human rights and social justice in Lebanon, promoting good governance and gender equality at its core. Overall, the SJP programme supports the strengthening of the institutional framework for the protection of human rights and the development of democratic governance in Lebanon

 

The specific purpose of the Technical Assistance Contract between the EU and GOPA Consultants is to increase the capacities of the Ministry of Labour and Tripartite Social Partners to be promoters of social dialogue.

 

Three results have to be achieved in order to reach the purpose:

  1. Operational and legal framework for social dialogue developed
  2. Institutional and technical capacity of the Ministry of Labour and its tripartite social partners is reinforced to promote social dialogue
  3. Tripartite social dialogue and collective bargaining are promoted at national level

The main beneficiary of the project is the Ministry of Labour (MoL), especially the “Professions and Trade Unions Department” and the “Labour Inspection, Prevention and Safety Department” of the MoL.

Technical Assistance is provided by a consortium consisting of GOPA Consultants (Germany) as the lead firm and EPTISA (Spain).

Other beneficiaries and partners of the project are the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the National Employment Office (NEO), Employer Organizations, Trade Unions, Civil Society Organisations and other relevant stakeholders involved in Social Dialogue.

 

The purpose of this TOR is to define the tasks and responsibilities of a team of two Junior Non Key Experts (JNKE) to support ECOSOC in conducting a labour market study, focussing on unemployment.

 

In close collaboration with the Team Leader (TL) and ECOSOC and under the guidance of a Senior Non Key Expert, the technical services will be delivered by two JNKEs for a period of up to 40 (forty) working days in total (= up to 25 wd for JNKE 1, and up to 15 wd for JNKE 2).

1. Background of the Study

The Lebanese labour market faces a number of serious problems. In addition to pre-existing economic difficulties, the Syrian conflict also had a noticeable negative impact on the labour market in Lebanon.

Labour market data in Lebanon is mostly scarce, incomplete, outdated and sometimes even contradictory. Nevertheless, it is commonly agreed that the Lebanese labour market is characterized mainly by

  • Low activity rate and rising unemployment rates, especially among women and the youth
  • Competition, pressure on wages and deteriorating working conditions, with an increase in informal employment. Lebanon faces a dramatic increase in the labour supply, putting considerable pressure on its fragile labour markets.
  • Weak labour market governance and capacity of the government to adequately respond to the situation.

There are an estimated 1,616,740 young people in Lebanon today out of a resident population of around 5.9 million individuals. Approximately 27.4% of Lebanon’s total resident population is youth (aged 15-29). Both skilled and unskilled youth struggle to transition out of school and find employment in the crowded labour market, taking an average of 10 and 16 months respectively to find their first job. A large percentage of female youth do not enter the labour force or exit very early and become economically inactive, especially in periphery areas. Youth unemployment is high in Lebanon at 20.6% for that age 15 to 24. There is a low contribution of women in the labour force despite a recent slow rising trend. Rates of unemployment are worse for women and more educated individuals[1]

The informal sector is quite large, constituting almost half of the workforce (World Bank, 2015).

Lebanon also suffers from a mismatch of skills, a high influx of foreign workers and a large number of skilled Lebanese people seeking and obtaining employment abroad. The large skill gap remains the main obstacle preventing economic growth and job creation (UNDP, 2016).

According to a World Bank report, the current economic growth is not sufficient in order to adsorb the rising number of people, seeking employment. It is estimated, that within the next 10 years, every year more than 20.000 additional persons will enter the Lebanese labor market. Lebanon needs to create five to six times more new jobs than it is currently the case (about 3800 new jobs per year) in order to absorb the 20,000 yearly labor market entrants (Robalino & Sayed, 2012).

There is a shift to the low-skill sector with a small wage increment between primary, secondary and tertiary education, and a low return on education, further stimulating the brain drain phenomenon. According to a World Bank study, 41 percent of wage earners perform jobs that are not in their scope of education and skills. Moreover, employers claim that employees lack certain skills and technical abilities that are needed to perform their jobs.

In light of the above and according to its designated role, the Economic and Social Council in Lebanon has a major role to play in assessing the existing situation and in adopting a set of recommendations to solve the problems.

