Apply online

Ref.
2023/MEOEPIL/9746

Job offer type
Experts

Type of contract
Service contract

Activity sectors
Monitoring and evaluation

Deadline date
2023/08/07 12:00

Duration of the assignment
Short term

Contract
Freelancer

Duration
4 Months

Mission description

1.1       Assignment objectives

1.1.1     Rationale of the evaluation process

As stipulated in the Description of the Action (DoA), the programme E-NABLE is subject to both mid-term and final evaluations. In this regard, the independent mid-term evaluation is planned to be carried out by external consultants in mid-2023. The evaluation process will be designed in line with the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) policy and procedures of EF.

EF’s Evaluation Policy (2020) provides systematic evaluation of programmes and projects in order to improve quality, accountability, transparency of the EF’s work and strengthen the decision-making process. The Policy uses the evaluation criteria of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) / Development Assistance Committee (DAC) as the main reference for the design and implementation of evaluations. This evaluation is a milestone for the project to ensure its accountability to the donor (EU) the implementing agency (Expertise France), and the project beneficiaries, i.e. institutional partners and private sector.

The evaluation is utilization-focused[1]. This approach is based on the principle that an evaluation must be judged on the basis of its usefulness. It will therefore be planned and implemented in such a way as to increase the likelihood that its results will be used, ensuring the participation and ownership of stakeholders. The evaluator should ensure that they apply the principles of this approach throughout the evaluation process. In particular, the recommendations of the evaluation must be concrete and operational. The results should be presented in a clear and concise manner in order to have an impact on decision-making. The evaluation will be used primarily to adapt the project to the changing context, identify successes and the potential to multiply results, identify reasons for delays and develop recommendations for adaptive management, etc.

1.1.2     Overall objectives and expectations of the assignment

The overall objective of the evaluation is to improve the present and future project intervention.

To do this, it will draw up a mid-term review with the following specific objectives:

  • Global analysis of project performance: by answering the evaluation questions, check if the needs are still present, analyze the effectiveness of project management, the sustainability, the potential for impact, and the factors promoting or hindering performance (recurring obstacles, etc.);
  • Implementation strategy: confirm/inform the operational strategic choices and explore the necessary reorientations by formulating recommendations on the strategic adjustment previously proposed the project;[2]
  • Capacity building performance: by measuring the efficiency, relevance and impact of the capacity building activities;
  • Learning: identify good practices and lessons learned in order to propose recommendations to reorient and improve the intervention and support the internal learning process within the Libyan mission.

The evaluator should provide evidence to explain the analyses, cause and effect linkages and attempt to identify any factors that are enhancing or hindering progress. Their work must foster accountability, decision-making, and learning.

1.2       Scope of the evaluation

The scope of the evaluation will include the following:

Period: since the beginning of the project to September 2023 (1year and half project duration)

Components: all components of the project (including Communication and MEAL purposes)

Country: Libya

Beneficiaries: The primary users of the evaluation (see section 3.9 project overview).

2       Criteria and evaluation questions

The evaluation will use the criteria defined by the Co-operation andOECD Development AssistanceDAC: relevance, coherence and viability/sustainability.

The evaluation detailed below [have been developed in a participatory manner by the project team.

Evaluation criteria

General evaluation questions

Specific evaluation questions

Relevance

Does the intervention help enable the business environment?

Does the intervention effectively address the main problems of economic development ?

Does the intervention effectively address the main problems of digital access met by the economic actors ?

Considering the contextual developments, is the program design still relevant with the strategies and priorities of EU and governmental strategies?

What are the needs that have been effectively addressed? What are the activities which contributed to this improvement?

Are there any complementarity issues with other ongoing projects/ planned projects managed by donors that need to be addressed?

 

 

Coherence

Does the intervention is coherent with the others interventions funded by the EU and others donors?

What synergies can be created with the other interventions?

Are there any complementarity issues with other ongoing projects/ planned projects managed by donors that need to be addressed?

Viability / Sustainability

Will the benefits be sustainable?

Does the project take sufficient measures to ensure that the benefits it brings are sustainable over time?

How do the project activities strengthen the capacities of state
actors and contribute to the sustainability of
the project?

