Consultancy – Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Integrated Labour Market Analysis (LMA) Study

Iraq

WORK PACKAGE	Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Integrated Labour Market Analysis (LMA) Study
LOCATION	Iraq
APPLICATION DEADLINE	May 26, 2023
EXPECTED START DATE	June 2, 2023

BACKGROUND

WUSC is a leading Canadian international development organization that works with and through its southern partners to promote sustainable development. Founded in 1957 and currently working in 22 countries worldwide with an annual budget of approximately $45 million dollars, WUSC’s mission is to foster human development and global understanding through education and training. Our internationally recognized programs support youth, women and other marginalized populations, focusing on three thematic areas of education, employment and empowerment. Globally, WUSC works with a network of higher education institutions, civil society organizations, private sector partners, professionals, students, volunteers, faculty and community leaders that can be leveraged to support our work.

Canadian Leaders in International Consulting Inc. (CLIC), founded in 2007, is a professional services firm that provides high quality technical assistance and strategic advice in governance, institutional development, restoration and capacity building to public, private and not-for-profit sectors. CLIC works extensively in conflict and post conflict environments providing livelihood and stabilization services. In addition, CLIC conducts research, implements monitoring and evaluation and development projects globally with a focus on the broader Middle East and North Africa. Over the past 3 years CLIC has implemented, or is currently implementing, contracts in Iraq with the WB, UNDP, the ILO and several international organizations and bi-lateral funding agencies.

WUSC and its consortium partner, CLIC, are implementing the Training And Workplace Advancement Solutions for Opportunities in the Labour Force (TAWASOL) project in Iraq. TAWASOL, a project funded by Global Affairs Canada, aims to enhance economic empowerment for female and male youth in Iraq; through establishing more inclusive employment environments enabling youth to make the transition from training to employment, and increasing more equitable participation of male and female youth graduates in the workforce. The TAWASOL project will be implemented over a period of five years, from April 2023 to March 2028 in four locations in Iraq (Baghdad, Basra, Najaf and Mosul).

NATURE AND SCOPE

WUSC wishes to retain a firm, consultant, or group of consultants to conduct a GESI-integrated labour market analysis (LMA) in the regions of Baghdad, Basrah, Mosul and Najaf focused on validating potential sectors and sub-sectors of focus for the TAWASOL project and exploring GESI considerations within this work. The analysis should be conducted in collaboration with WUSC and its project partners, building on preliminary research conducted during the project proposal stage and a stakeholder validation workshop conducted in May 2023. The assignment will be completed in close coordination with the WUSC Economic Opportunities Advisor and GESI Advisor who will share key initial research in an inception meeting to be held at the start of the assignment.

The LMA will employ a market systems approach to understanding supply and demand constraints facing young men and young women in promising high growth sectors/sub-sectors graduating from technical vocational education and training institutions (TVETs) including project partner Technical Universities (TUs) and Vocational Training Centers (VTCs). The goal of the GESI-integrated labour market analysis will be to validate and further research priority sectors/sub-sectors for support through the project, identify specific occupations important to those sectors and relevant sub-sectors, identify key private and public sector actors, explore questions related to GESI within the analysis, identify key challenges and opportunities as well as focus key actions for capacity building and change.

This LMA should integrate gender equality considerations throughout and include an in-depth GESI analysis. WUSC will be conducting a GESI-integrated baseline exercise concurrently with this study and will streamline data collection across the two studies.

The key components of the GESI-Integrated LMA will comprise of:

Context Analysis providing an overview of the labour market, professional and technical education (including TVET), and gender equality and social inclusion context in the targeted geographies
GESI analysis that explores how power, privilege and social inequalities impact young women and young men differently within the labour market analysis and provides recommendations to tailor interventions to close inequality gaps, transform unequal power relations and advance gender equality. NB: other factors of exclusion should also be considered with an intersectional approach as relevant to the project intervention areas (ie: minority status or other)
Sector Analysis and Selection, prioritizing sectors that can provide relevant opportunities for young men and young women graduating from TUs and VTCs in targeted regions
Demand/Supply Analysis of key occupations and skills within chosen sectors closely analyzing suitability for young women and young men for both employment and self-employment opportunities.
Systems mapping of key actors and employment/self employment opportunities.

Context Analysis

Economic/TVET Context

The study should capture key elements of the economic and TVET context, with a particular focus on the project’s target regions of Baghdad, Basra, Najaf and Mosul and identified project partner TU and VTC institutions.

