South Sudan: Consultancy (Baseline Survey and Market Needs assessment )

‘’Youth Employability and Participation (YEP) – provision of social and economic empowerment alternatives for youth in South Sudan’’
Save the Children Context
Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children. With work in 120 countries, we save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We have over two million supporters worldwide. Our key programmes are health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also relief in times of humanitarian crises.
Save the Children has been operating in South Sudan since the early 1990s and currently implements programmes in eight out of ten states, including the states most affected by the current conflict. Save the Children works closely with local and international non-governmental organizations across a number of sectors including education, health and nutrition, child protection, child rights governance, food security and livelihoods.
Programme Description
Programme context
Recognizing the lack of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) opportunities for youth, and limited access to employment opportunities due to lack of employable skills among the youth, Save the Children in partnership with ‘Diar for Rehabilitation and Development Association’ (DRDA - national local organization) was awarded a contract by European Commission to implement a three years (January 2016- December 2018) ‘Youth Employability and Participation (YEP) – provision of social and economic empowerment alternatives for youth in South Sudan’ project in three counties of lakes state (Rumbek Central, Cueibet and Wulu).The project aims to enable increased access to decent and sustainable self-employment and/or employment of 1200 deprived young women and men (aged 15-24) in Lakes State (Wulu, Rumbek and Cueibet).

Objectives
The overall objective of the action envisages that “Young women and men in South Sudan are economically and socially empowered in an active and strong civil society, contributing to a peaceful, democratic and stable South Sudan”. The overall objective of the proposed action has been broken down to the following two specific objectives
Specific Objective 1; “To improve the livelihoods and employability of young women and men and increase their resilience against social and economic shocks in Lakes state”
Specific Objective 2; “To promote youth participation, cooperation, strengthen expertise and self-reliance of local communities, CSOs and LAs in the delivery of VET services and skills development in Lakes state”

Purpose and Scope of the Baseline and market needs assessment survey
The overall purposes of the baseline and market assessment survey are as follows;
 Set out benchmarks intended to provide programme staff with detailed baseline data on key project indicators to enable increased access to vocational skills training and decent employment within the formal and informal sector for improved livelihoods to be measured over the course of the project.
 Inform the project on key vocational training needs which will inform the project’s TVET in each locality.
 Unfolding immediate and root causes of social and economic stocks of deprived youth should be one of the overall purpose of the Baseline and market needs assessment.
 Identify and analyze the role played by CSOs, LAs, in implementation and promotion of youth empowerment activities/programmes.
 Identify and map existing or planned vocational training and business activities undertaken in the project area with a focus on youth.
 Identify and assess the possibilities and challenges of engaging master local artisans (MLA) as vocational skills training providers.
 Identify potential private sector actors/organisations and/or key persons of relevance to the project.

Scope of work
Areas of study for the baseline and market needs survey will include, but will not be limited to:
 Basic geographic and demographic information of project counties (income and expenses, type of livelihood strategies, infrastructure, services etc.)
 Identification and mapping of existing or planned TVET actors (formal and none formal) in the state and more so in the three counties where the action will be implemented (Wulu, Cuiebet and Rumbek central). The focus shall be on data which will later be relevant for assessing the impact of the TVET interventions such as type of institutions/school, vocations/trades offered, and level of training offered, capacity by vocation, provision of traineeship, employment activities and employment rate, links to stakeholders - especially links to employers etc.
 Baseline youth information shall preferably be collected according to different aspects of access/barriers to TVET, employable skills of the youth, employment, current means of livelihood, access/barriers to employment/self-employment. The consultants shall also indicate in their technical proposal participatory tools or combinations of tools they intend to use to collect both the baseline and market assessment information while taking into consideration the need to ensure validity of the information collected.
 Analysing present and future job opportunities for deprived youth in an unstable market and competency, qualifications and attribute require for getting, retaining a job, and coping with market challenges/changes.
 Understanding of how recruitment processes work for youth employment specially with low literacy levels ( often in the informal economic, information of jobs move mouth to mouth ), how private sector’s association, local artisan’s network work/ function can support the project with some strategic recommendations for increased access to decent jobs in a sustainable manner.
 Visit targeted beneficiary villages within the payam and compile existing livelihood activities, their scope and context, particularly current employment and sources of livelihood in the communities.
 Clearly identify employment/self-employment opportunities by vocation/business area in each of the three project locations.
 Identify and assess the possibilities and challenges of engaging master local artisans (MLA) in terms of potential numbers MLA, vocation/trades, average training capacity of MLA applying Save the Children’s assessment criteria in all three project locations.
 Identify potential private sector actors/organisations and/or key persons of relevance to the project and the best mode of corporation/engagement in all three project locations.
 Compile the findings, analysis and planning and submit both baseline and market needs assessment report bases on sound data collection, comprehensive analysis and clear recommendations.
 Recommend promotional materials on TVET and youth empowerment which are suitable for local communities and youth with low literacy levels.
 Success factors critical to ensuring economic viability of the project activities

