83461792 Consultancy for an LMIS assessment in Cameroon

1. Context

GIZ:

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. As a public-benefit federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government – in particular the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – and many public and private sector clients in achieving their objectives in international cooperation in around 120 countries.

GIZ AU:

Since 2004, GIZ has been a reliable and trusted partner of the African Union (AU) to enhance inclusive growth and sustainable development on the African continent in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. With more than 200 staff, GIZ African Union cooperates with the AU Commission, as well as the AU’s specialised institutions and agencies, such as the Development Agency AUDA-NEPAD, at continental, regional and national level in more than 35 member states. Key areas of engagement include Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention, Governance and Migration, Sustainable Economic Growth and Employment, as well as Health and Social Development.

The Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS) lays a leadership role in ensuring the overall coherence of social development programs and in promoting, monitoring and evaluating associated policies and strategies. As part of the Department of HHS, the Division of Labour, Employment and Migration focuses on the rights, labour standards, integrated employment policies and social security systems. It provides guidelines for Member States to draw up their own country specific frameworks, based on national needs and priorities. It supports the implementation of effective labour and employment policies and programmes aligned with the various AU, RECs and international legal instruments and policy frameworks.

In a bold and timely initiative, the African Union Commission (AUC), through HHS, together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) developed a regional programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa (JLMP). The JLMP is an instrument dedicated to the implementation of the 5th Key Priority Area of the Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment, Poverty Eradication, and Inclusive Development, which was adopted by the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments (AU/Assembly/AU/20(XXIV)/Annex 3, January 2015) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The overall objective of the JLMP is to strengthen the effective governance and regulation of labour migration and mobility in Africa, under the rule of law and with the involvement of key stakeholders across governments, legislatures, social partners, migrants, international organizations, NGOs, and civil society organizations. Its immediate objectives are to strengthen effective governance of labour migration in Africa; and promote decent work for regional integration and inclusive development.

To ensure the take off the JLMP, a Three-Year Project (2018-2021), the JLMP Priority, was developed with the overall objective to improve the governance of labour migration to achieve safe, orderly and dignify migration in Africa as committed in relevant frameworks of the AU and RECs, as well as relevant international human rights and labour standards and other cooperation processes. That project was succeeded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)-funded project Labour, Employment and Mobility Actions of the AU-ILO-IOM Joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa (JLMP Lead) aims to contribute to the JLMP objective of strengthening the effective governance and regulation of labour migration and mobility for enhanced sustainable development for inclusive economic growth and regional integration of the African Continent.

The AUC, in collaboration with its implementing partners, the ILO and IOM, kicked off the “Catalytic Actions of the Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP-Action)” in June 2021 to contribute to the objective of the JLMP of strengthening effective governance, and regulation of labour migration and mobility, for enhanced sustainable development for inclusive economic growth and regional integration of the African Continent. The JLMP Action project will roll-out the implementation of the first phase of the JLMP Strategic Framework and Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (2020-2030), led by the AUC and in collaboration with ILO and IOM, and with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It will be implemented until December 2024 with two priority RECs namely, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and five Member States Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Morocco.

Anchored on the JLMP Strategic Framework (2020-2030), one of the priorities of the JLMP is to strengthen effective governance of labour migration in Africa by ensuring that Member States and RECs put in place evidence-based, human-rights centered, and gender responsive policies, strategies and interventions and systems aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers and members of their families throughout the entire migration cycle. To this, the Programme advocates for increased domestication of key African Union, Regional Economic Communities and international legal frameworks on human rights and standards on human mobility, trade in services, free movement, and labour migration; and support for evidence-based labour migration management through increased utilization of labour migration disaggregated data and statistics. Further, the Programme encourages Member States to provide accurate and timely information to migrants on safe and regular migration, including legal pathways for amongst others the pre-decision orientation purposes.

To achieve this, the JLMP:

1. provides support and lobby for Member States to improve the ratification of key international standards for labour migration governance: AU and RECs legal instruments; including ILO C-97, ILO C-143 and the ICRMW; labour standards ILO C-87, C-181 and C-189, and ILO Social Security Conventions C-102 and C-118.
2. facilitates technical advisory engagements and capacity building training in line with the JLMP Capacity Building Strategy to Members of Parliaments (PAP, Regional and National Parliaments), labour migration institutions at the Member States level, social partners (employers and workers’ associations), diaspora associations and the RECs Secretariats to lobby and advocate for ratification and domestication of legal instruments
3. promotes legal instruments as foundations for the development of evidence- based rights-centered and implementation plan; and gender responsive labour migration policy frameworks at the RECs and Member States levels.
4. supports labour market information and labour migration sex-disaggregated administrative data management in key labour market institutions (social security institutions, private recruitment agencies, public employment services, labour inspections, etc.) by developing common and shared guidelines and tools on the collection and utilization of administrative data.
5. develops knowledge-based products and advocacy tools for usage by various stakeholders including academia, Member States, RECs Secretariats, etc. and
6. compiles migration narratives and migrant workers’ experiences for advocacy, programme development and interventions; and to monitor and evaluate the state of play of labour migration in Africa including African migrants in other regions such as the GCC countries.