Do the project’s capacity building activities focus on institutional partners’ priority needs and how will they allow the take-over of the activities in the long run?

Will the support provided by the project have a lasting positive impact?

 

This preliminary list of questions is expected to be revised/further elaborated by the selected evaluators in consultation with the E-NABLE project implementation team during the inception phase of the mid-term evaluation.

3       Methodology

Inception phase

Final report & Presentation of the results

Analysis, presentation of the data collected and first draft of the report

Literature review/ Scoping meetings / primary collection

September 2023

September to October 2023

October to November 2023

December 2023

The evaluation process will be implemented following the steps below:

Setting up the steering Group and selection of the contrator

July / August 2023

 

The evaluator(s) will have a team based in Libya or will be able to carry out a visit in Libya in order to collect field data as much as possible.

3.1       Inception phase

During this inception phase, the evaluator(s) must:

  • Gather and consult all the information and documents relating to the project that need to be evaluated (project outline, implementation and monitoring documents) and that contribute to understanding the project context. Documents to consult will be send by the MEAL Officer;
  • Identify all project stakeholders.
  • Develop the framework of the evaluation in more depth based on the terms of reference, the documents collected and the intervention logic. Specifically, this will involve: (i) outlining the key questions for the evaluation to focus on; (ii) outlining the stages of reasoning that will make it possible to answer the questions (judgment criteria); (iii) specifying the indicators to be used to answer the questions and the corresponding sources of information (documentation, interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc.). An evaluation matrix can be used. The matrix should explain how the data (primary / secondary, qualitative / quantitative) will be used to answer the evaluation questions. In the case of primary data, the matrix will describe the collection methods (including indicative sampling), and from which stakeholders.

Based on this methodological piece of work, the consultant will suggest an overarching evaluation framework document (no more than 15 pages – Expected deliverable #1) once they have begun the assignment. The evaluation framework will be discussed with the steering group and the evaluator(s) during the scoping meeting to guide discussions about how they plan to structure the evaluation process and to check how feasible it is.

If changes are made to the intervention logic, any objectives redefined by the evaluator(s) must be shared with the project team.

This preparatory phase is key and will serve to sign off the methodology proposed by the evaluator(s). An finalization meeting will be held to formalize the results of the inception phase.

3.2       Data collection phase

An in-depth documentary review will be conducted in September / October 2023. The analysis of the relevant documents should be systematic and reflect the methodology designed and approved during the inception phase. Activities to be carried out during this phase should allow preliminary answers to be given to each evaluation question, communicating the information already gathered and its limitations. These activities should also highlight the issues that remain to be addressed, the missing information and the preliminary hypotheses to be tested. The following secondary data will be shared with the evaluator(s):

  • Project documents;
  • Studies and assessments;
  • Donor reports;
  • Project monitoring data;
  • National policies;
  • Context analysis;
  • Other relevant documents.

Primary data collection is planned in October 2023 during a field visit by the evaluator(s) to the intervention location. This collection process will be carried out remotely by a team recruited by the service provider, if it is not possible to do so in person (it will not be a priority). This will include, but is not limited to:

  • The use of qualitative and quantitative collection methods set out by the evaluator(s) with all project stakeholders, based on a sample suggested by the evaluator(s);
  • Field visits;
  • Surveys;
  • Focus Group Discussions;
  • Key Informants Interviews;
  • Participation in any workshop/training during the implementation period of the mid-term evaluation to gather information relevant to the assignment, as requested by the project and relevant to the assignment.

The evaluator(s) will be responsible for the choice and integration of any kinds of support persons (translators, data collectors).

3.3       Analysis and reporting phase

The analysis and reporting phase will include:

  • Analysing data through triangulation of primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative
    The analysis should be disaggregated at a minimum by sex, if possible by age. The
    analytical framework used should be described in the final report.
  • Drafting of the preliminary report (Expected deliverable #2) by the evaluator(s) before a presentation of the results with the partners. The methodology shall also include examining the programme’s Theory of Change (ToC). A particular attention will be given to the identification of assumptions, risk and mitigation strategies, and the changing linkages between levels of results and their alignment with the strategic objectives and outcomes of EF as well as national policies and priorities. The evaluators shall update the ToC and present it as an annex to the evaluation report. The preliminary report will be submitted to Expertise France for review, and its quality assessed according to a grid. Particular attention will be paid to the objectivity, balance, detail of conclusions and their evidence-base, as well as the operational and concrete nature of recommendations. The content of this evaluation grid will be discussed with the evaluator(s) to determine if improvements are necessary.
  • Addressing feedback and producing the final report with its annexes (Expected deliverable #3) by the evaluator(s).
  • Presenting final results (Expected deliverable #4) by the evaluator(s), their conclusions and recommendations.

