Tunis, November 20, 2012

1. The Economic and Social Fund for Development (ESFD):Ten Years of Partnership with Local Authorities Tunis, November 20, 2012

2. Outline • Part I: General Overview. • Part II: ESFD Components and Mechanisms. • Part III: Impact Assessment and Lessons Learnt.

3. Part I: General Overview

4. Economic & Social Fund for DevelopmentCreation, Duration and Objective • The ESFD project is part of the Euro-Med Partnership between the EU and GOL. • The Fund started in 2002- linked to Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR). • The ESFD is supposed to become permanent and fully autonomous. • The ESFD has one aim: to reduce poverty in Lebanon.

5. ESFD Resources 5

6. Part II: ESFD Components

7. Economic & Social Fund for DevelopmentComponents 1. Job Creation Component: strengthens the individual by supporting micro/ Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). 2. Community Development Component: strengthens the communities by planning & implementing development projects in the poorest areas.

8. The Job Creation component

9. Job Creation ComponentMechanism and Purpose • Financing SMEs: • Access to credit for unbanked enterprises • Informal sector included • Financial inclusion • Business advisory services • Intermediaries: Commercial Banks

10. The ESFD is Creating Jobs ! By end of September 2012: 6,882financed projects 4495newjobs created 2284 financed projects benefited from BDS 743 business start-ups 1108 female entrepreneurs 10

11. The Community Development component

12. The Community Development component Objective Ensuring • improved access to basic services and • enhanced economic opportunities through • Partnering with Municipalities providing • Technical and Financial Assistance (Grants)

13. Why Municipalities? • Municipal Councils are elected representative body of the community. • They have a comprehensive mandate and authority for decision-making and the management of local assets and resources • They are viable structures to institutionalize and sustain the projects • The Municipal Law grants municipalities with tools for participatory development: Article 50 (partnership with civil society or private sector to establish or manage development projects) Article 53 (establishment of specialized local committees from within or outside the Municipal Council to assist in planning and decision making)

14. Implementation Cycle 14

15. Targeting Poorest Communities Strategy on Social Development in Lebanon, formulated by ESFD, identified 80 poverty pockets in 2004. Community Development Component (ESFD) target communities living in these pockets.

16. National Strategyfor Social Development Poverty Map The selection of partner communities is based on ESFD National Strategy for Social Development (NSSD). The NSSD identifies 80 poverty pockets using objective “poverty” indicators

17. Selection of poorest communities Eligible communities are called to submit Request for Partnership (RFP) Criteria included the existence of economic opportunities, cultural diversities, minimum of experience with project management… An evaluation committee is set up to evaluate the applications Selected communities sign Memorandum of Understanding with ESFD

18. Planning Phase (1) • Analysis and Diagnosis Phase: • Community mobilization: community leaders, women, youth, NGOs, etc... • Creation of dialogue structures- Local committees representing socio-economic characteristics of the community. • Information collection and analysis: local committees entrusted with gathering data related to their sectors (Village Profiles). • Stakeholders analysis: analysis of needs, interests and potential.

19. Planning Phase (2) • Problem and Objective Setting: • Presentation to the larger community. • Problem analysis- Logical Framework Approach: participatory workshop sessions for the identification of community problems and the mapping of a “Problem Tree” structured along cause-effects relationships • Objective setting “Problem Tree” inverted into “ Objective Tree” of the Local Development Plan. Cause-effects are transformed into Means-Ends relationships identifying actions/activities. • Identification of activities → Projects

20. Implementation Phase • Grant Contracts with Local Authorities. • Implementation is Beneficiary’s responsibility. • ESFD Role: supports, monitors and audits. • Impact Assessment: re-measuring of indicators.

21. The Community Development component Achievements • 30 local development plans • 39 partnership agreements for a value of EUR 10 M • 64 projects implemented from 2004 to 2011 • About 350,000 beneficiary in 100 communities have been targeted

22. Type of Projects by Sector

23. Part III: Lessons Learned

24. CD Program Impact Assessment 2011 • EC Delegation mobilized external evaluator. • A sample of 18 ESFD projects were evaluated. • After 2 years: two thirds of the projects active and one third inactive.

25. Findings: Strengths • Municipalities empowered to seek funding. • Ownership around a collective vision built at local level. • Hands-on exposure to local authorities on improved standards of transparency and accountability. • Beneficiaries turned into “development hubs”.

26. Findings: Risks andLessons Learned • Tendency of participatory approach towards coming up with non feasible projects / competing with private sector. • Design of sub-projects not immune to changes in Municipal leadership. • Design of projects’ sustainability to be given more emphasis. • Support of ESFD to communities should be extended beyond implementation to include at least one full operational cycle.

27. Final Evaluation of ESFD- April 2010 • Shorten the CD Cycle. • Improve technical analysis of projects at the planning phase. • Reduce complexity in contracting mechanisms. • Improve impact monitoring. • Improve networking with other stakeholders.

28. For further information check our websitewww.esfd.cdr.gov.lb