GESI Context

The study should provide an overview of key opportunities and barriers to gender equality and social inclusion within laws, policies, regulations and institutional practices related to economic and TVET context. Some questions to explore include:

To what extent do current laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices promote gender equality and equal protections?
Do laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices have explicit or inexplicit biases?
Are there any secondary or unintentional consequences of existing policies and practices on various groups (consider intersecting power differentials e.g., gender, age, and disability)?
To what extent are laws, regulations, and policies implemented?
Are there any gaps in legislation? If so, what are the impacts? On whom? Are there any risks related to gender-based violence of these gaps?
What protections exist? For whom?
What, if any, changes have there been to laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices? How do these changes affect who has power?

In addition, this section should include an overview of services, institutions and programs operating in the gender equality and social inclusion space which may provide opportunities for change or entry points for working on gender equality and social inclusion. Some questions to consider:

What other programs exist that are supporting gender equality in the project target regions?
What are the institutional capacity gaps that hinder advancing gender equality?
What is the relationship regarding gender equality between the intervention and other actions and organizations — national, regional or international?
Who are the women’s rights organizations operating in the economic opportunities space, women’s rights more broadly, shifting social norms to promote gender equality, and/or gender-based violence?

GESI analysis

While GESI considerations are integrated throughout the entire study, the goal of this section is to explore some specific questions related to how power, privilege and social inequalities impact women and men differently and provide recommendations to tailor interventions to close inequality gaps, transform unequal power relations and advance gender equality. This will be done in the following key dimensions:

Dimension	Key questions
Access to and control over resources, and assets;	How does access, use, and control of resources vary based on intersecting power differentials, like gender, nationality, and migrant or refugee status? Do women and men have equal access to resources including finance, technologies, information, and services within the specific intervention areas of the project? What inhibits or promotes access to resources? Who manages or controls access to resources? How do social institutions and practices shape access? Do women and men have equal access to education, technical knowledge, and/or skill upgrading? Document any gaps in enrollment/attainment disaggregated by subject area (including gender gaps in applications, enrollment, and graduation). Consider how changing access and control dynamics could affect women’s safety.
Cultural norms, social norms and beliefs;	What norms, beliefs, and practices related to women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities in the workplace and at home are widely accepted or shunned in this setting? Are they related to intersecting power differentials like gender, minority group, economic status or other? What gender and social inequalities (such as age, membership in minority groups) do common norms, beliefs, and practices uphold? How do they shape who has power or privilege? To what extent are social norms and beliefs upheld by community and societal institutions (e.g., TVET institutions, technical schools, governance structures)? Who promotes popular beliefs, norms, or practices? Who is most impacted? What are the consequences of violating social norms for different groups? How do these perceptions about norms differ between men and women?
Patterns of power and decision-making;	What barriers prevent, or drivers help people make decisions about their own activities (e.g., education, work participation etc.)? Who has power to influence household decisions? How are decisions made (e.g., is there joint/shared decision- making between spouses, with children)? To what extent can young women and men influence household decision-making within their families? Who participates in the decision making in the household, the public sector, and corporate sector? Are the bargaining positions of women and men different? What formal/informal rules dictate a woman’s decision-making abilities?

Sector Selection/Validation

The goal of the sector selection process is to identify potential high growth sectors and value chains that have opportunities for increased growth and job creation, are relevant to the core target group of young women and young men, and through which TAWASOL interventions have the feasibility to facilitate systems changes to create more and better employment opportunities for young women and young men. While much secondary data available will be national in scope, a focus on levels of employment or other proxies specifically within the target regions will be most appropriate. Indicative questions are detailed within this TOR (subject to revision/change).

As part of the proposal stage, WUSC identified 2 potential sectors of focus – the Digital Economy and Renewable Energy. Prior to the start of the consultancy, WUSC will conduct an initial scoring and sector prioritization exercise based on research and consultations completed to date against the criteria listed below with the goal of identifying 2-3 proposed target sectors for the project. Following the completion of this exercise, the consultant will be engaged to support the validation of this sector selection with relevant stakeholders. Sector selection should make reference both to the current state of development within sectors/subsectors and opportunities for future growth and inclusion of young men and young women graduating from TU and VTC institutions. Careful attention should be paid to both the supply side (capacity of TUs and VTCs to graduate qualified students in target sectors, interest of young men and women) and the demand side (skill and occupation demands of employers and potential for entrepreneurship).

