Lebanon enterprise development (LED) midterm performance evaluation : final report

The Lebanon Enterprise Development (LED) is a three-year, $14-million activity aimed at increasing employment opportunities for Lebanese citizens by employing a Buyer-Led Approach (BLA) to create jobs with micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

This evaluation aims at assessing LED?s performance to date and make a recommendation on exercising the extension option in the contract. The evaluation team (ET) carried out a total of 63 key informant interviews (KIIs) and analyzed the project?s monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) database.

We found the BLA consistent with the USAID/Lebanon?s Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), though with some questions around a range of interventions beyond firm-level TA. There is evidence of strong growth in jobs, sales, and investment, mostly attributable to LED, but job targets are very unlikely to be reached without a longer time horizon. The biggest perceived constraint was the Lebanese economy. The most cost-effective sectors were service industries, and the most cost-effective technical assistance (TA) was product/design development. The industrial and manufacturing sector, human resources (HR), and ISO certification appear to be the most scalable. There is a limited window on sustainability because of the project?s recent start.

Our preliminary recommendations include: (1) revising targets to reflect time lag on jobs, including possibility of post?period of performance (PoP) measurements; (2) loosening criteria for MSME selection and loosening rules during assistance to reach targets in PoP; and (3) conferring and setting deliverables around Objective 2, the business enabling environment (BEE).