LIVCD Quarterly Progress Report - Year 6, Quarter 3

The project contributes to USAID/Lebanon Development Objective 2: "Enhance economic opportunity for the poorest segments of Lebanese society, particularly in areas outside metro Beirut." The project provides assistance to micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, including farmers and entrepreneurs in rural areas, to upgrade targeted value chains and support jobs and incomes. In the initial phase of the activity in Year 1, LIVCD conducted in-depth assessments of 10 value chains to select target value chains for upgrading. The assessments identified the constraints and opportunities for each value chain to increase competitiveness and an upgrading strategy with a range of activities to address these constraints. The following value chains were selected and approved by USAID: Pome Fruit (Apples and Pears), Stone Fruit - Avocado, Stone Fruit - Cherry, Grapes, Olive Oil, Processed Foods, Honey, Rural Basket, Rural Tourism and handicrafts, and Floriculture. During the quarter, the project continued to focus on the completion and closeout of existing grants and programming the remaining grant funds. Three new grants that fit the project's remaining time frame were approved, with a combined co-investment value of $472,494. The LIVCD grant fund contributed $199,731, with $225,433 remaining in the life of project grant pool. The project also explored the possibility of a new grant to support both apple and cherry farmers in the Arsal district, which was previously prevented due to security concerns. LIVCD submitted a fourth NXP disposition plan to USAID for equipment previously provided under twenty-four grants across all value chains. Social Impact carried out inspection visits to all grantees, and the disposition was approved shortly after the end of the quarter. The MEL team completed the statistical process to randomly select farmers for the farmer survey, which will commence in early July and is expected to be completed by the end of August. The farmer survey is being carried out to provide the results for the LIVCD annual sales indicator. The project also commenced the closedown planning phase at the end of May, with initial priorities assigned to LIVCD grants and operations staff during June. The Closedown Manager will pick back up with the team in early September once they have made progress on the initial priorities. Key closedown tasks include completing the farmer survey, finalizing the year six annual report, and preparing for the end of project evaluation, which will be carried out by Social Impact in August and September.