SOUK EL TAYEB 2021: THE GOOD FOOD MARKET IN LEBANON Souk el Tayeb (Arabic for the “good food market”) is Lebanon’s fir
Posted: Wed May 04, 2022 7:57 am
SOUK EL TAYEB 2021: THE GOOD FOOD MARKET IN LEBANON
Souk el Tayeb (Arabic for the “good food market”) is Lebanon’s
first weekly farmers’ market in Beirut created by Kamal Mouzawak in
2004, to bring people of different regions and traditions together
to celebrate food and food traditions and to support small-scale
farmers and producers. Starting with a handful of producers and
lacking a clear organizational structure, Souk El Tayeb evolved
into a well-known national farmers’ market that supported rural
producers, promoted sustainable livelihoods and agriculture and
championed a variety of awareness campaigns and community events.
The overarching vision driving Souk El Tayeb was that food was a
basic and important common denominator and hence could help bring
together fractured communities and promote unity through common
respect for local food, land and agricultural traditions.
By 2020, having accomplished significant achievements, Mouzawak
realized that Souk El Tayeb was at a critical juncture, given
Lebanon’s economic downturns and political instability and needed
to think carefully about the continuity and evolution of the
business. Through the increasing exposure and immense success of
Souk El Tayeb, an opportunity arose to plan and implement a food
event festival that ought to take place in Mar Mickael, Beirut,
June 26, 2021 (the first week of summer) and would last till July
4, 2021. The festival will have some additions to the previous
traditional food festivals where Mouzawak is seeking to initiate
other projects related to Souk El Tayeb’s vision including cultural
celebration of Lebanese cuisine, music, large parade featuring
dancers, costumes, musicians, extravagant floats and the opening of
Eco-Souk. It will be an important event, which will hopefully
attract people from around the world, where a large portion of the
returns would go to farmers, low income families and those that
have been mostly affected by the Beirut Port Explosion in August
2020. The project aims to build citizenship among diverse
communities through the promotion of respect and interaction;
impact the environment through the introduction of new campaigns
and new environmentally friendly practices; develop a platform to
showcase the beauty, joy and music of the Lebanese culture and to
strengthen the sense of belonging and nationalism, and to ease the
journey towards recovery after many unprecedented
events.
The Project Manager and the Current Situation
Given the exponential growth of Souk el Tayeb and positive
reactions from customers and producers, Mouzawak recognized the
need for a more formal system of planning and implementation and
handling of managerial aspects of the project organisation.
Mouzawak will be providing the initial investment (20%) out of his
personal funds. The remaining expenses will be mainly covered by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector
organisations.
Other important sponsors include the United Nations, BLOM and AUDI.
Other stakeholders such as local universities, local communities
and the media are keen to support this project. The project also
needs the support and governance of the Ministry of Tourism,
Ministry of Agriculture and Beirut Municipality.
Kamal Mouzawak have chosen you to manage this project given your
exceptional project management skills. You want to do a great job
because it is an interesting project and you have been searching
for a sense of fulfillment on a personal and community level that
was missing in the context of your career. Success is not only a
financial issue but also a question of purpose and meaning. It has
been agreed to develop a new project management team responsible
for coordinating the various facets of the Souk El Tayeb Festival,
because previous coordinators, such as Christine (Managing
Partner), the Quality Assurance manager and the Logistics manager,
no longer work for the company. A quality assurance system is
required to maintain the highest standards of health and safety
during the festival and all associated activities.
To effectively prepare and manage this project, it is important to
understand the history behind the festival, the Souk El Tayeb prior
involvement, the upcoming challenges, the sequence of events and
how the festival market would be divided into different sections.
Due to your busy schedule and that of Mouzawak, the planning for
the project can be initiated 1 February, 2021. Several tasks await
you, all of which are associated with Souk El Tayeb Festival, such
as the preparation of the float and the Eco-Souk that are important
deliverables embedded in the Souk El Tayeb festival project and not
as different projects.
Other Related Deliverables: The Float and Eco-Souk
The Float
It has been agreed that a float would be included in the festival.
The float should resemble Lebanese heritage, nationalism, and food
culture. The design stage of the float could begin in February,
2021. You need to meet with design companies to have a creative
float. The difficulty is working with a minimal budget. The sources
for materials and services would be limited to those companies and
individuals with whom the Souk El Tayeb organisation had an
existing account.