 

2. Objectives of the assignment of the JNKE and of the Study

The overall objective of the assignment of a team of two (2) JNKE is to support ECOSOC and a Senior Non Key Expert (SNKE), who acts as the lead responsible researcher, in conducting a study on “Unemployment in Lebanon” and to implement a dissemination event (“Unemployment Forum”) to present the findings and recommendations of the study to all members of the Economic and Social Council and to other relevant stakeholders for conclusions and adoption of recommendations at policy level.

This study is to build mainly upon existing studies in order to create a comprehensive description and understanding of the labor market and the various productive sectors and to propose a set of recommendations how to reduce unemployment.

The main deliverable of the assignment is a document in English, composed of an introduction, at least three chapters, benchmarking, conclusions and a set of recommendations. In addition, a “Unemployment Forum” will be conducted at the premises of ECOSOC to present the findings and recommendations of the study to all members of the Economic and Social Council and to other relevant stakeholders for conclusions and adoption of recommendations at policy level.

The study will undertake an in-depth analysis of existing studies regarding the Lebanese labour market and the problem of unemployment in Lebanon, and derive strategies and recommendations. The analyses shall provide a comprehensive understanding of the Lebanese labour market, current and projected trends in the productive sectors, related to employment, as well as challenges and opportunities for the reduction of unemployment.

The study should facilitate the continuous policy dialogue and improve the participation of all stakeholders in this process.  In particular, the study should:

  • Provide ECOSOC with a thorough quantitative and qualitative summary description of existing studies and analysis of the Lebanese labour market with a strong focus on unemployment, trends and potentials including the identification and examination of constraints and opportunities.
  • Provide ECOSOC with an in-depth understanding of the institutional set-up of the Lebanese labour market while creating a common understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, challenges, opportunities and required actions to affect unemployment in Lebanon and respective key stakeholders.
  • Provide ECSOC with an comparison (benchmarking) of the current labour market situation in Lebanon to the situation in other countries from the region, namely Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco, whose labour market have some similarities with Lebanon in order to benefit from their “Lessons learnt” (positive and negative experiences)

3. Methodology and scope of work

ECOSOC will be supported by a team of three Non Key Experts to conduct a study on “Unemployment in Lebanon“.

The SNKE, who acts as the lead responsible researcher in conducting the study, will be supported by two JNKE.

Since the quality of the study will depend very much on the quality of the outcomes of the field work, the main responsibilities of the JNKEs lies in the preparation and implementation of the field work for the Study.

Under the guidance of the SNKE and in close collaboration with the Team Leader (TL) and the responsible person from ECOSOC, the following technical services will be delivered by the team of JNKE for a period of 40 wd in total (up to 25 wd for JNKE 1, and up to 15 wd for JNKE 2).

In order to provide clearness about the responsibilities among the team of Junior Non Key Experts, all activities and tasks for the team of JNKE are mentioned in these TOR. For each of the activities / steps, the main responsible JNKE is highlighted and marked.

The detailed distribution of these tasks will be defined and agreed during the development of the work plan and on an ad-hoc basis during the implementation of the study.

The assignment consists of 4 (four) Tasks.

Task 1: Development of methodology, approach, structure and design for the unemployment analysis

The team of JNKE will support the SNKE to develop a clear methodology (format, approach, outputs) for the  analyses incorporating feedback from stakeholder consultations. The format shall serve as point of departure for conducting the unemployment analysis as well as serve as a reference for ECOSOC regarding future analyses. The JNKE will also support the SNKE in the collection and analysis of key sources of secondary data.

The JNKEs will support the SNKE in the following steps:

Step 1: Define the methodology / Inception report

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Not Involved      

Step 2: Development of a work plan

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Involved              

Step 3: Desk research: Support the SNKE in the identification of key sources of secondary data, collect all previously carried out studies, prepare Bibliography

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Involved

Step 4: Research design: outline of the layout and structure of the sector analysis

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Not Involved      

Task 2: Conducting analyses of the Lebanese Labour Market and on Unemployment

The team of JNKE will support the SNKE to conduct a preliminary of the Lebanese labour market and the problem of unemployment according to the developed methodology (see Task 1), mainly focusing, but not limited to the analysis and assessment of key sources of secondary data:

  • National and international relevant data, reports, studies and further recent research related to the Lebanese labour market and the problem of unemployment, including those conducted and provided by Academic Research Institutes and others;
  • International or national relevant reports, studies and further recent research related to the labour market and the problem of Unemployment in Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco in order to benchmark and draw conclusions (“Lessons Learnt”)
  • ECOSOC economic and social policy papers
  • Qualitative review of existing research and quantitative analysis of the lebanese labour market;
  • Interviews with key actors and stakeholders, e.g. government, associations, chambers , businesses, training providers and donor-supported initiatives (if any)

Step 1: Support the SNKE to analyze relevant national and international data, reports, studies and further recent research related to the Lebanese Labour Market and the problem of Unemployment

  • Both Junior experts will be working on this assignment.

