Somalia: CONSULTANCY FOR LABOR MARKET SURVEY IN PUNTLAND & SOUTH CENTRAL SOMALIA - Region Horn of Africa

CONSULTANCY FOR LABOR MARKET SURVEY IN PUNTLAND & SOUTH CENTRAL SOMALIA - Region Horn of Africa
Norwegian Refugee Council

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, education, emergency food security, legal assistance, and water,sanitation and hygiene sectors.
The Norwegian Refugee Council has approximately 5000 committed and competent employees involved in projects across four continents. In addition, NRC runs one of the world’s largest standby rosters -NORCAP, with 650 professionals, ready to be deployed on 72 hours notice when a crisis occurs

Norwegian Refugee Council

Somalia Programme

Education Core Competency

Terms of Reference for Labor Market Survey in Puntland and South Central Somalia

Introduction

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, humanitarian, non-governmental organization which provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees and internally-displaced persons worldwide. NRC was established in 1946 in Norway and has operations in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, America and Europe.

In the Greater Horn of Africa region, NRC responds through six specialized programme areas, including shelter, Food Security, Education, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) and camp Coordination management (CCCM). NRC has been in Somalia since 2004 supporting the displacement affected communities and implementing programs including Education, Shelter, WASH, Food Security and Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA).

NRC in collaboration with Puntland and Federal Ministries of Education and Higher Education (MOE&HE) and 7 TVET centers is currently implementing 12 months Youth Education Package (i.e. Vocational Skills training) project funded by UNICEF in Puntland and South central Somalia. The project beneficiaries are 1,530 displacement affected and vulnerable youth (50% female) between the age of 15 and 24 years.

The overall goal of the project is to improve social cohesion and resilience whereas the specific objective of the project is to enhance the livelihood opportunities for displaced youth, including returnees and vulnerable host communities through provision of market driven vocational skills training. The project aims to:

• Strengthen the capacity of the TVET center through provision of equipment and training of instructors, CEC members and center managers
• Strengthen the linkage among TVET training centers and the private & public sector actors by strengthening the Employment Promotion Service Unit of the TVET centers.
• Increase employment opportunities of the graduates through apprenticeships, creation of associations etc

Comprehensive understanding of the local labor market situation, actors, opportunities and gaps are essential for the project so that the skills training courses offered are informed by the availability of opportunities within the job market entails. This helps the project to address current skills gaps in the market, provide market-driven skills training and avoid the provision of skills that are already saturated in the market.

To this end, NRC in collaboration with the respective MOE & HEs intends to undertake labor market survey in Puntland and South Central region of Somalia. The survey will also assess the capacity of the target TVET centers to provide quality and market-driven training. The finding of the survey will identify the current situation of the labor market, guide the provision of market-driven skills training and reveal the capacity of the TVET centers in providing quality and market-driven training.

Thus, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is seeking qualified and experienced consultant to undertake labour market survey in Puntland and South central Somalia.

Objective of the consultancy

The overall objective of this consultancy is to gather local job market information that would help the project to provide market-driven vocational skills. The Survey will also assess the technical and institutional capacities of the TVET centers in the project target areas.

Specifically, this consultancy intends to;

• Identify current skills gaps and jobs available in the market for TVET graduates to inform the skills training to be provided by the project
• Assess the short-term priority skills needs and demands of the local markets categorized into skill types and levels.
• Assess the type of skills training relevant/available to the youth demographics and social groups (IDP and host communities) with respect to the labor market and employer constraints to hiring the TVET graduates from the IDP communities.
• Determine training interests of the male and female youth and whether they correspond with the demands of local economy
• Identify labor market discriminations faced by female graduates and provide ways to address it.
• To assess the technical and institutional capacity of the TVET centers in relation to the provision of identified market-demanded courses
• Assess the avenues available for trained youth to establish micro-enterprise and identify level of support needed for this to happen
• Assess the best way that the trained graduates can access to existing private microfinance institutions to get investment for their business ideas.
• Identify concrete strategies to promote youth employment after graduation
• Identify strategies to strengthen cooperation between TVET centers and private sectors in order to create jobs for the TVET graduates.