Many African countries have recognised the need for adequate information to support new labour market policies and programmes. However, available information on labour market developments is often fragmented, limited in scope, or outdated. Also, several labour market and migration indicators are not collected on a regular basis, and statistical practices in terms of classification and documentation are not harmonised. Similarly, the issue of labour migration is also becoming more challenging to measure, often due to increased freedom of movement, e.g., cross-border and free mobility in the context of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), limited financial and human resources, traditional data sources, such as household surveys, may become insufficient. Furthermore, at present, administrative data has not been used efficiently for the purpose of labour migration statistics.

Recognizing the challenges faced by Member States in the governance of labour migration on the continent, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted, in

January 2015 in Addis Ababa, the Ouagadougou+ 10 Declaration and Action Plan on

Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development in Africa, which call on Member States, under Key Priority Area 4, to build well-functioning and inclusive labour market institutions. The policy calls on MS, RECs, and AUC to implement the Framework for the Harmonization and Coordination of Labour Market Information Systems to strengthen human resource planning capacities to improve understanding, participation and partnership in the formulation, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of inclusive development policies. Further, the promotion of Integrated Labour Market Information Systems (ILMIS) is a direct response to the request expressed by the Ministers of Labour during 3rd and 4th Specialized Technical Committee on Social Development, Labour and Employment by the African Union calling for appropriate measures on improving Labour Market Information System (LMIS) to support Member States in understanding the state of their labour market and labour migration situation so as to develop evidence-based policies. Also, the LMIS can be used as an information technology and database solution for manpower planning and skills development to match with the complexities of modern-day labour markets and the future of work.

The LMIS development process requires the participation of actors from the public, private and social sectors involved in the collection and analysis of labour-related data. Current data entry practice is fragmented, non-shared and non-harmonised. The standardization of the data collection format, the definition of a data and information sharing policy and the definition of a dissemination mechanism to the various stakeholders are essential and fundamental areas for LMIS.

Therefore, understanding the needs, expectations and concerns of each stakeholder is essential to develop a more elaborate and comprehensive system that provides reliable labour market information for informed decision-making. To achieve this, it is necessary to examine the institutional framework or arrangement of the various bodies involved in Labour Market Information (LMI) from the perspective of organizational, social, and technical aspects.

To this end, the African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with JLMP partners, ILO and IOM, as well as the ministry in charge of labour, the national statistics institute and other national stakeholders in Cameroon, shall conduct a comprehensive assessment on the state of labour market and migration information system to understand the basic requirements and similar existing platforms to reflect the current labour dynamics in the country. This will ensure that all stakeholders producing and utilizing labour market in the country are engaged in the process and that labour migration data is mainstreamed in the labour market information system.

To this end, a qualified consultant will be hired to undertake a comprehensive assessment on the current state of LMIS in Cameroon.

Tasks to be performed by the contractor

Contractor is expected to conduct an assessment to determine the effectiveness of the existing LMIS mechanism in collecting, analyzing and disseminating labour market and labour migration data in Cameroon and if and how it supports employment and migration policy formulation and implementation.

The assessment should be conducted in close coordination with all relevant stakeholders like the Ministry in charge of Labour, the National Statistics Institute in Cameroon other custodians and end users of labour market information to achieve the following:

1. Provide an overview of existing and available labour market and migration related data collection and analysis frameworks, systems, and structures.
2. Undertake a stakeholder mapping and their needs assessment for LMIS in relation to employment planning and migration issues.
3. Provide an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of existing mechanisms/structures for the coordination of data collection, the harmonization of data sources (censuses, surveys, and administrative sources, etc) to collect and analysis of labour market information and migration related data and processing systems.
4. Identify any alignment and gaps between national practices and international standards in data collection for international labour migration statistics, i.e. the 20th ICLS concerning statistics of international labour migration.
5. Identify information and specific data needs to develop labour migration policies that are evidence-based and that reflect real labour market needs. Assess the capacity of LMIS to generate and disaggregate evidence-based data of trends and developments specific to gender and other vulnerable groups in relation to labour development, participation and migration issues.
6. Assess the willingness of the key stakeholders to collaborate in sharing and in contributing to data collection, analysis and disseminating labour and migration information among concerned institutions and end users.
7. Assess the level of awareness and knowledge of the use of the LMIS among key stakeholders and end users.
8. Identify mechanisms for improving the collection and analysis of labour market and migration and integrate with existing national level labour market information system.
9. Identify feasible mechanisms to facilitate the sharing of labour market and migration related information among concerned institutions, stakeholders and end users.
10. Drafting of the capacity building strategy and recommendations for the sustainability of a functional Labour Market Information System based on the inputs of relevant stakeholders.
11. Propose a roadmap and blueprint of a functional LMIS based on the assessment needs identified.