Step 2: Support the SNKE in preparing and conducting Key Informant Interviews (KII)   

  • Both Junior experts will be working on this assignment.

Step 3: Under the supervision of the SNKE, prepare, organize and conduct all necessary field research including (if needed) focus group discussions, quantitative and qualitative surveys, and any other aspects that need to feed into the final deliverable

  • Both Junior experts will be working on this assignment.

Step 4: Provide the SNKE with all data and outcomes from the field research, including transcripts, recordings, notes and others in order for the SNKE to draw conclusions and structure the report

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Involved

Step 5: Support the SNKE in forming the analysis and developing a structure to the report, based on all information available            

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Not Involved

Step 6: Write a short summary report about the results of the field work according to a template, provided by the TL

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Involved

Task 3: Finalize labour market /unemployment analyses and benchmarking

The JNKE will support the SNKE to finalize the labour market / unemployment analyses and derive strategies, how to tackle the problem of unemployment, taking into account suggestions and insights from stakeholder interviews; produce the final report which includes an executive summary, and practical recommendations as a basis for targeted interventions by labour market stakeholders, e.g. including a matrix indicating priority areas for public and private sector intervention

This task includes the following steps:

Step 1: Support the SNKE to write the final labour market analyses, focusing on the problem of unemployment (in English), between 20 and 25 pages (excl. list of references and possible annexes); the final document shall include a complete list of references in addition to references indicated in main body complying with good scientific quoting practice; in addition, the analysis should also include a comparison of the situation in Lebanon to experiences in other countries (benchmarking)

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Not involved.

Step 2: Support the SNKE in the preparation of a Paper strategies and recommendations for improvement of the Lebanese labour market and how to reduce the level of unemployment (between 8 and 10 pages, excl. list of references and possible annexes). Strategies shall be based on results of the analyses and include an overall strategic approach, taking also into consideration of the findings from the benchmarking with other countries in the region

  • JNKE 1 will be mainly working on this assignment

JNKE 2 Not involved.

Task 4: Design, facilitate and document a dissemination event at ECOSOC

The team of JNKE will support the SNKE to organize and implement an “Unemployment Forum” at the premises of ECOSOC to present the findings and recommendations of the study to all members of the Economic and Social Council and to other relevant stakeholders for conclusions and adoption of recommendations at policy level.

This task includes the following steps:

Step 1: Support the SNKE to elaborate a concept for the “Labour market and Unemployment Forum” for approval by the TL and ECOSOC        

  • JNKE 1 Involved.
  • JNKE 2 will be mainly working on this assignment.

 

Step 2: Conduct all necessary preparations for the forum in close cooperation with ECOSOC

  • JNKE 1 Not involved.
  • JNKE 2 will be mainly working on this assignment.

 

Step 3: Support the SNKE to prepare all necessary presentation materials (e.g. a Power Point Presentation) and handouts for the participants     

  • JNKE 1 Involved.
  • JNKE 2 will be mainly working on this assignment.

 

Step 4: Together with SNKE facilitate the Unemployment Forum, including moderation of the discussions

  • JNKE 1 Will be working on this assignment
  • JNKE 2 Not involved

Step 5: Take notes during the Forum in order to support the SNKE in writing a short report about the Event

  • Both JNKEs will be working on this assignment.

4. Place of work

The usual place of work is an office within the premises of ECOSOC, to be provided by ECOSOC.

The JNKE report to the team leader.

