Terms of Reference for a Labor Market Assessment Consultant for the Advancing Girls Education and Skills (AGES) project: Pakistan 2017-2021

Background:

The Advancing Girls Education and Skills (AGES) project, funded by USAID and implemented by World Learning and a consortium of partners, is designed to improve the constellation of supports for adolescent girls so that they can thrive at home, at school, and at work. To this end, AGES works with communities, families, governments, employers, and young women themselves from across Pakistan to advance interventions that improve young women’s participation in education, economic empowerment, and community mobilization.

Province

District

KPK

Peshawar

Buner

Swat

Sindh

Karachi

Jacobabad

Ghotki

Punjab

Muzaffargarh

Balochistan

Lasbela

Note: A smaller number of young women from FATA—Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, and South Waziristan—may also benefit from training through AGES.

Component II of the AGES project will involve working with young women, their families, government departments, and institutions, universities, micro finance institutes, and employers to prepare young women for gainful employment and improve the support structures around them. Through innovative solutions and wider stakeholder engagement, AGES will also strive to make workplaces and business processes ready for young women.

Through Component 2, AGES seeks to enroll 7,000 young women aged 18-25 in technical and vocational training, and ensure that they are employed in decent working conditions. These young women are located in the provinces and districts shown in the table.

Position Summary

World Learning is recruiting a labor market assessment consultant to undertake a baseline study of key labor market conditions that will affect the selection of TVET trades for AGES, and will shape the project’s employment placement and entrepreneurship promotion strategies. The consultant will report to World Learning’s Senior Youth Workforce Specialist.

Major objectives of the labor market assessment

The present baseline labor market assessment (LMA) is needed to provide a picture of the current status of employment for the general target population in the selected districts, determine district-level growth trends that suggest the industries that could be targeted for training and employment in subsequent years of the project, identify specific potential employers, identify specific soft and hard skills gaps that make certain entry-level positions hard to fill, identify specific relevant TVET training providers, outline the existing business support structures that are accessible to young women, and reveal social norms and gender dynamics that affect young women’s access to decent work.

Desk research questions:

The LMA is expected to provide analytical responses to the following questions, based on an initial desk review of existing publications and of available primary data, with all sources fully referenced. More detailed sub-questions will be provided to further orient the work of the selected consultant.

1.      For each AGES district, what percentage of the target population (young women aged 18-25) is currently employed full-time, employed part-time, self-employed, underemployed, and not active in the labor market?  Provide any additional data available on specific industries of employment and formal versus informal sector employment.

2.      For each AGES district, what are the major employment sector trends? In particular, which sectors or industries are experiencing growth or are likely to grow in the near future?

3.      In each district, what are the TVET trades (hard skills) that are most in demand from employers? What are the entry-level semi-skilled positions that employers have trouble filling due to skills gaps? What soft skills or hard skills are missing from most applicants?

4.      What support is available for business start-up and growth in the AGES districts?

5.      What are the gender-related challenges that young women aged 18-25 in these districts face in finding and retaining employment?

The desk research section of the LMA report should be structured to provide clear responses to each of the above questions in an easy-to-reference format. Where the available data is contradictory, the LMA should describe these contradictions rather than omitting them, indicate the most convincing data or most likely interpretation, and justify that selection.

Field Research Questions

This LMA will also incorporate limited qualitative field research, focusing on interviews with employers and employees in the sectors selected based on desk research. The selected consultant will be provided with further guidance on the sampling of employment sites and the interview and focus group discussion methodologies.

The consultant’s LMA report will incorporate both the desk research and the qualitative findings into a single document. This will be presented for a validation workshop with AGES staff and other key stakeholders, and suggested revisions will be incorporated into a final document.

Key deliverables and timeline

No.

Deliverable

Due Date

1

Draft responses to desk research questions #1, #2, and #3 and participation in coordination phone call

May 4, 2018

2

Draft responses to desk research questions #4 and #5, along with raw data from employer/employee interviews and participation in coordination phone call

May 11, 2018

3

Complete draft labor market analysis report, integrating desk research and qualitative field research together and participation in coordination phone call

May 18, 2018

4

Presentation at validation workshop and completed revisions based on feedback received

May 25, 2018

This assignment is expected to require up to 20 full days of work.

Application Requirements

The application must be inclusive of the following:

1.      Cover letter indicating expertise in labor market analyses and confirming availability for 20 full days of work from April 30-May 25, 2018.

2.      CV with complete information on past employment and consultancies, education, and other relevant details.

3.      Biodata form indicating daily rate history.

4.      Two (2) writing samples in English, clearly indicating the author’s name, preferably on a relevant topic and illustrating capacity to analyze and properly cite research. If writing samples are proprietary, excerpts may be sent in lieu of full documents.