The consultancy work will utilize both quantitative and qualitative approaches to conduct the assessment. In carrying out the assessment the Consultant is expected to demonstrate and make considerations for the following:

1. Guidelines adopted by the international Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS).
2. AU Guidelines on establishment of labour market information systems
3. Knowledge of indicators design and management specific to labour migration statistics.
4. Other international standards such as the African charter of Statistics.
5. Gender mainstreaming and concerns for under-represented populations.
6. Data processing, storage, access, and inter-operability.

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant:

1. Develop a detailed inception report on the methodologies, approaches, and tools to be used to undertake the comprehensive assessment. In addition, key resource materials to be used, survey instruments, list of stakeholders for consultation and a detailed workplan must be included. A necessary review of literature must be undertaken indicating amongst other things:
   • Comparison between national practices and international standards on key concepts and definitions (international migrant, international migrant worker, return international migrant worker, for-work international migrant, and data sources stock statistics, flow statistics, both flow and stock statistics).
2. An assessment report that includes the following:
   • A summary of existing information about labour market and migration data and statistics and a summary of the output or information that is currently generated by the existing LMIS.
   • A mapping and needs analysis of the key stakeholders and actors that contribute to the development of the LMIS.
   • A mapping of existing relevant processes and data resources; database hosting institutions, mechanisms for collecting data and analyze their capacity to host and operate an LMIS.
   • A gap analysis in terms of structure mechanisms and methodology, data collection, analysis, dissemination and overall institutional capabilities
   • An analysis of the effectiveness of the institutional arrangement in steering and coordinating the data generation, processing, analysis in ensuring the integrity and usefulness of the LMIS.
   • A review and appraisal of existing mechanisms, survey, databases (strengths, weaknesses, and limitations) against international standards.
3. Capacity building strategy and Recommendations for the improvement of the functional LMIS based on the inputs of relevant stakeholders and their observed gaps and weaknesses:
   • The need for gender mainstreaming and improved representation of under-represented segments of the labour market
   • Appropriate structure and mechanisms to strengthen the coordination within the identified institutional arrangement.
4. A road map indicating the key actions and capacity building initiatives to enhance the methodology for data collection analysis, storage and utilization, and the availabilty and functionality of the LMIS.
5. A final evaluation report entailing gender-sensitive Labour market and labour migration data collection, analysis, storage and utilization, capacity building needs and Labour Market Information System functionality in the country incorporating all comments and contributions from stakeholders.

This consultancy will be for 32 days spread from May 09st to September 30th 2024.

Concept

In the tender, the tenderer is required to show how the objectives defined in Chapter 0 (Tasks to be performed) are to be achieved, if applicable under consideration of further method-related requirements (technical-methodological concept). In addition, the tenderer must describe the project management system for service provision.

Note: The numbers in parentheses correspond to the lines of the technical assessment grid.

Technical-methodological concept

Strategy (1.1): The bidder is required to consider the tasks to be performed with reference to the objectives of the services put out to tender. Following this, the bidder presents and justifies the strategy with which it intends to provide the services for which it is responsible.

The bidder is required to present the actors relevant for the services for which it is responsible and describe the cooperation (1.2) with them.

The bidder is required to present and explain its approach to steering (1.3) the measures with the project partners and its contribution to the results-based monitoring system.

The bidder is required to describe the key processes (1.4) for the services for which it is responsible and create a schedule that describes how the services are to be provided. In particular, the bidder is required to describe the necessary work steps and, if applicable, take account of the milestones and contributions of other actors.

The bidder is required to describe its contribution to knowledge management for the partner and GIZ and promote scaling-up effects (1.5 learning and innovation).

Personnel concept

The bidder is required to provide personnel (1 expert) who is suited to filling the position described, on the basis of their CV (see Chapter 0), the range of tasks involved and the required qualifications.

The below specified qualifications represent the requirements to reach the maximum number of points.

Short-term expert (2.2)

Qualifications of the short-term expert

• Education/training (2.2.1): Advanced education degree (Master’s level or equivalent) in computer science, information technology, economics or similar fields. – Language (2.2.2): Business fluency (C2) in English is required.
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 5 years’ continental/regional experience in demonstrable technical experience in current information gathering tools on labour and migration related data collection and dissemination
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 5 years’ continental/regional experience in:
  1. Excellent knowledge of current information gathering on labour and migration related data collection and dissemination
  2. Assisting governments or international development organization i.e. ILO through research, training on / developing policies around labour and migration
  3. Excellent knowledge of Management Information Systems especially on Labour Market and Migration information system
  4. Proven knowledge of international standards in labour statistics
  5. Demonstrated experience and skills in facilitating stakeholder/working group consultations
• Regional experience (2.2.6): Demonstrable work experience in Africa, esp.

experience working in Cameroon.