5. Deliverables

The deliverables of the JNKE are as follows:

  1. Collection and inventory of studies related to unemployment: research and collect previously carried out and published reports on unemployment related studies in Lebanon as well as findings about any ongoing or upcoming studies.
  2. Organizing and implementing all necessary field research activities including (if needed) focus group discussions, quantitative and qualitative surveys, and any other aspects that need to feed into the final deliverable
  3. Provide the SNKE with all data and outcomes from the field research, including transcripts, recordings, notes and others in order for the SNKE to draw conclusions and structure the report
  4. A short summary report about the results of the field work according to a template, provided by the TL
  5. Prepare, implement and document a 1 day workshop (“Labour market and unemployment Forum”) at ECOSOC with ECOSOC Members and other stakeholders to present and discuss the study and the findings (about 50 - 80 participants)

6. Time line and working days (up to 40 wd for JNKE)

Works shall be implemented in the period from January 2019 until the end of the project.

In order to deliver all the services requested, in total up to 40 (forty) working days are foreseen to be distributed between the two JNKEs: up to 25 working days for JNKE 2.3.4b 1, and up to 15 wd for JNKE 2.3.4b - 2

7. Language

In principle, all documents and reports have to be provided in English. The dissemination workshop has to be prepared and conducted in Arabic.

A selection of documents or outputs (if needed) will be translated from English to Arabic (or vice versa) by the Project.

8. Qualification and Experience of the Experts

Qualification and key competences:

  • At least a Bachelor Degree in Economy, Business Administration, Public Administration, Social Science, Political Science, Law or other fields, relevant for this assignment. A higher degree (Master of PhD) relevant to the assignment would be considered an advantage
  • Excellent verbal communication skills in English and Arabic. Verbal communication skills in French are an asset.
  • Excellent writing and editing skills in English and Arabic (the application letter and the CV provided will be used as one of the main proofs)
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills
  • Strong analytical and organizational skills
  • Understanding and application of the consulting principle of capacity development
    (proven by previous assignments and / or relevant further training)

Professional experience:

  • Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience (after graduation) on expert level in areas, related to the assignment
  • Demonstrable working experience in field work for studies (like research, focus group discussions, interviews with stakeholders, data collection), capacity development and organizing workshops and dissemination events
  • Familiar with the socio-economic scene in Lebanon
  • Work experience in ENPI region is an asset
 

[1] Spotlight on youth in Lebanon, UNDP 2016

منتهية الصلاحية

ملاحظة:

دليل مدني، شبكة المجتمع المدني، يوفر للمنظمات منصة لنشر الوظائف, وليس مسؤول عن عملية التوظيف. كل منظمة مسجلة على دليل مدني هي مسؤولة بشكل فردي عن منشوراتها وعن عملية التوظيف.

آخر تاريخ التحديث: 
26 ديسمبر, 2018
قطاع(ات) التدخل:
المناصرة والتوعية, الديمقراطية والحقوق المدنية, الحكم الرشيد والشفافية
آخر مهلة للتقديم:
الجمعة, 4 يناير 2019
نوع العقد:
‫استثاري‬
مدة الوظيفة:
N/A
الراتب
N/A
نطاق الراتب:
بين 2500 و 3000 (دولار أمريكي)
درجة التعليم:
بكالوريوس
تفاصيل درجة التعليم:
Qualification and key competences: At least a Bachelor Degree in Economy, Business Administration, Public Administration, Social Science, Political Science, Law or other fields, relevant for this assignment. A higher degree (Master of PhD) relevant to the assignment would be considered an advantage Excellent verbal communication skills in English and Arabic. Verbal communication skills in French are an asset. Excellent writing and editing skills in English and Arabic (the application letter and the CV provided will be used as one of the main proofs) Strong interpersonal and communication skills Strong analytical and organizational skills Understanding and application of the consulting principle of capacity development (proven by previous assignments and / or relevant further training) Professional experience: Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience (after graduation) on expert level in areas, related to the assignment Demonstrable working experience in field work for studies (like research, focus group discussions, interviews with stakeholders, data collection), capacity development and organizing workshops and dissemination events Familiar with the socio-economic scene in Lebanon Work experience in ENPI region is an asset
متطلبات الخبرة:
بين 3 سنوات و5 سنوات
اللغة العربية:
بطلاقة
اللغة الانكليزية:
بطلاقة
اللغة الفرنسية:
غير مطلوب
البلد/المدينة: 
  • Lebanon
  • بيروت
randomness