Statement of Work (SoW)

PolicyReform Consultant

Jordan USAID Local Enterprise Support Project (LENS)

17 Haram bin Qutba St, Wadi Seer- 5th floor | Amman

T (+962-6) 5822361| F (+962-6) 5822369

Date

November 13, 2017

Table of Contents

BACKGROUND

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW

PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY:

SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES

PERFORMANCE PERIOD AND DELIVERABLES

REPORTING

BACKGROUND

The USAID Jordan Local Enterprise Support Project (USAID LENS) is a five-year project to encourage the long-term economic growth and development potential of underserved Jordanian communities. USAID LENS brings together local governments, business owners and key community groups to collaborate on initiatives that will boost economic development and create jobs in their communities. These initiatives are focused on supporting the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and inclusive of women, youth and low-income populations. The growth of MSEs is vital to economic development, as local towns that have a higher number of locally owned businesses have more engaged citizens who are invested in developing a stronger and more prosperous community.

USAID LENS works in the governorates of Amman, Irbid, Karak, Tafilah, Zarqa and Aqaba. Over the course of its duration, the Project focuses on bringing growth and innovation to local communities in these areas through:

•Promoting an enabling policy environment: USAID LENS strengthens the overall policy environment by identifying and removing regulatory barriers to MSE growth and by ensuring that local officials have the mandate and administrative authority to carry out local economic development initiatives.

•Building strategic local economic planning capacity: USAID LENS works with local government officials in targeted areas to help them attract investment to their communities, create a better business environment and facilitate growth.

•Building MSE capacity to enhance competitiveness and productivity: USAID LENS works directly with MSEs in targeted sectors to help them grow and become more competitive. The project also works to build the capacity of business service providers, including associations and chambers, to help them provide better services and training to MSEs.

•Fostering better access to finance: USAID LENS encourages better MSE access to finance by working with developmental and micro-finance institutions to improve their service offerings to firms and individuals, as well as building the capacity of MSEs to borrow. The project also helps clarify the resources available to municipalities for local economic development and supports their capacity to access available resource.

•Building stronger local networks to encourage economic development: USAID LENS will work to create, strengthen and expand linkages among and between local institutions in the public and private sectors. Additionally, the project helps connect firms with industry associations, chambers, and business service providers to help boost MSE competitiveness and access to new markets.

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW

As part of its efforts to support micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Jordan, the USAID Jordan Local Enterprise Support Project (LENS), has been working on providing new opportunities for home-based Businesses (HBBs) in Jordan since 2015. USAID LENS has worked closely with key stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Greater Amman Municipality to develop a new legal framework to help support the economic participation of HBBs.

In 2016, USAID LENS submitted a regulatory proposal to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MOMA) advocating the extension of an instruction regarding the registration and licensing of home-based businesses, which was only applied within Greater Amman Municipality, excluding other municipalities in Jordan.

Later that year, this proposal was accepted by MOMA, published in the November 2016 National Gazette, and went into effect on August 1, 2017. This regulatory change now allows the formalization of hundreds of home-based businesses throughout Jordan, granting them legal access to new and bigger markets.

Additional work on the transportation sector, the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC)officially enforced the 2014 Regulationsrequiring commercial truckdrivers to gain new certifications that meet international standards.These requirements are in line with Jordan’s commitmentunder the European Agreement concerning the work of vehicles engaged in international road transport (AETR). The AETR has now been adopted by the UN and so will be required by an increasing number of countries in the region.The enforcement of the Regulations is the first approved action out of 3 transport-related policies that are linked to the 2015 PIL signed between USAID LENS and LTRC.
USAID LENS had developed a curriculum for the MSE training program and implemented a TOT effort that so far has reached 80 Training Centers and 146 trainees. The curriculum will now be implemented through providing ongoing training to MSEs through these qualified training centers. By the end of the first quarter of 2017, USAID LENS will reach at least 1,200 MSEs.

PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY:

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to support efforts to help recommended stakeholders to revise, understand or adopt policies that improve the enabling environment for businesses within the community.

  • Provide backstopping and technical support to the endeavor including interactions with government counterparts, production of strategic approaches, formulation of coordination mechanisms and workplans.
  • Present conclusions and recommendations based on evidence from data collection and analysis
  • Perform regulatory revision to the upcoming policy issues. Also, perform a rapid regulatory impact assessment to the said bylaws, and support in getting the Instructions approved and officially passing,
  • Support the legislative drafting of anticipated legislative amendments
  • Develop a strong network with government officials and other stakeholders;

PERFORMANCE PERIOD AND DELIVERABLES

This consultancy is expected to start on Dec 1, 2017 and end on Sep 13, 2018 and will be for 100 LOEs.

As the consultant will be required to work on different policy files as needed, separate task orders will be initiated by the different USAID LENS technical leads and will be approved by USAID LENS COP. Each task order will clarify the requested LOE, deliverables and reporting needed.