Key Indicative Questions for Sector Selection and Analysis

	Area of Research	Description
OPPORTUNITY – Are there opportunities for growth and employment/ self-employment in the sector? (DEMAND SIDE)	Market demand and growth potential	Demand from local, regional and/or global purchasers and consumers for key products in the sector/relevant sub-sectors and trends in demand growth. Specific opportunities for products and services produced by young men or young women. Alignment with government priorities/growth support sectors.
Competitiveness	The price and/or quality of the product (or service) compares favorably with competing regions, countries of providers. Presence of a positive enabling environment (laws, policies) to improve competitiveness.
Potential for employment/ self-employment generation	Opportunities for wage employment and entrepreneurship for young women and for young men within the sector/subsector. Alignment with private sector needs and demand.
Potential increase in individual income or wealth	Opportunities for increased incomes to be generated through occupations within the sector.
Opportunities and Constraints	Opportunities and challenges from the employer perspective – what would motivate and incentivise them to employ more young people/TVET grads, what are their recruitment and retention challenges. Are there different opportunities and constraints when considering employing young women vs young men?
RELEVANCE – Are these opportunities relevant to the needs, capacities and aspirations of young women and young men and the offerings of the TVET sector? (SUPPLY SIDE)	Aspirations of young men and young women	Alignment of sector opportunities (employment and self employment) with interests and capacities of young men and young women.
Accessibility for young men and young women	Is this sector equally accessible by young men and young women? What are the differences currently in the sector, and how can these change?
Alignment with TVET institutional capacities	Partner TVETs have the capacity to deliver programming in this sector with project support (presence of existing curriculum, instructor capacity, facilities, appropriateness of jobs for TVET training at TU and VTC level)
Opportunities and constraints	The opportunities to engage in new occupations that benefit young men and young women and the challenges that they face in doing so.
Is there a FEASIBILITY of systemic change through TAWASOL interventions? (SYSTEMS CHANGE)	Alignment with Other Initiatives	Opportunities to leverage existing and planned initiatives by government and other donors and avoid duplication.
Potential for scaling to other partners/regions	Potential for roll-out of skill training to other Governorates and institutions.
Rules and Supporting Functions	Presence of a positive enabling environment supportive of changes within the direct intervention areas of the project (relevant rules and supporting functions that must be in place to support advancement in the sector), paying attention to differences between how these rules and supporting functions may impact young men and young women.
Environment and Climate Change	The impact of environmental conditions and climate change on the sector and the impact of the sector on the environment and climate change (positive or negative).
GESI and Social norms	Sector-specific analysis aligned with the GESI dimensions outlined in the GESI Analysis section – Access to and control over resources, and assets; Cultural norms, social norms and beliefs; and patterns of power and decision-making. This analysis should include a consideration of the current role of young men and young women in the sector, relevant legal/policy frameworks, perceptions regarding the appropriateness of occupations for young men/young women and how this influences their engagement in employment/ self-employment opportunities. Potential to increase participation of young men/young women in the sector and move into non-traditional occupations/roles. Other relevant intersectional factors as identified with the WUSC team.

Demand/supply analysis of key skills.

The goal of the demand/supply analysis for specific sectors is to map out the key occupations and skills required within the sector across value chains, including employer demands for jobs by occupation, and key employers who drive this demand. Average salaries, incomes and other non-salary benefits for key occupations will be presented including any wage gaps between men and women. The study will document the key knowledge and skills required within these occupations. As noted above, attention should be paid not simply to occupations currently performed by young women and young men, but also to those that have the potential to include more young men and young women (with a particular focus on young women), and current barriers to the inclusion of young people (focus on young women) by occupation. Demand analysis should examine occupations in the context of their relevance to the target group of young men and young women (i.e. to those with lower levels of formal education and training).

Supply analysis will provide a review of current training offered for occupations in the selected subsector, the accessibility and appropriateness of such training to young men and young women, including the relative costs to the trainee. A documentation of training and service gaps (including, for example, mentorship, informal training or financial assistance) should be included.

Key Questions for Supply / Demand Analysis

Within the chosen sectors, which occupations are primarily filled by young men and young women?
Do young women and young men have information about supply of jobs in these occupations, and do employers have information about supply of trained female and male workers? How is this information currently shared?
Which occupations have the potential to be filled by young men and young women?
What knowledge, skills and attitudes are important for these occupations?
How do employers currently recruit for and fill these occupations?
What recruitment and retention barriers exist for young women and young men?
What is the current demand for employment? How many jobs go unfilled?
What key training providers (formal and informal, public and private) provide training in these occupational areas?
How represented are young men and young women in training cohorts?
How represented are male and female instructors?
What are the key barriers to entry for training faced by young women and young men?
What costs are currently associated with training? Who bears these costs?
What are the approximate employment rates for trainees following completion?
What perceptions do employers have of current training provided?

GESI-Integrated Market Systems mapping of key actors

For the key sectors/subsectors and related occupations above, the consultant will develop a GESI-integrated market systems map (using the template provided by WUSC adapted from the Springfield Center graphic below) and accompanying narrative which documents the current structure of the sector (including the core value chains, supporting functions and rules), documenting those institutions and relationships that are important for driving change towards spurring growth of jobs – recognizing and highlighting how this may be different for young women and young men. Systems mapping will also identify potential private and public sector partners that can aid in achieving program goals.