3.4       Expected deliverables

The deliverables must be submitted by e-mail in Word format to the recipients who will be indicated to the evaluation team during the inception phase. They must be written in English.

Deliverables (& # of pages)

Main contents

Deadline

Deliverable #1

Inception report

(15 pages and annexes)

Intervention logic

Preliminary documentary review

Methodology: quantitative and qualitative, collection methods, sample (proposed list of people to interview), methods of analysis

Evaluation matrix: evaluation questions, selection of tools and sources for data collection

Limits of the evaluation

Final detailed work plan

Distribution of roles and responsibilities

Data collection tools

 

 

 

30/09/2023

Deliverable #2

Preliminary report

(50 pages and annexes)

Primary quantitative and qualitative data collected and cleaned

PowerPoint presentation of preliminary results during a meeting at the end of the collection phase

Analysis of the reliability and extent of the data collected

Content of the report shall cover at least the following chapters:

Executive summary with key findings, conclusions and recommendations,

Program background,

Description of the status of the program and overview of the work done,

Evaluation background,

Evaluation criteria and questions,

Evaluation methodology,

Key findings,

Conclusions and recommendations

Lessons learnt and good practices,

Presentation of key findings, conclusions and recommendations in a summary table / evaluation matrix (Annex)

Presentation of the updated Theory of Change of the program (Annex)

Annexes including the ToR, a list of documents reviewed, and a list of persons interviewed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31/10/2023

Deliverable #3

Final report

Integrates feedback from EF's project team, partners and donors.

15/11/2023

Deliverable #4

Final presentation

PowerPoint presentation of the final results during a meeting scheduled after the inception of the evaluation

30/11/2023

4       Role & responsabilities

The following members of the E-NABLE project implementation team will take part in the mid-term evaluation assignment with the brief responsibilities indicated below. Roles and responsibilities and expected contributions from each implementing organisation and expertise/personnel will be further clarified in the inception meeting.

  • M&E Officer (EF): The M&E Officer in close coordination with the selected evaluators will have the primary responsibility in the mid-term evaluation exercise. The M&E Officer will supervise, coordinate and guide the assignment and ensure that necessary actions are taken for the timely delivery of the expected deliverables. Relevant programme documents will be compiled and provided to the evaluators by the M&E Officer for the desk review. Furthermore, the M&E Officer will facilitate communication and cooperation between the evaluators and the E-nable project implementation team members in every aspects for the smooth execution of the mid-term evaluation.
  • Programs Director (EF): By the constant consultation with the M&E Officer, the Programs Director will closely oversee the overall process of the assignment and ensure that the planned activities are realised in a timely manner to deliver the expected results. Also, the Programs Director is the person who will liaise with the donor (EU) when it comes to interview scheduling and planning of briefing/debriefing.
  • Deputy Programs Director (EF): will closely oversee the overall process of the assignment and ensure that the planned activities are realized in a timely manner to deliver the expected results. The Deputy Head Office will facilitate coordination with High level of national Partners.
  • Chiefs of Component (EF): Similar to the Programs Director, the Chiefs of Component will closely oversee the overall process of the assignment at the implementing partner’s side and ensure that the planned activities (e.g. document provision, interview scheduling with institutional and local partners participation, review and revision of the expected deliverables of this assignment…etc.) are realised in a timely manner to deliver the expected results. with the support of the Logistics department and the Deputy Programs Director, the Chiefs of Component, will intensively be in charge of the field mission planning in Libya.
  • M&E department at HQ (EF): Whenever required, the M&E Manager at EF HQ will provide strategic advice to the process and guide the team about needs and priorities of EF HQ in line with the M&E Policy of the agency.
  • National Experts (E-NABLE project): They will provide necessary documentation, information, lists of contacts/stakeholders/constituents/beneficiaries and as per their expertise and areas of responsibility they are expected to provide technical support to the M&E Officer and the evaluators when required. In consultation with the Programs Director at EF and Chiefs of Component and the evaluators, they may be asked for interviews and/or participate in briefings/debriefings.
  • Administrative and Finance department (EF): They will provide administrative and financial data and documents which are needed for the evaluation. Moreover, the Administrative and Finance Department at EF will follow up on the payments to the evaluators by the end of the assignment.
  • Other members of the steering Group: the members of the steering committee will provide the framework for the evaluation process and will validate the various stages of the service.