A contractor needs to be hired to build the float after the design
is finalized. There is no reason why the preliminary stages of the
hiring process could not be started at the same time as the design
stage. A list of names and contact information about various
contractors should be received, with information on their services,
and a proper selection criterion to choose the most appropriate
contractor. After selecting the contractor, a flatbed truck with a
driver need to be hired for the day. The driver will be required
for at least eight hours during the parade day to guide the float
on the parade route. Other activities include drafting design and
forwarding the plans for Mouzawak’s approval. However, since
Mouzawak will be exceptionally busy with out-of-office meetings and
conferences, it would take at least 2 weeks for draft review and
approval. When the final draft is approved, it could be forwarded
to the float contractor so that they can begin building. The
contractor would be responsible for all building materials, while
you need to obtain any decorations or aesthetic elements on your
own.
The float construction would happen in two phases. The first phase
could be completed before parade day. Once the contractor receives
the approved design draft from you, they could purchase the
materials required for building. Then they could prepare the major
pieces of the float by cutting the wood to the required dimensions
and assembling sections of the float. If they worked efficiently,
this task would require 10 days to complete. The second phase would
be completed on parade day morning, when the flatbed truck arrives
at the parade site. The contractor would then assemble the float
and finish construction. Your work as a project manager would not
be completed until the float reached the end of the parade route.
When the contractor finishes his work, which should take no more
than four hours, the float needs to be decorated., Finally, along
the parade route, it would be your responsibility to manage the
volunteers, entertainment and truck driver.
The most important elements of the float is entertainment! The
Lebanese celebrations is rich in cultural music and you needed to
brainstorm ideas and scope out potential talent. There are three
options: live bands, a live radio DJ(s), or pre-recorded music. The
entertained should confirm their availability for parade day and
have them sign a contract. In addition, it is expected that various
forms of entertainment would be present for the entire festival
duration.
Volunteer Management
While the decorative design elements depended partially on
available vendors, the one thing that you can guarantee was the
volunteers. The people riding the float would be an important part
of the day. You plan to have volunteers dressed in white, red and
green colored “United We Stand” t-shirts. The volunteers would need
to be energetic to draw the crowd’s attention. In addition, the
volunteers would toss giveaways into the parade crowds, including
necklaces, assorted candies and whistles. You plan to send an
office-wide email inviting staff, and their family and friends to
participate on the float. After sending emails, the next three
weeks would be about receiving RSVPs and could also address any
questions or concerns the volunteers might have. You hope to get at
least forty volunteers. Immediately after receiving the RSVPs from
the volunteers, you can obtain preferred t-shirt sizes from the
volunteers, which would probably take 7 days by the time everyone
responds to you. This way, the order for the t-shirts could be
forwarded to a production firm. T-shirt printing should not take
more than 14 business days. Using regular shipping services, the
shirts would be shipped and received within 1 week following
printing.
Eco-Souk and the Environment
More than just a unifying document of values and principles, Souk
El Tayeb’s mission was enacted daily through local support and
contribution, education and advocating both a healthy lifestyle and
environmental responsibility. The Souk El Tayeb concept did not
stop there; new projects are being envisioned to grow the business,
increase customer awareness and offer a wider variety of unique and
special products and services while supporting small scale
farmers/producers. For instance, one of the projects to be
implemented is the “Eco-Souk,” a green space where all future
activities and meetings would be held. It would also serve as a
permanent space for the farmers’ Market as well as a green play
area for kids. However, the Eco-Souk will be opened 1 month after
the Souk El Tayeb Festival ends, but the location is still
undecided. Eco-Souk would be a zero waste structure built
from recycled, reused materials, providing the space and facilities
to accommodate a large number of farmers, producers, customers and
visitors. Nevertheless, Souk El Tayeb was the first space in
Lebanon to launch the use of biodegradable plastic bags through its
‘Plastic is Back’ campaign, which underscored the importance of
upholding principles through action. ‘Plastic is Back’ campaign
will be reintroduced after they had been banned for a few years: it
capitalized on new eco-friendly biodegradable plastic bags that
began degrading within three years, leaving no hazardous effects on
the environment or wildlife.
Training
Regular training sessions are also required before the festival to
stress on roles and responsibilities and ensure that all farmers,
volunteers, project management team, staff and other stakeholders
in the network know what is required.
Questions:
4. Progress Monitoring (EV)
Describe how would you implement Earned Value on the project to
provide better control of cost and schedule against plan? What
measures would you track to determine cost or schedule overruns?
(Don’t just repeat theory – consider how it will be applied to
measure the deliverables in this project). You might make
assumption and develop a graph of key dates and costs to support
your argument.