Key Questions for GESI-integrated Market System Mapping

Who are the most important core market actors in the system? Which value chains show the most opportunities for growth? To what extent are young men and young women active market actors in these core value chains? Where is there potential for young men and young women to be increasingly engaged in these roles?
What are the most important supporting functions, and who are the most important actors within? To what extent are young men and young women able to access these supporting functions? Are there specific social norms impacting how young women and young men access (or not) these supporting functions? Where are young men and young women active in providing these services/where are their opportunities to increase their engagement? What actions are needed to change/expand their roles and access to supporting functions?
What are the core rules and policies and norms that impact labour markets within the chosen subsectors and occupations? What rules (formal and informal) impact young men and young women specifically? What changes are needed to improve the participation of these groups in this sector?

SPECIFIC TASKS

Co-develop a detailed work plan in close consultation with WUSC and key partners. The workplan will clarify and refine the overall approach, methodology and timing for the study.
Review and provide feedback on draft tools and templates developed by WUSC, including key research questions, GESI-integrated information and data collection tools, preliminary sector scoring, analysis approach and report template
Collect quantitative and qualitative data, including reviews of secondary information, focus groups and key informant interviews
Coordinate with baseline assessment consultants to ensure relevant information is collected through those studies
Prepare reports as documented in deliverables below.
Participate in a review and interpretation workshop with WUSC and key stakeholders
Revise reports and recommendations following workshop results.

DELIVERABLES

Review and feedback on design methodology, tools and templates to be shared by WUSC
Detailed notes from interviews conducted with key stakeholders and summary of relevant data collected through baseline study for selected sector assessments (2-3 sectors)
A summary report of GESI-integrated labour market study findings co-developed with WUSC’s Economic Opportunities Advisor and GESI Advisor, incorporating all key questions and using the table of contents co-developed with WUSC
An interpretation workshop with key stakeholders to analyze key findings from sector-specific research (organized by WUSC)

TIMELINES

The contract period will be between 2 June 2023 and 28 August 2023. Estimated contributions expected in working days will be determined in consultation with the selected firm. The firm will have to put in place all the necessary actions to launch the labour market analysis in accordance with the following schedule.

Tasks	Indicative Deadline
Signing of Contract with WUSC	2 June 2023
Inception Meeting with WUSC	2 June 2023
Submission of detailed work plan and feedback on relevant templates and data collection tools for sector-specific analysis provided by WUSC (2-3 sectors)	9 June 2023
Review and feedback from WUSC	13 June 2023
Submission of final version of workplan and tools which incorporate WUSC comments	16 June 2023
Submission of summary notes from field consultations and compilation of relevant data from baseline assessment	6 July 2023
PPT deck providing summary of key findings	14 July 2023
Validation with relevant stakeholders	July 2023
Submission of draft report	4 August 2023
Review and feedback from WUSC	11 August 2023
Submission of final report incorporating feedback from validation workshop and WUSC Comments.	18 August 2023

Team Qualifications

The Consultant(s) should have a demonstrated track record of conducting labour market analysis and a knowledge of market systems, the TVET sector, and expertise in Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI). The Consultant(s) should hold a graduate degree in economics, business, development studies, gender or a related field.
Fluency in Arabic and English
Experience conducting similar assignments in Iraq, familiarity with the specific regions of focus preferred

Applications

WUSC Invites proponents to submit an application package including:

Technical proposal demonstrating a thorough understanding of this ToR and including the following highlighting the Capacity and qualifications of the consultant(s), including previous relevant experience), proposed methodology, timeline and approach to the GESI-integrated labour market analysis (maximum 3 pages)
CVs of all senior team leaders
Financial Proposal with a detailed breakdown of expenses related to:

Detailed budget for field data collection
Detailed administrative expenditure
Consultation fees

The consultant should propose a team best suited to complete the objectives above. The team should, at a minimum, comprise one labour market/private sector specialist with expertise in GESI, preferably a minimum of 2 team members – 1 with LMA expertise and one with GESI expertise.

WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, consultants, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence and we will not tolerate harassment, coercion and sexual exploitation and abuse of any form.

Complete applications should be submitted electronically to:

Meena Sivaloganathan, Programme Development Assistant at [email protected] with the subject line of: ‘Tawasol Labour Market Study Application’

Closing date for submission of the application package is end of business day on 23 May 2023 Interested parties are encouraged to send questions and clarifications regarding the TOR.

Please note that firms are eligible to apply for both the baseline study (see TOR also posted on WUSC’s website) and the GESI-integrated LMA, but must have the capacity to implement both assignments simultaneously.

The full TOR in PDF can be downloaded here:

Labour-Market-Analysis-TOR-1 Download

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