Working together with YEP Project Manager and area field manager, the consultant will undertake the baseline survey and present the findings to a wider stakeholders’ forum in Rumbek Centre County and Directorate of TVET under Ministry of Labour Public Service and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Social Development, Culture Youth and Sports and Education. The consultancy period will be divided into a preparatory phase, data collection, debriefing, validation of findings and documentation. During the preparatory phase, the incumbent is expected to do thorough review of relevant documents to form the quality of the technical proposal for submission to this call.

Methodology
The methodology will be developed in detail by the consultants and it will, along with Save the Children’s expectations be discussed with, YEP Project Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning coordinator. The key elements to be incorporated in this process shall involve a mix of fieldwork and desk reviews to enhance its quality and ownership.
In summary, the methodology should involve;
 Secondary data review. Examine available secondary documentation;
 Field visits to project sites and collection of primary information (quantitative and qualitative) including detailed discussions with a sample of target beneficiaries - process should be participatory to the extent possible;
 Youth lead activity – for example using some of the graduates from Rumbek TVET center to reach out to their peers.
 Presentation and validation of draft findings with stakeholders;
 Writing of a final detailed reports and submission for feedback;
 Incorporation of feedback in the draft report and submission of the final reports;

Expected Outputs
 Detailed inception report including detailed draft methodology and sampling approach for quantitative data collection, quantitative and qualitative tools finalized in agreement with the Project Manager and MEAL Manager including:
o The consultants understanding of the terms
o Detailed work plan including consultation meetings with the, Project Manager and MEAL Manager ensuring the assignment is on track
o Draft Table of Content with indicated pages per chapter/section
 FGDs and KIIs, quantitative data collection and data entry.
 Data analysis and draft baseline and needs assessment study report submitted for comments –written in line with agreed guidelines
 Final baseline study and Market needs assessment reports (Two separate reports)
 All raw data (quantitative data files, notes from all focus group meetings/key informant interviews etc.) –submit to the organization with the final reports
 Oral presentation/meeting and de-brief with project staff
 Presentation of findings and recommendation at a one-day stakeholders’ forum in Rumbek Centre County
Support required
 The organization’s field staff will prepare and facilitate all field visits for the consultant and data collectors ahead of time.
 The staff will ensure that all the interviewees are prepared and ready to participate in interviews and FGDs for data collectors, and will accompany the consultant and enumerators on data collection visits if required by the consultant.
 Accommodation while both in Juba and in the field.
 Pay for flights tickets to and from the field.
Timeframe
The baseline survey is expected to be completed within 18 days as set out below.

Activity description Days
In country meetings(Juba) 1
Preparation (Secondary data review, tools developments etc. 3
Travel to the field 1
Training of enumerators 2
Data collection/field work and analysis 8
Presentation of key findings, feedback on both base line and market needs assessment draft reports 1
Working and inputting feed back to the draft reports 2
Total 18

Fees, Cost Estimate and Terms of Payment
To be determined by SCI in Consultation with MEAL manager, Programme Technical Team. Payments will be made in three instalments, 10% upon signing the contract, and 20% upon approval of inception report and 70% after approval of the report.

Evaluation requirements
• Master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Development studies ,Technical Vocational Training or other related area of study
• Experience in evaluating relevant programmes as a lead researcher, leading a team
• Experience of working in insecure environments
• Understanding of TVET and youth policies , standards and protocols
• Demonstrable experience in conducting mixed methods approaches
• Demonstrable experience of communicating with conflict affected communities
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely both verbally and in written form
• Understand and is committed to operate to the highest ethical standards

Interested Parties are requested to submit a proposal explaining their comprehension of the proposed consultancy, and how they would approach this assignment with a summary of their methodology especially in terms of how the party plans to meet the consultancy objectives. The application should include minimum three CVs of the persons to be involved in the assignment, relevant experience, a detailed budget in US$ and time availability.

All complete proposals should be received by 09.00 (Eastern Africa Time) 6 March 2016 electronically through Southsudan.consultancy@savethechildren.org