Delivery of Training on Business English and Effective Communication (Tripoli) - FOR NATIONAL CANDIDATES ONLY

Background and Justification

The majority of Syrian refugee youths in Lebanon face barriers to accessing employment and are offered few skills-building opportunities as an alternative. These youths need a safe learning space that will equip them with tools to tackle these challenges and eventually earn income, thereby helping them to rebuild their self-confidence.

 A UNDP assessment of Labour Needs in 2016 identified several gaps impeding the professional growth of workers and companies in Lebanon.

Based on this study, a lack of English skills was identified in several sectors, for instance 43% of professionals in the ICT sector and 70% of Professionals in the Agro-Food industry reported a lack of English skills. Furthermore, 76% of companies reported concerns about weak workplace competencies.

The training described below focuses on Business English and Communication Skills with Customers.

English is the most commonly used language among foreign language speakers. Throughout the world, when people with different languages come together they commonly use English to communicate on business or non business matters.Knowing English will render the person bilingual and increases his/her employability chances, particularly in Lebanon.

Good Communication Skills with customers are essential for many different types of jobs.

Handling customers professionally is the key ingredient to keep every business competitive and successful. 

The need for a Business English and Communication Skills Training was equally requested by several jobseekers of the IRC’s livelihoods centre, and especially by employers who see it as a requirement in the market and not as an option.  By the end of this training, participants will acquire the essential soft skills needed in the workplace. Based on the above, this training is proposed for youth Lebanese residents and refugees living in Tripoli/T5 region.

Learning Objectives and Delivery Methodology

The Business English and Communication Skills with Customers training targets mainly trainees who are in need of English language and soft skills in the workplace.

By the end of the 84 training hours, trainees should be able to:

• Engage in longer oral English communication
• Understand the main idea of a complex English text
• Present or share ideas in oral English more fluently
• Understand grammar structure better
• Increase business vocabulary comprehensively
• Obtain effective oral and written communication skills
• Develop positive attitude and interpersonal skills
• Be familiar with skills involved in developing business relationships with customers and co-workers
• Handling difficult customers and callers
• Gain skills necessary for quality telephone customer service: professionalism in receiving messages, re-directing and following up calls
• Understand and clarify expectations with customers leading to effective decision making
• Create a positive first impression
• Identify and help meet Customers’ needs
• Create a positive last impression

By the end of this training, trainees should be able to seek employment in institutions in need of customer service or office assistants.

The 20 participants will be organized in one training group divided between Lebanese and Syrian males or females.

Indicative Contents of the Training

The training will cover Business English language sessions merged with Communication skills classes.

The below points serve as an indicative support to the development of the curriculum by the training provider. The training provider is not expected to exactly match the below contents, but rather work on developing a curriculum and a training methodology that will enable trainees to achieve the Learning Outcomes in part 2 of this ToR.

The training will expand over a period of 84 hours covering the following topics:

• Use a range of technical words, phrases and sentences related to workplace objects, activities and routines
  • Demonstrate control over grammatical structures
  • Identify Yourself and Your Company
  • Ask questions to find out general information on a range of topics
  • Respond, with flexibility, at both sentence and discourse level to unexpected comments on a range of general and business topics
  • Keep interaction going in longer exchanges on a range of general and business topics
  • Telephone Etiquette: maintain a service oriented attitude and a productive language
  • Analysis of case studies
  • Job Shadowing
  • Professional Email Writing Skills: formal and informal emails, recommendation and resignation letters, reports and minutes of meeting
  • Knowing the meaning of poor, good and excellent customer service
  • Identify customers’ needs and expectations
• Manage disagreements and conflicts
• Negotiation, compromising, and constructive criticism

Period and location of training delivery

The training should be delivered to 20 male and female trainees over a period of 12 consecutive weeks from December 19^th, 2020 till March 18^th , 2020 over a period of 84 hours.

The training should be delivered within the Livelihoods Center in Tripoli-Mina.

Target audience and profile (age, literacy level)

The target group will consist of 20 trainees, Syrian and Lebanese males and females registered at the livelihoods center.

• The selection of the trainees takes into consideration their willingness and ability to seek employment and/or self-employment opportunities
• The training will be delivered to mixed groups in an attempt to promote social cohesion among the different communities.
• Trainees’ selection will be carried out by the livelihoods centre’s staff. The contractor should meet the participants before the training and verify the suitability of the selected candidate trainees.

The criteria for selection will include:

• Men and women within the age range of 16 to 45
• Literate with English Knowledge
• Either Lebanese and Syrian national.
• Interest and commitment to attend the whole training with an active participation.
• Already registered at the Livelihoods Centre.

Pre- and post-training test requirements

The contractor will be entrusted with developing pre- and post-test questionnaires to determine the level of knowledge and skills of  trainees vis-à-vis the English language and Customer Service Skills. The pre-test and post-test questionnaires are the same and they are delivered before the start date of the training and after the last session. The contractor will be expected to collect the data, to analyze the results of the pre and post-test questionnaires and to document them in a “Technical Training Report” to be submitted one week after the last training session to IRC.

Arrangements Expected from Contractor

The contractor is expected to ensure the following:

• Fulfill the entire contract period:
  • The Training would be delivered 2 days weekly, with 3,5 hours per day, in the morning or in the afternoon
  • The trainer would finalize the Training across a period of 12 weeks for a total of 84 training hours.
• Provide samples of Training books/material for distribution
• Certificate of attendance, based on attendance and learning (measured against pre and post- tests)

In addition to the above, the below will be taken into consideration:

• The trainees’ drop-out is to be taken into account. For this reason, the Contractor must make sure that trainees meet the basic requirements to meaningfully engage in the training.
• Training hours must be decided in consultation with interested trainees to maximize attendance and avoid drop outs; based on previous experience, IRC anticipates that selected candidates will be available to attend the training during the morning and afternoon.

Expected Deliverables

• One English and Communication skills with Customers curriculum of the duration for a period of 84 hours
• A Curriculum handout, including:
  • The training calendar with session titles;
  • A training book/ Handout to be used by trainees
  • The Curriculum handout organized by training sessions describing:
    • Session topic
    • Learning objectives,
    • Duration of the session,
    • List of key contents and talking points,
    • Sequence of steps to deliver the session,
    • Required materials
  • The pre and post-training test questionnaires, to verify competences and learning
• Attendance sheets of each training day
• Delivery of the 24 training sessions of at least 3.5 hours each, over 12 weeks. In total, the Contractor will deliver 84 training hours over a period of 12 weeks.
• A training report including the results of pre- and post-tests of each trainee with a baseline and an end-line score, and recommendations on areas for improvement.  The template for the training report is in Annex 1.

Annex 1: Table of Contents of the Training Report

Table of Contents

1. General Training Overview.. .

2. Training Objectives. .

2.1 Learning Objectives Statement .

2.2 Achieved Results. .

3. Workshop Delivery.

3.1 Overview of the workshop Agenda and Activities Day By Day.

3.2 Training Materials. .

3.3 Delivery Methodology. …………...

4. Participants’ Feedback. .

4.1 Summary of Informal Daily Evaluations.

4.2 Summary of the Final Evaluation Results (using questionnaire) .

5. Lessons Learnt and Remarks.

5.1 Remarks. .

5.2 Recommendations for Future Trainings. .

6. Participants and Learning Achievements. .

Annexes. .

I. Pre- and Post- Training Test (Questionnaire) .

II. Agenda of the Training .

III. Session plan.

IV. Participants’ Evaluation of the Training .

V. Findings of Participants’ Evaluation. .