With the constant liaison of the M&E Officer, the selected evaluator(s) will be responsible for preparation, implementation, quality assurance, backstopping and reporting of the evaluation exercise according to the terms of reference. The evaluation team shall ideally consist of 2 members (e.g. lead evaluator and co-evaluator). The evaluation team is responsible for the choice and integration of any kinds of support persons e.g. translators, data collectors at field level…etc. The following key tasks are expected from to the evaluators to be carried out efficiently during the assignment:

  • Reviewing background documents (e.g. contractual and design documents, progress reports, and visibility and promotional materials);
  • Developing and implementing the assessment methodology to respond to the assessment questions;
  • Conducting field visits, interviews and surveys, as appropriate;
  • Preparing the draft evaluation report;
  • Conducting briefing on findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the assessment;
  • Preparing the final version of the evaluation report based on the feedback obtained on the draft report;
  • Presenting evaluation findings and recommendations to EUD and final beneficiary institutions at the Technical Committee or another platform to be determined.

 

 

 

 

[1] https://www.intrac.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Utilisation-focused-evaluation.pdf

[2] Taking into account the previous intervention (EU4PSL) and its final evaluation’s recommendations

 

Project or context description

1.1       General context

Since the Government of National Accord (GNA) came into power according to Skhirat agreement on the 17th of December 2015, the country’s security situation faced several challenges with the worst period being in April 2019. This is when a military campaign was launched by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by General Haftar, to take over the capital, Tripoli. The LNA offensive against Tripoli resulted in an increased destabilization of Libya and completely unpredictable outcomes.

Despite this situation combined later on with the COVID-19 pandemic, that structurally affected all cooperation activities developed by the international community in Libya, Expertise France continued to implement its programs, using alternative channels and tools such as online features, or locating its activities elsewhere when the security / safety situation in the country was not allowing to do it there, as it happened for example for training or workshops together with the Libyan partners in Tunis.

Moreover, the European Commission and Expertise France capitalization strategy for the implementation of successive projects permitted to reach great achievements of both EU funded projects SLEIDSE (2016 - 2020) and EU4PSL (2019 - 2023).

Such favorable results encouraged the European Commission, at the beginning of 2022, to fund E-NABLE project (2023 - 2025), regardless of the political and security instability and having the objective to continue the relevant partnership established with the Libyan authorities and partners around the support to private sector development and to economic and financial governance.

1.2       Implementation in parallel to EU4PSL program

E-NABLE project execution started in March 2022 in parallel with integrated activities of EU4PSL program. The four components of the EU4PSL projects were as follows::

  • Component 1: Strengthen the capacities of Libyan institutions to design and implement actions conductive to MSME and improve attractiveness of the Libyan economy for investment and Support to Chambers of Commerce for enhanced business support services and economic reforms.
  • Component 2: Support youth’s and women’s economic empowerment and start-up entrepreneurship.
  • Component 3: Improving access to finance for MSMEs and Startups
  • Component 4: Streaming entrepreneurship within the educational system

It lasted 48 months until the end of January 2023, with very relevant impact and achievements such as:

  • Creating the online portal (which is a step-by-step guide for administrative procedures in Libya) and simplifying the business creation procedure;
  • The inclusion of Libya officially in the Euromed Trade Help Desk for facilitating trade and investment between Libya, the EU and the Mediterranean region;
  • Published the survey of Libyan enterprise profile and needs with operational recommendations to help the government and international donors better shape support to Libyan enterprises;
  • Worked with 6 local CSOs from the west, east and south of Libya to build their capacities to support entrepreneurship in their regions;
  • 3 national women entrepreneurs contests organised, two of them through a TV show;
  • CSOs collaborating with universities to organise entrepreneurship training bootcamps to their students, 240 students were trained in total;
  • 17 startups mentored by international trainers in a business acceleration program called Boost it, more than 50% of these startups were women;
  • Establishing dedicated Units at 6 Libyan banks to support SMEs and startups;
  • Working on the establishment of a VC fund with CBL and Tadawul financial company;
  • First Microfinance Circular published by CBL in January 2022 – demanding banks to dedicate 10% of their portfolio to SMEs, and second Microfinance Circular published by CBL in March 2022 – demanding banks to adapt their services to meet the needs of micro and small enterprises;
  • Developed and launched an accredited entrepreneurship module in 12 Libyan universities with the support of Lyon 3 university, trained the local professors to deliver the module;
  • Trained and coached partner university staff to run entrepreneurship units inside their premises;
  • Created the first Junior Enterprises (10) inside partner universities from all Libyan regions, fully managed by students;
  • Working with the Ministry of Education after the appointment of an entrepreneurship focal point to develop the business education ecosystem.

 

Despite to the complex political and difficult working environment situation such as electricity cut or shortage of liquidity, EU4PSL program showed the commitment of most of the Libyan stakeholders particularly the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Central Bank of Libya as well as the Private sector itself and the civil society.

Building on the understanding of the Libyan business environment needs that were addressed by Libyan stakeholders as well as on the tangible outcomes and achievements of EU4PSL program, the 3 E-NABLE project components were designed as follows:

  1. Component 1: enhancing public policies for economic diversification and enabling the business environment, targeting economic Institutions, stakeholders and partners., including the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ministry of Planning (MoP), the Tax Authority and the Chambers of Commerce;
  2. Component 2: taking up digital innovations related to economic governance among public institutions targeting the General Information Authority (GIA), Libyan Post Telecommunications & Information Technology Company (LIPTIC), the public and private telecommunication and tech companies and the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET);
  3. Component 3: improving services and products provided by financial institutions targeting the financial Institutions, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), banks, investors, SMEs and start-ups.

In this situation and analyzing the three programs’ components as well as EU4PSL achievements and outcomes, it is obvious that such a parallel exercise allowed to maximize the impact as both complementary interventions were targeting the same beneficiaries but on a coordinated manner, and in order to endure too sustainability and robustness to specific actions developed under EU4PSL that E-NABLE could consolidate.

1.3       Political and security situation

On the 19th of December 2020, a new Presidential council was formed followed by the formalization of interim Government of National Unity (GNU) in February 2021. Libyan political dialogue forum then assured the ongoing ceasefire and facilitated the democratic process by parliamentary and presidential elections planned for December 2021 but the political fragmentation between the House of Representatives and the Government of National Unity continued and the planned election failed to be organized. On the other hand, the former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, was elected interim Prime Minister by the House of Representatives on the 10th of February 2022. The protracted political stalemate contributes to the country’s political, economic, and security instability.

Despite to some progress in electricity cut and liquidity as well as to the role of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission, including to facilitate the implementation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, the fragile political and security context in Libya continued and global shocks such as the impact of the crisis in Ukraine did not permit such a positive evolution in the country.

During 2023, the volatility on politics and security / safety continued, illustrated by the events that happened the 26th and 27th of August, 2022, that resulted in more than 40 killed and 160 wounded.

That situation affected the capacity of E-NABLE program implementation as for example, following the events of August 2022, the team could not travel in Libya and some activities planned there were delayed. In the measure of possible, activities were maintained but relocated being in Tunisia or in other locations when suitable.

On a more continuous manner, it is important to underline that costs of security for international staff are also elevated, not to mention that some international institutions or experts were not, during the reporting period willing to travel to Libya for security reasons, which may have, in some situations represented a constraint in the capacity of mobilization of the related expertise or in the impossibility to organize the related activities in Libya.

Regarding the political instability, the fact that Expertise France signed, in October 2021, a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Libyan government allows us not to be impacted by any specific situation, while respecting the conditions of this agreement. It is to mention that apart from slow processes in some situations, and lack of reactivity in others, no blockage of our activities can be mentioned during the reporting period due to administrative or institutional reasons.