5. Quality
Describe your approach to managing quality for the project
deliverables and the overall project considering that there are
different requirements and a number of different stakeholders for
this project. You might apply quality control tools to support your
argument
Souk el Tayeb (Arabic for the “good food market”) is Lebanon’s
first weekly farmers’ market in Beirut created by Kamal Mouzawak in
2004, to bring people of different regions and traditions together
to celebrate food and food traditions and to support small-scale
farmers and producers. Starting with a handful of producers and
lacking a clear organizational structure, Souk El Tayeb evolved
into a well-known national farmers’ market that supported rural
producers, promoted sustainable livelihoods and agriculture and
championed a variety of awareness campaigns and community events.
The overarching vision driving Souk El Tayeb was that food was a
basic and important common denominator and hence could help bring
together fractured communities and promote unity through common
respect for local food, land and agricultural traditions.
By 2020, having accomplished significant achievements, Mouzawak
realized that Souk El Tayeb was at a critical juncture, given
Lebanon’s economic downturns and political instability and needed
to think carefully about the continuity and evolution of the
business. Through the increasing exposure and immense success of
Souk El Tayeb, an opportunity arose to plan and implement a food
event festival that ought to take place in Mar Mickael, Beirut,
June 26, 2021 (the first week of summer) and would last till July
4, 2021. The festival will have some additions to the previous
traditional food festivals where Mouzawak is seeking to initiate
other projects related to Souk El Tayeb’s vision including cultural
celebration of Lebanese cuisine, music, large parade featuring
dancers, costumes, musicians, extravagant floats and the opening of
Eco-Souk. It will be an important event, which will hopefully
attract people from around the world, where a large portion of the
returns would go to farmers, low income families and those that
have been mostly affected by the Beirut Port Explosion in August
2020. The project aims to build citizenship among diverse
communities through the promotion of respect and interaction;
impact the environment through the introduction of new campaigns
and new environmentally friendly practices; develop a platform to
showcase the beauty, joy and music of the Lebanese culture and to
strengthen the sense of belonging and nationalism, and to ease the
journey towards recovery after many unprecedented
events.
The Project Manager and the Current Situation
Given the exponential growth of Souk el Tayeb and positive
reactions from customers and producers, Mouzawak recognized the
need for a more formal system of planning and implementation and
handling of managerial aspects of the project organisation.
Mouzawak will be providing the initial investment (20%) out of his
personal funds. The remaining expenses will be mainly covered by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector
organisations.
Other important sponsors include the United Nations, BLOM and AUDI.
Other stakeholders such as local universities, local communities
and the media are keen to support this project. The project also
needs the support and governance of the Ministry of Tourism,
Ministry of Agriculture and Beirut Municipality.
Kamal Mouzawak have chosen you to manage this project given your
exceptional project management skills. You want to do a great job
because it is an interesting project and you have been searching
for a sense of fulfillment on a personal and community level that
was missing in the context of your career. Success is not only a
financial issue but also a question of purpose and meaning. It has
been agreed to develop a new project management team responsible
for coordinating the various facets of the Souk El Tayeb Festival,
because previous coordinators, such as Christine (Managing
Partner), the Quality Assurance manager and the Logistics manager,
no longer work for the company. A quality assurance system is
required to maintain the highest standards of health and safety
during the festival and all associated activities.
To effectively prepare and manage this project, it is important to
understand the history behind the festival, the Souk El Tayeb prior
involvement, the upcoming challenges, the sequence of events and
how the festival market would be divided into different sections.
Due to your busy schedule and that of Mouzawak, the planning for
the project can be initiated 1 February, 2021. Several tasks await
you, all of which are associated with Souk El Tayeb Festival, such
as the preparation of the float and the Eco-Souk that are important
deliverables embedded in the Souk El Tayeb festival project and not
as different projects.
Other Related Deliverables: The Float and Eco-Souk
The Float
It has been agreed that a float would be included in the festival.
The float should resemble Lebanese heritage, nationalism, and food
culture. The design stage of the float could begin in February,
2021. You need to meet with design companies to have a creative
float. The difficulty is working with a minimal budget. The sources
for materials and services would be limited to those companies and
individuals with whom the Souk El Tayeb organisation had an
existing account.