Scope of the consultancy

The consultant will;

• Find out the most employable skills training courses that can be offered by the project
• Find out current and short-term skill gaps/demand in the market classified into job type, level of skills required and location for female and male graduates
• Assess the type of skill training relevant/job available to youth demographics and social groups such as displacement affected and Host communities youth
• Find out if training interests of the male and female youth correspond with the demands of local economy
• Identify labor market discriminations faced by the female graduates and provide ways to address it
• Find out the private sector employers’ attitude towards provision of internships, and identify ways to create stronger linkages with TVET centers & graduates.
• Assess the capacity of TVET centers to provide quality market-driven skills training with a particular focus on:
  1. Center infrastructure: training classrooms, equipments, machines, recreational and WASH facilities,
  2. Instructors: Experience, level of education, trained or untrained, etc.
  3. Center Management: center management structure, capacity of Community Education Committees/ Board of Directors, center managers and other subordinate staff.
• Identify challenges faced by TVET graduates in getting employment and provide relevant recommendations and ways of creating decent work for the graduates
• Assess how private microfinance institutions provide small business loans and identify requirements and best approaches for linking the TVET graduates to have access to such opportunities

Methodology

The consultant is expected to come up with the most appropriate methodologies and approaches for undertaking this assignment , taking the following into consideration:

• Desk review of the previous labor market surveys conducted in Puntland and South Central by the Education partners, Federal and Puntland 5 years development plans, youth policies, TVET policies and strategies and any other document essential for the survey
• Field visits and collection of primary data on labor market situation
• In depth Interviews with the previous NRC trained graduates, private sector employers, stakeholders, TVET centers , relevant ministries including ministry of Education, Labor, Commerce and chamber of commerce
• Interview with the NRC trained graduates to learn about challenges in getting employment, etc
• Any other methods applicable.

Duration of the consultancy

The duration of this consultancy will be 20 working days including travel days starting from 18^th Septand ending on 13^th October 2016.

During the consultancy, the consultant will work under the direct guidance of the Education Specialist.

Deliverables

The consultant will deliver

• Inception report detailing the work plan, methodology, the sampling framework, proposed sources of data, procedures for data collection and analysis.
• Draft Final Report, incorporating suggestions and recommendations from the reference group.
• A final report in Doc and PDF formats
• An electronic copy of all data collection tools and the labor market study data set.
• A final presentation of the overall findings to the stakeholders for validation

Duties of the consultant

• Consultant should provide a detailed work plan for the consultancy
• Review all available data on identified local markets.
• Conduct site visits and collect primary data through interviews, observations etc
• Analyze and interpret the data collected

• Produce report on the labor market situation with recommendations and strategies for the delivery of market-led skills training, employment promotion for graduates and strengthening links between TVET centers and private sector employers

  Payment Modalities

  The 1^st instalment which is 30% of the total consultancy fee will be paid upon the signing of the contract by the consultant/firm and submission of payment release request. The 2^nd installment which is 70% of the total consultancy fee paid after the submission of the final report and approval by NRC.

  Profile of the consultant

• Post-graduate degree in Education, Social Sciences, Economics, Statistics or related field.

• Minimum of 10 years relevant professional experience in research and labor market studies.

• Strong background and experience in data collection and analysis.

• Technical expertise in assessing issues of labor market demand and supply in Somalia and the ability to draw strong and valid conclusions.

• Strong knowledge of TVET programs is essential. Familiarity of Somalia TVET sub-sector is an added advantage

• Excellent communication and report writing skills.

• Fluency in English language. Knowledge in Somali language will be an added advantage

• Proven experience in implementing similar tasks in Somalia.

  Application requirements

  Firms and individual consultants interested in the position should provide the following documents:

  A technical proposal focusing on understanding of the TOR with special emphasis on scope of work, methodology for selection of respondents, the task to be accomplished, draft work plan and availability dates

• Detailed financial proposal for the service rendered including breakdown of daily rates in US Dollar.

• Company/consultant profile or CV including a minimum of 3 references

Application procedures

All interested and eligible applicants are to advised to apply through online by visiting www.nrc.no, vacancies. Any other attachment of financial proposal and the technical proposal and/or any other related documents should be sent on email to habon.garad@nrc.no. Proposals are to be received by 10^th September 2016. Only Shortlisted candidates will be contacted

Please visit www.nrc.no, vacancies.

Please send proposals on email to habon.garad@nrc.no