1.4       Social and economic context

As indicated in the world Bank statistics data, Libya is a large country with about 1.750 million Km2 and a population of 6.95 million in 2021, including some 0.788 million non-Libyans, 90% of whom live in 10% of the coastal land area. According to UNICEF demographic projection for Libya, the overall population would reach 8.1 million by 2030.

In 2022, UNDP showed that Libya’s Human Development Index (HDI) was 0.718 in 2021, which ranked it 104 out of 189 countries. It is placed into a high category with a 2% increase from the previous value which is still relatively high in terms of HDI measurement which is based on three main areas: education, health and living standards.

Libya is considered a young nation, youth representing about 62% of the population, where about of 48% of youth age (25-34 years old) are unemployed. Both women and young people nowadays face complex challenges that are seemingly creating an intense negative impact. Youngsters are the most educated and skilled, yet they are the most at risk of unemployment and economic exclusion. Indeed, the quality of education still poses a concern as there is a lack of linkage between education systems and the employment needs of the private sector, leading to a significant demand-supply mismatch.

Libyan economy is still dominant by the public sector where out of 3.1 Million Libyan in working age, about 2.5 million are in the public sector according the Ministry of Finance Budget report 2022, representing around 75% of total active working labour market. According to IOM Libya (Labour Market Assessment report 2021), the rate for females working in the public sector is higher. In fact, it reaches around 97% in public sector and only about 3% in Private sector compared to 79% of working males in public sector and about 12% in private sector, whereas the rate of unemployment is about 19.3% as indicated in the Ministry of Labor survey 2021.

1.5       Economic diversification

Despite to the Libya rich national resources country, considered the world’s ninth largest oil reserves in the world, holding 3,9% of the global reserves and the third largest gas reserves among African countries the country faces an important challenge to diversify its economy. It boasts one of the highest solar radiations in the world, with a daily average solar radiation of 2,470 kWh/m2/day and a sun period of 3 500 hours per year. One of Libya’s economic problems, inherited from the Gaddafi era, is the total dependence on oil as the sole source of national income. Libya has one of the most undiversified productive structures in the world: hydrocarbons account for 70% of the GDP, more than 95% of exports, approximately 90% of government revenue, and determine decisively the economic performance of the country.

Several indicators have proven that Libyan industries are hardly competitive. In fact, Libya scores poorly on commonly cited business environment indices. For instance, since 2014, Libya has been in the bottom five economies at 186th position out of 190 countries in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business report 2020 and ranked number 114 of 131 most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI 2022). Furthermore, Libya is considered as the most poorly governed country among the 13 OPEC countries, in terms of the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining industries, as indicated in the Resource Governance Index 2021.

Libyan Economy is not diversified whereas agriculture has historically contributed less than 3% of Libya’s GDP, making the country heavily dependent on importing food-items, as up to 90% of Libya’s grain is imported for consumption. Industry is less than 4.8% and construction is about 6% of the GDP.

1.6       Libyan economic competitiveness 

The World Economic Competitiveness Index showed the drop of the economic competitiveness from 100 out of 139 countries in 2010 -2011 report to 126 over 144 countries in 2014- 2015. This index shows the poor quality of the Libyan basic requirement, such as physical infrastructure, information and communication technologies, the quality of business environment and innovation and the quality of labor market and financial market Therefore, to diversify the Libya’s income as well as move away from full dependency on oil and gas and keep up to achieve the SDG 2030, other sources of income must be considered. There is a big need to improve the Libyan competitiveness measures, for instance through using the public -private partnership scheme in the development of the Libyan basic requirement needs and other industries, including construction and building, smart technology, renewable energy, circular economy, tourism, fishery and blue economy sectors, transit trade, free zones, and agriculture. For all these industries to succeed, a relevant state- of-the-art infrastructure must also be developed.

