+++ NOTE THAT WHILE FIELDWORK ENDS ON 18 AUGUST, WE VALUE INPUT AFTER THIS DATE +++ Contact: moritz.poll@undp.org OBJECTIVES The overall objective of the assessment is to explore how host nation governments, the international community, and the private sector, both domestic and global, can support job creationism for both Syrian refugees and their host communities. It is designed to support governments in the region most impacted by the Syrian crisis, with recommendations, identification of best practices and other evidence to increase the employability of the Syrians and vulnerable members of host communities. Moreover, the assessment will explore employment needs, market demands and economic opportunities in Syria to address the high unemployment rate (57%), displacement (more than of the Syrian population is displaced) and poverty (86%). The crisis in Syria has led to devastating socio-economic conditions and reversed all development gains achieved before 2011. Both displaced and host communities are struggling to maintain a decent living condition requiring immediate support to build their resilience, invest in their resources and capitals and sustain their economic institutions. The assessment is designed to build on existing bodies of research, acknowledging the national specificities and the differentiated response to the commitments in the London Declaration. It will include a series of coordinated actions aiming at (a) identifying critical gaps in terms of employment opportunities; (b) rallying existing and potential partnership at regional level to rapidly scale up employment generation; and, (c) reinforcing advocacy for enhanced investment at the country and regional levels. The results of this process will bring valuable inputs for country partners, donors and regional bodies engaged in the promotion of job creation in participating countries. It will include recommendations to improve access to employment in order to alleviate the pressure posed by the crisis on national governments and local service providers. This would in turn contribute to increasing the resilience of host communities. PURPOSE The assessment will build on existing research while also presenting recommendations for livelihood programming, based on wide consultation with national authorities, the private sector and key partners within the humanitarian/development community. The assessment of the livelihoods and economic opportunities is undertaken with a view to providing the basis to scale-up investments in livelihoods and economic opportunities with the analysis of demands (sector-based analysis of human resource and skills needs) and supplies (availability of human resources with skills of both Syrians and non-Syrians) of different sectors in the labour market as well as potentials of self-employment creation through MSMEs development and growth. It is consistent but not limited to WFP Vision 2020; UNDP’s 3x6 Regional Initiative; and ILO’s Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIPs) as well as other tools such as Start Your Business, value chain development, Making Markets work for the poor, joint business ventures between Syrians and host communities; and other UN, bilateral and multilateral partners contributing to the 1.1 million livelihoods and economic opportunities target that emerged from the London Conference. Coordination with other relevant UN and non-UN agencies will be critical for the success of the exercise. The assessment will aim at strengthening the involvement of the private sector in humanitarian and development response as well as competitiveness of selected economic sectors with high Syrian refugee and displaced influx, leading to higher possibilities for employment both inside and outside Syria, with the corresponding linkages. As such, it will aim at identifying the entry points to engage the private sector companies which already operate in Syria and its neighboring countries as well as to attract the foreign investments in particular by the European-based companies, which are not yet present in the region. The assessment will also define priority action points to leverage issues such as partnership with Syrian businesses inside and outside Syria, and involvement of the Syrian workforce and Syrian businesses, latent or active in host communities as appropriate, and reduction of dependency on humanitarian aid through sustainable livelihood creation. The assessment will aim at providing the age and gender specific analysis to lead to the practical recommendations of interventions for young men and women, women and men.