Terms of Reference

Provision of employability skills training and facilitating employment linkage for people with disabilities

1. BACKGROUND

BRIDGES is a five-year programme (2019-2024) that aims to create employment opportunities for young women and men by unlocking the job creation potential of industrial parks, large enterprises as well micro, small and medium enterprises.

With Ethiopia’s labour force expanding by two million each year, BRIDGES seeks to contribute toward the country’s efforts to create productive and decent jobs for the youth by direct job creation within factories, as well as promoting employment opportunities in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The result of these efforts will be the creation of jobs for more than 500,000 young people.

First Consult is implementing BRIDGES, a Mastercard Foundation, Young Africa Works initiative. First Consult is the leading development consulting organization in Ethiopia implementing economic development projects. Founded in 2006, First Consult has grown to design and implement projects across the agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. Our multidisciplinary teams combine a capacity to execute with a clarity of the local context. We have delivered at-scale real impact in terms of jobs & wealth creation, business formation & growth, and investment attraction & mobilization.

2. BACKGROUND SPECIFIC TO THE ASSIGNMENT

People with disabilities (PWD) in Ethiopia face multifaceted challenges related to employment due to limited employability skills, distorted self-identification, lack of access to job information alternatives, and employers’ negative mind-set to recruit PWD. Mind-set and soft skills training are essential for young people with disabilities to become assertive, find and keep jobs, and provide employers with a properly screened and trained workforce supply.

First Consult is looking for a service provider to develop PWD-friendly training manuals, provide mindset and soft skills training directly to young PWD and facilitate employment linkage within organizations through employing different mechanisms. This will involve identifying employers in different sectors and industries, gauging their labour needs, changing their negative mindset about PWDs (if any), and matching them with a supply of a trained workforce.

3. PURPOSE

The purpose of this ToR is to identify and hire a highly competitive, experienced and capable service provider to partner with different stakeholders such as the Addis Ababa Women, Children and Youth Bureau; Ethiopian Center for Disability Development (ECDD) and Cheshire Foundation Action for Inclusion and Action (CFIA)  to identify job seekers who are PWDs, deliver mindset and soft skills training for 4,000 PWDs and facilitate employment linkage for at least 1500 job seekers who are PWDs in different sectors and industries of the economy in Addis Ababa, Amhara and Oromia regions.

4. OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the assignment is to:

• Conduct rapid assessment and identify the supply and demand ecosystem in relation to people with disabilities.
• Identify jobseekers in the disability spectrum (PWD who are willing to be engaged in wage employment), in collaboration with partners such as Addis Ababa Women, Children and Youth Bureau, CFAI and ECDD.
• Design and develop PWD-friendly employability and mind set training materials (training materials tailored to the needs of job seekers in the disability spectrum).
• Provide employability skills, ToT training to different partner organization
• Deliver employability and mindset trainings for 4,000 job seekers who are PWDs.
• Lobby key stakeholders and employers to create employment opportunity for people with disabilities.
• Facilitate employment for 1,500 trained jobseekers who are PWDs in the form of apprenticeships and full-time employment in different sectors and industries of the economy in Addis Ababa, Oromia and Amhara Region.
• Promote awareness and sensitization among hiring organizations about PWDs.

5. SCOPE OF WORK (This has to be aligned with the proposed budget, that service provider will submit).

The specific tasks under this assignment will be to:

1. Prepare a comprehensive action plan that includes conceptual framework that shows the program implementation.
2. Conduct rapid assessment to address the challenges of job seekers who are PWDs with regard to wage employment and examine the interest of potential employers in hiring PWDs
3. Organize a launching workshop, sign MoU with relevant stakeholders and establish strong working partnerships with relevant government and non-government partners.
4. Prepare a training module tailored to the needs of job seekers who are PWDs as well as detail description on how to engage with potential employers.`
5. Identify PWDs job seekers and employers in partnership with different stakeholders
6. Identify potential employers for apprenticeship and direct employment
7. Conduct trainings, oversee training sessions; provide monitoring and support services; submit periodic reports on training and employment status of jobseekers; conduct assessment of impact; and collect and record feedback from stakeholders
8. Regularly lobby employers and key stakeholders to promote inclusion of PWD in the labour market.
9. QUALIFICATIONS

The service provider should:

• Be a licensed and qualified consultant with at least five years of prior work experience in the field of training, stakeholder management, HR development and facilitation of employment
• Have demonstrated knowledge and experience in developing training modules/curriculum, training materials, etc.
• Have experience and skills in facilitating stakeholder/working group consultations and training.
• Have strong network and linkage with different public and private employers in the region (Addis Ababa city administration, Oromia and Amhara region).
• Experience in working with PWDs will be a plus.

7. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The service provider shall deliver employability and mindset change training and employment linkage for 4,000 jobseekers and 1,500 trainees respectively.

1. LOCATION AND DURATION

The service provider is required to work for one year from the date of signing of the contract in Addis Ababa, Oromia and Amhara region.

2. WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

The selected service provider will work with First Consult under the BRIDGES Programme and in close working relationship with relevant regional and city government institutions and other non-governmental stakeholders.

3. EVALUATION

First Consult will review submitted proposals in accordance with the specific qualification, experience requirements, and specific tasks stated above. The evaluation will be done in a two-stage process against criteria in the table below. The first stage will comprise the Technical Evaluation which will be based on the technical proposal whilst the second stage will comprise the Financial Evaluation which will be based on the budget proposal. It is the bidder’s responsibility to ensure that it has responded to both evaluation criteria. Bidders must ensure that they have included all supporting documents. Applicants should clearly indicate their experience and previous engagements in line with the specific requirements listed.

1. APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants should email their proposal (technical and financial) to bids2@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information detailed in the technical and financial sections of their proposal. The subject of the email should read Service provider – Employability skills training and employment facilitation for persons with disabilities. Proposals must be received no later than 5 PM on 11 January 2022.

For any queries relating to this assignment, please contact Dagmawi Admasu via dadmasu@firstconsultet.com before 5 PM on 5 January 2022.

Technical Proposal: Interested parties should submit a technical proposal providing the following information:

• Understanding of the TOR
• An outline of the proposed methodology and previous relevant experience
• A project timeline detailing the anticipated delivery dates of the deliverables defined in the Scope of Work

Financial Proposal:

• Budget should be indicated in ETB including taxes.
• All costs (e.g. professional fees, travel costs) must be detailed. Lump sum budgets and budgets quoted in a foreign currency will NOT be considered.

 A separate attachment must be sent to the same email address comprising of the company profile with relevance to the required work, detailed CVs of consultant/s and references on previous similar works.