1.7       Libyan banking sector 

Libyan banking sector is still traditional and lacks the tools and skills for financing the SMEs sector. From the experience gained from SLEIDSE and EU4PSL programmes, we know SMEs in Libya face many growth constraints and have less access to formal sources of external finance, such as banks or the availability of alternative financial institutions. In Libya, banks are often unable or unwilling to give either long- or short-term loans to SMEs due to poor enabling environment discourages lending but even more critically the banks themselves have low internal competence for risk discrimination. Libya suffers from very low levels of credit risk management capacity, including credit analysis. Thanks to the EU Funding programs, including E-NABLE, the development of access to finance solutions through different financing tools (leasing, VC and microcredit for example) and the improvement of the e-payment services aims at facing this structural obstacle for the private sector development.

On the other hand, credit information suffers from a lack of reliable client financial information along with a poor audit and accounting infrastructure. Avoidance of taxes discourages transparency and independent auditors or rating agencies, which would encourage financial transparency, have yet to make headway in Libya. The CBL has set up a credit bureau, the Libyan Credit Information Center (LCIC), but its data set is limited and hampered by systemic information weaknesses.

The combination of high credit risk, liquidity volatility, and uncertainty regarding the rules and processes of shari’ah compliant financing has slashed the extension of bank credit. Banks’ assets have increasingly fled from lending, becoming less intermediaries and more safe deposit boxes, and not fully reliable ones at that. Loans were already a low proportion of total assets by global and MENA standards but have continued to shrink (Libya Financial Sector Review, 2020).

1.8       Digitalization in the Libyan context

According to the United Nations E-Government Index (EGDI). 2020, Libya has been classified in the medium category (M2 (0.3743)) for digital services indicators which measures governments use of information and communication technology in providing government services: this is considered weak, and Libya’s global ranking was only (162) out of (193) countries.

Despite to the number of higher education institutions (27 Universities and 139 high technical institute) as well as more that 35 information and documentation centers, Libya still lacks adequate digital education institutions as well as the qualified digital skills particularly in e-governance, data science, and digital application in both public and private sectors. The tech community in the country is growing, being progressively reinforced, but it cannot suffer the comparison with other neighbours countries such as Tunisia, for example regarding the robustness of the digital businesses, their capacity of internationalisation, but also the maturity of the intermediary bodies such as R&D centers or dedicated incubators.

1.9       Project overview

Project title :

Innovative Approach for a Resilient Libyan Economy through:

Digitalization of economic recovery 

Private sector's economic growth

 

 

 

Implementation dates

March 2022 – February 2025

Location / intervention areas

Libya (national country)

Steering Group

Chiefs of Component

Programs Director

MEAL Officer

GIA representative

 

Operational partners

Ministry of Economy and Trade

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Ministry of Finance

General Information Authority

Chamber of Commerce

Libyan Credit Information Center

Tax Administration

Bureau of Statistics and Census)

Target groups

The primary users of the evaluation are the national partners (state institutions), the Expertise France agency (field teams and headquarters), the donor (European Union).

The secondary users are all relevant stakeholders related or interested in the topic digital and economic development

Project budget

5 000 000 €

Project objectives

The overall objective of the action is to improve the capacities of key economic institutions for sustainable, diversified, and digital economic recovery to institutionalize the private sector's economic growth with the support of both private and public sector organizations.

The three specifics objectives are:

·         01: Strengthen the capacities of the MoET and related stakeholders in designing public policies for economic diversification and enabling business environment

·         02 : Contribute to leveraging digital innovations for inclusive sustainable development in Libya and closing the digital divide.

·         03: Encourage financial institutions to extend credit to private sector to provide solutions to SMEs.

Required profile

1.1.1     Expected expertise

  • Number of experts per assignment: 1 or 2 (depending the set-up, to allow field visit for the data collection). A concrete division of labor is expected to be made by the evaluators and attached to the letter of interest to be submitted as a part of the technical proposal.
  • Profile of appointed expert(s) to undertake the contract:

Qualifications and experience

  • Advanced degree in a field relevant to the assignment: economics, social sciences, international cooperation, MEAL, or equivalent experience;
  • Experience in evaluation of private sector development projects (at least 5 years);
  • Work experience with applying and assessing the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria;
  • Multi-stakeholders coordination experience: administrations, public agencies, international organizations, private sectors (at least 5 years);
  • Experience in similar funded projects and EU evaluation procedures is an asset;
  • Very good knowledge of the Libyan context.