A contractor needs to be hired to build the float after the design
is finalized. There is no reason why the preliminary stages of the
hiring process could not be started at the same time as the design
stage. A list of names and contact information about various
contractors should be received, with information on their services,
and a proper selection criterion to choose the most appropriate
contractor. After selecting the contractor, a flatbed truck with a
driver need to be hired for the day. The driver will be required
for at least eight hours during the parade day to guide the float
on the parade route. Other activities include drafting design and
forwarding the plans for Mouzawak’s approval. However, since
Mouzawak will be exceptionally busy with out-of-office meetings and
conferences, it would take at least 2 weeks for draft review and
approval. When the final draft is approved, it could be forwarded
to the float contractor so that they can begin building. The
contractor would be responsible for all building materials, while
you need to obtain any decorations or aesthetic elements on your
own.
The float construction would happen in two phases. The first phase
could be completed before parade day. Once the contractor receives
the approved design draft from you, they could purchase the
materials required for building. Then they could prepare the major
pieces of the float by cutting the wood to the required dimensions
and assembling sections of the float. If they worked efficiently,
this task would require 10 days to complete. The second phase would
be completed on parade day morning, when the flatbed truck arrives
at the parade site. The contractor would then assemble the float
and finish construction. Your work as a project manager would not
be completed until the float reached the end of the parade route.
When the contractor finishes his work, which should take no more
than four hours, the float needs to be decorated., Finally, along
the parade route, it would be your responsibility to manage the
volunteers, entertainment and truck driver.
The most important elements of the float is entertainment! The
Lebanese celebrations is rich in cultural music and you needed to
brainstorm ideas and scope out potential talent. There are three
options: live bands, a live radio DJ(s), or pre-recorded music. The
entertained should confirm their availability for parade day and
have them sign a contract. In addition, it is expected that various
forms of entertainment would be present for the entire festival
duration.
Volunteer Management
While the decorative design elements depended partially on
available vendors, the one thing that you can guarantee was the
volunteers. The people riding the float would be an important part
of the day. You plan to have volunteers dressed in white, red and
green colored “United We Stand” t-shirts. The volunteers would need
to be energetic to draw the crowd’s attention. In addition, the
volunteers would toss giveaways into the parade crowds, including
necklaces, assorted candies and whistles. You plan to send an
office-wide email inviting staff, and their family and friends to
participate on the float. After sending emails, the next three
weeks would be about receiving RSVPs and could also address any
questions or concerns the volunteers might have. You hope to get at
least forty volunteers. Immediately after receiving the RSVPs from
the volunteers, you can obtain preferred t-shirt sizes from the
volunteers, which would probably take 7 days by the time everyone
responds to you. This way, the order for the t-shirts could be
forwarded to a production firm. T-shirt printing should not take
more than 14 business days. Using regular shipping services, the
shirts would be shipped and received within 1 week following
printing.
Eco-Souk and the Environment
More than just a unifying document of values and principles, Souk
El Tayeb’s mission was enacted daily through local support and
contribution, education and advocating both a healthy lifestyle and
environmental responsibility. The Souk El Tayeb concept did not
stop there; new projects are being envisioned to grow the business,
increase customer awareness and offer a wider variety of unique and
special products and services while supporting small scale
farmers/producers. For instance, one of the projects to be
implemented is the “Eco-Souk,” a green space where all future
activities and meetings would be held. It would also serve as a
permanent space for the farmers’ Market as well as a green play
area for kids. However, the Eco-Souk will be opened 1 month after
the Souk El Tayeb Festival ends, but the location is still
undecided. Eco-Souk would be a zero waste structure built
from recycled, reused materials, providing the space and facilities
to accommodate a large number of farmers, producers, customers and
visitors. Nevertheless, Souk El Tayeb was the first space in
Lebanon to launch the use of biodegradable plastic bags through its
‘Plastic is Back’ campaign, which underscored the importance of
upholding principles through action. ‘Plastic is Back’ campaign
will be reintroduced after they had been banned for a few years: it
capitalized on new eco-friendly biodegradable plastic bags that
began degrading within three years, leaving no hazardous effects on
the environment or wildlife.
Training
Regular training sessions are also required before the festival to
stress on roles and responsibilities and ensure that all farmers,
volunteers, project management team, staff and other stakeholders
in the network know what is required.
Questions:
4. Progress Monitoring (EV)
Describe how would you implement Earned Value on the project to
provide better control of cost and schedule against plan? What
measures would you track to determine cost or schedule overruns?
(Don’t just repeat theory – consider how it will be applied to
measure the deliverables in this project). You might make
assumption and develop a graph of key dates and costs to support
your argument.
5. Quality
Describe your approach to managing quality for the project
deliverables and the overall project considering that there are
different requirements and a number of different stakeholders for
this project. You might apply quality control tools to support your
argument