Technical Assistance Services for the Economic and Social Fund for Development (ESFD) Project | | North South Consultants Exchange

Technical Assistance Services for the Economic and Social Fund for Development (ESFD) Project

ESFD: Dedicated to alleviate poverty in Lebanon

Description

The Economic and Social Fund for Development (ESFD) has been contributing to social development in Lebanon, proving itself as an appreciated example of the successful partnership between the EU and the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR). It reaches out to the underprivileged strata of the population, improving living conditions in deprived communities and creating job opportunities for the owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). […]

In 2002, the ESFD started its activities in line with its mission of alleviating poverty and mitigating the social impact of economic transition on marginalized and disadvantaged groups in Lebanon.

The ESFD Project aims to alleviate poverty and mitigate the social impact of economic transition on disadvantaged groups through the creation of opportunities for economic and social development, generation of jobs and revenues and through the improvement of the population’s access to basic social services. A total of 31m EUR is dedicated to the Project, comprised of EU -funds of 25
m EUR and the Lebanese Government-funds of 6m Euro. In addition to the 2.2 m EUR Technical Assistance (TA) budget, operational funds for each project component have been dedicated as indicated below. The ESFD project is part of the EURO-Med partnership established between the European Commission and the Republic of Lebanon in November 2000. The ESFD Project pursues its objectives through two main components:

  • The Job Creation Component (Operational Funds = 14m EUR) aims at the provision of financing to micro-enterprises or individuals, in addition to non-financial support services aiming at improving the viability and sustainability of submitted projects. Credit lines shall be provided through a group of banks and NGOs to be selected based on a set of criteria including competence, financial strength, outreach to poor communities and target groups. Moreover, the intermediaries and final beneficiaries shall benefit from technical assistance to improve the preparation, management and follow-up of the financed projects.
  • The Local Development Component (Operational Funds = 7m EUR) aims at satisfying the needs in terms of access to social services and improvement of the well being of the most disadvantaged groups, including illiterate women. Systematic local development will be based on the promotion of projects proposed by local organizations, particularly municipalities, NGOs, and cooperatives in order to ensure effective local participation in the proposed projects.

Large numbers of grants were awarded to small and medium enterprises aiming at improvement of the most disadvantaged groups including women and young unemployed. Institutional sustainability was achieved and the ESFD is operating autonomously, without further substantial external assistance.

Services

  • Creating job opportunities, to generate revenues and to improve the access of the target population to basic quality services on a sustainable basis.
  • Support to the elaboration of the ESFD-structure to be an autonomous body, including identification of human resources, legal and institutional setting, policies (overall social development strategy, needs assessments, targeting of the ESFD’s NGO grants and development activities).
  • Support to the ESFD, institution building (legal and institutional setting, status and progressive consolidation, preparation of transfer of responsibilities from the PMU to the ESFD.
  • Support to the implementation of the “Job Creation” and the “Community Development” components of the ESFD.
  • Prepare a medium and long-term strategy for socio-economic development.
  • Introduce Project Cycle Management and a monitoring and evaluation system for the grants schemes.
  • Assisting PMUs in drafting Call for proposal documentation, assistance during evaluation procedure and proposals assessment; contract signature.
  • Prepare and implement M&E system and procurement training for NGOs and municipalities sub grants to support community development project.
  • Prepare and implement M&E system and procurement training for MFI and banks to manage project loans for delivery of microfinance services.