Technical skills:

  • Good knowledge of M&E systems for development programs and projects;
  • Experience and knowledge of field-based M&E;
  • Professional experience in evaluation of minimum of 8 years;
  • Experience in database design and management;
  • Knowledge sharing and design of learning materials.

Administrative skills:

  • Excellent command of Microsoft Office tools (MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and LibreOffice equivalents) and the Internet;
  • Excellent communication and organizational skills.

Language skills:

  • Excellent level of oral and written English (working language of the project);
  • Knowledge of Arabic of at least one team member to interview Libyan partners (or at least translator).

1.1.2     Anticipated team structure

The evaluator may be an independent evaluator and/or an evaluation agency. If it is a team of evaluators, the distribution of roles and responsibilities throughout the evaluation process must be presented. This will be discussed and approved during the inception meeting.

Additional information

1       General information

Title of assignment

Expertise France is seeking consultancy for the execution of the mid-term evaluation of the project E-nable: “Innovative Approach for a Resilient Libyan Economy” in Libya.

Beneficiary / beneficiaries

Expertise France

Libyan Partners (Ministry of Economy and Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of Finance, General Information Authority, Libyan Credit Information Center, Tax Administration, Chamber of Commerce, Bureau of Statistics and Census)

European Union Delegation

Location

Tunisia, with field visit in Libya

Application Deadline

06/08/2023 12pm (Tunis Time)

Employment Type

Contract-based (both individuals and companies can apply)

Expected duration of Assignment

25 days from beginning of September 2023 to end of December 2023

1.1       Tender assessment methods (optional)

Expertise France will select the bid with the best score based on the following table:

Criteria

Maximum score

1.    Technical outline score, including:

70

1.1.   Methodology score

40

Demonstrated understanding of the ToR and the objectives of the services to be provided

10

Overall methodological approach, quality control approach, relevance of the proposed tools and analysis of the difficulties and challenges encountered

20

 

Structure of tasks and schedule

10

1.2.   Evaluation team score

30

2.    Financial outline score

30

TOTAL SCORE

100

 

2       LEGAL and ETHICAL MATTERS, NORMS and STANDARDS

Ethical considerations will be taken into account in the evaluation process. Accordingly, the evaluators will be sensitive to beliefs, manners and customs, act with integrity and honesty in the relationships with all stakeholders. The evaluators shall also respect people’s right to provide information in confidence and make participants aware of the scope and limits of confidentiality, while ensuring that sensitive information cannot be traced to its source.

The EF’s Evaluation Policy follows the principles set out in Expertise France's Charter of Ethics, particularly with regard to its commitments in terms of aid effectiveness and in line with the principles of ownership, alignment, harmonisation, results-based management, mutual accountability and capacity development. It adheres to the OECD principles for evaluation to which Agence Française de Développement-French Development Agency (AFD) and a majority of international donors also subscribe, i.e. impartiality and independence, credibility, usefulness, and participation of donors and beneficiaries”. EF is committed to taking into account accountability to beneficiaries at all stages of the project, from project design, through all stages of the action and up to the final evaluation of the project.

The policy aims at transparency by providing accessible and timely information to beneficiaries on the organisational procedures and processes that involve them to ensure that a dialogue can be established between the agency and project stakeholders. According to the same principle of accountability, EF is committed to enabling beneficiaries to play an active role in decision-making and to engage them appropriately throughout the project. Their feedback is also integrated and is fed into the agency's continuous learning.

 

Selection criteria for applications

The selection process for candidates will be based on the following criteria :

  • Candidate’s training/skills/experience

Deadline for application : 2023/08/07 12:00

File(s) attached : 20230613_E-NABLE_ToR Mid term Evaluation_VF.docx

Expertise France is the public agency for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates around four key priorities :

  • democratic, economic, and financial governance ;
  • peace, stability, and security ;
  • climate, agriculture, and sustainable development ;
  • health and human development ;

In these areas, Expertise France conducts capacity-building initiatives and manages project implementation, leveraging technical expertise and acting as a project coordinator. This involves combining public sector expertise with private sector skills to drive impactful results. 

This website uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue we assume that you consent to receive all cookies on all websites.
For further information, please click here >>.