Request for proposal

CALL FOR PROPOSAL

Affordable & Accessible Childcare Services through Public-Private Partnership Model to Create Employment Opportunities for Women & Youth in Addis Ababa

Livelihood Improvement for Women and Youth (LIWAY) Program in Addis Ababa Funded by SIDA

Issuance Date: 09/11/2021

Deadline for Application:16/11/2021

This Request for proposal (RFP) is an exclusive, confidential, proprietary property of LIWAY Program (represented by Mercy Corps). It may not be copied, transmitted, or disclosed by any means without the express written consent of LIWAY Program (represented by Mercy Corps).

By accepting a copy hereof, recipient agrees to:

1) Be bound by the terms and conditions contained herein (including but not limited to the confidentiality provisions),

2) Use the RFP (and any related documents) solely for evaluation purposes and for responding to this RFP and

3) Return or destroy the RFP (and any related documents) LIWAY Program (represented by Mercy Corps)’s request or upon your decision not to respond to this RFP.

I.                 Introduction

LIWAY program is currently implemented by a consortium of partners composed of SNV Netherlands Development Organization (consortium lead), Mercy Corps, TechnoServe and Save the Children International. The overall objective of the LIWAY program is to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction, improved gender relations and social stability in Addis Ababa. Specific objective of the program is to improve the livelihoods of 200,000 poor people, of which at least 50% are women and 75% youth, by increasing their income and access to economic opportunities in Addis Ababa. Sida has recently extended the program by two years up to June 2024.

Mercy Corps is leading a Labor Market System, where labor information exchange infrastructure, childcare/domestic duties and referencing (risk & trust) are identified as intervention areas through a diagnostic study in the labor market system to address key constraints which greatly affected the participation of women and youth in the market. Under this diagnostic study, it was indicated that information on available jobs and matching services focusing on semi-skilled and unskilled job opportunities is scarce and difficult to find in Addis Ababa. Competition for work is very high, and this is accentuated by rural-urban migration compared to other cities in Ethiopia. To this end, LIWAY planned to design and pilot an intervention which promotes market-based solutions & incentives that enable actors in the core market functions to improve business performance that create increased employment opportunities for urban women and youth in partnership with private implementing partners on cost share basis.

A significant barrier to the engagement of women in labor market is the absence of affordable and accessible childcare, particularly for children aged 0-3 years. High rental price of working spaces for childcare services, stringent regulatory conditions (including criteria to establish childcare centers, lack of clear mandate among relevant government agencies), and limited availability of trained nannies were identified as leading barriers to establish accessible, affordable, and scalable childcare centers for low-income households in Addis Ababa City Administration.

According to the study report conducted by LIWAY, the common types of Childcare Services (CCS) in Addis Ababa are registered private, home-based/informal, institutional/public, employer-supported (both private and government development institutes), NGO-supported and school-based. From these the findings showed that public school-based, community-based, employer-supported, and government-initiated CCS are the most affordable and accessible CCS for low-income households at this time. These alternative CCS models can use the already available free spaces in each institute and can forgo the major CCS cost driver. Though it is new for the childcare services market, the establishment, expansion, and sustenance of CCS through PPP gives multiple advantage which includes the presence of proclamation on PPP, experiences on other business sectors, shared resources, risks, and responsibilities, check and balance system to ensure accountability and transparency. To leverage these benefits and test new business models to influence the actions and behaviors of market actors, LIWAY planned to call for a private & public operator who are willing and able to adopt & adapt Public-Private Partnership model for Childcare Services and provide affordable & accessible services to the low-income households in Addis Ababa City.

II.               Goal

The purpose of this SoW is to invite a competent private & public partner who are willing and able to have a partner to work together with a private/cooperative, develop, adopt, adapt the model (Public Private Partnership), and provide affordable & accessible childcare services to low-income households in Addis Ababa, where LIWAY will provide financial & technical assistance to share risks. The partner is expected to scale the model beyond the life of the program and benefit more target group through job creation & increased income.

III.            Methodology and Date

 Public advertisement of SoW through newspaper is one of methods used to invite and select a potential applicant who has the capacity (skills) and incentives (willingness) to develop, adopt & adapt a business solution for childcare services through Public-Private Partnership model to address problems of our target groups. Through sharing costs in selected investments of a partner, LIWAY will try to buy down risks associated with a new business ventures or approaches, giving partners confidence to invest in new initiatives, and ultimately expediting increased employment opportunities & income for women & youth. The advertisement will be made through Daily Monitor, Reporter, and Fortune Newspapers and www.ethiojobs.net web portal. The total days for submission of a technical proposal is only five (5) days from the day of advertisement on the newspaper & web portal.

I.                 Application Requirements

§  Applicants shall present their technical application and budget in the formats provided and shall follow the instructions and guidelines listed in these annexes.

II.               Risk Sharing Requirements

§  Applicants must provide a fully costed proposal of which Mercy Corps will fund a maximum of 50% to a maximum value. In addition, LIWAY may provide additional technical assistance to selected Applicants as appropriate.

§  LIWAY’s initial support will last for 1 year, although follow on support might be possible for a modification of the business model after this pilot period.

III.            Deliverables

§  Establish childcare center through public-private partnership.

§  Register and provide affordable & accessible childcare services to the LIWAY targets.

§  Baseline, impacts (employment & income) and results (Implementing Partners performance) measurement.

§  Monthly & Quarterly progress report and data analysis.

§  Stakeholder governance.

IV.            Eligible and Ineligible Applicant

a.      Eligible applicants

·        This call intends to support an array of potential public & private actors who has the capacity & incentives to develop, adopt & adapt PPP model to provide affordable & accessible childcare services to low-income households in Addis Ababa City.

·        Any formally registered private sector (sole proprietorship, partnership, and cooperative form) profit making organizations with renewed license and willing to partner with the public to pilot new business model (PPP) that support the objectives of the LIWAY as identified above.

b.     Ineligible applicants

·        Any organization that is prevented from receiving donor and specifically Sida funds.

·        Any organization which is proposing activities that do not support the objectives of the LIWAY.