Consultancy: Standards and Quality Certification Support to MSMEs

1.  Introduction and Background

1.1.  About CAWEE

The Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE), established in 2004, is a pioneering Ethiopian organization dedicated to empowering women engaged in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on export-oriented businesses. CAWEE supports women-owned and women-managed enterprises, guided by a vision of fostering globally competitive Ethiopian women entrepreneurs.

To strengthen the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under the Mabqat Program, CAWEE recognizes the need to support enterprises in complying with market standards and certification systems. Compliance with such standards is essential to improving product quality, enhancing buyer credibility, and enabling sustained access to domestic, regional, and international markets.

1.2.  The Mabqat Program

CAWEE is implementing the Mabqat Program in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and Ethiopian Enterprise Development (EED), this program is being led by PETCO Ethiopia. “Mabqat” (ማብቃት) translates to “empowerment,” reflecting the program’s mission to equip MSMEs with the tools, knowledge, and certifications required to compete effectively in the leather, textile, and garment value chains.

Program Targets

• 240,000 youth engaged in employment, 80% of whom are young women.
• 6,355 SMEs supported, 40% of which will gain access to finance.

Geographic Coverage of the Program

• Addis Ababa City Administration
• Oromia Regional State
• Amhara Regional State
• Tigray Regional State
• Sidama Regional State
• Central Ethiopia Regional State
• South Ethiopia Regional State
• Dire Dawa City Administration

Implementation Period

The Mabqat Program runs from June 2024 to May 2029.

1.3.  Program Objectives

• Enhance youth skills, particularly for young women, in alignment with market demand in the manufacturing sector.
• Increase MSME productivity and competitiveness to promote job creation.
• Strengthen the financial ecosystem to improve MSME access to innovative and affordable financial services.
• Improve the enabling environment through strengthened collaboration among stakeholders.

2.  Rationale for the Assignment

CAWEE seeks to facilitate MSME access to services that support enterprises in meeting local and international market standards and certifications, thereby improving their competitiveness in target markets. Compliance with recognized standards remains one of the principal barriers preventing Ethiopian MSMEs in the leather, textile, and garment sub-sectors from accessing higher-value domestic, regional, and export markets. This assignment is designed to close that gap through structured technical assistance, certification facilitation, and a cost-efficient group-certification model.

3.  Objectives of the Assignment

3.1.  General Objective

To support MSMEs in meeting relevant market quality standards and obtaining the certifications required to strengthen their competitiveness and market access.

3.2.  Specific Objectives

• Build MSMEs’ awareness and technical understanding of relevant quality standards and certification requirements through structured training.
• Conduct gap assessments of MSMEs against relevant national, regional, and international quality standards.
• Facilitate MSME access to certification bodies and related compliance support services.
• Reduce the per-MSME cost of certification through a group- or cluster-certification approach, where feasible.
• Track certification progress for each MSME through a dedicated readiness dashboard.

4.  Scope of Work

The selected consultant/firm will be responsible for the following tasks:

4.1.  Training and Capacity Building

The consultant/firm will design and deliver a structured training component to build MSME awareness and technical capacity on market standards and certification requirements ahead of and alongside, individualized compliance support.

• Conduct training and awareness sessions on applicable national, regional, and international market standards and certification requirements, tailored to the leather, textile, and garment sub-sectors.
• Develop learner-centered training materials, including manuals, toolkits, and practical checklists that MSMEs can apply directly to their operations.
• Deliver training using interactive and participatory methods, incorporating hands-on exercises, real-world case studies, and simulations.
• Provide follow-up coaching and mentoring to selected MSMEs to reinforce learning and support practical adoption of standard
• Where appropriate, organize training on a cluster or cohort basis to improve efficiency and encourage peer learning among MSMEs.

4.2.  Standards and Certification Gap Assessment

• Conduct standards and certification gap assessments for participating MSMEs,
• Document each MSME’s current compliance status against applicable national, regional, and international standards.

4.3.  Compliance Guidance and Certification Linkages

• Guide MSMEs through the practical steps required to achieve compliance with identified standards.
• Facilitate linkages between MSMEs and accredited certification bodies, testing laboratories and regulatory institutions.
• Support MSMEs with documentation, factory readiness, product sampling, labeling, and packaging requirements, as applicable.

4.4.  Group-Certification Approach

• Design and implement a group- or cluster-based certification model to reduce the per-MSME cost of certification.
• Identify MSMEs suitable for clustering by sub-sector, product line, and geographic proximity.
• Document the model for potential replication within and beyond the Mabqat Program.

4.5.  Certification-Readiness Tracking

• Develop and maintain a certification-readiness tracker/dashboard covering all 275 participating MSMEs.
• Provide CAWEE with periodic updates on certification status, milestones achieved and outstanding gaps.

4.6.  Relevant Standards and Certifications

The assignment will draw on the following frameworks, as relevant to each MSME’s product and target market:

a)  National Standards (Ethiopia)

• Ethiopian Standards (ES) for textiles, garments, and leather products — Ethiopian Standards Agency (ESA).
• Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC).
• ISO 9001 — Quality Management Systems.
• ISO 14001 — Environmental Management.
• ISO 45001 — Occupational Health and Safety Management.

b)  Regional Standards

• East African Community (EAC) Standards.
• African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trade compliance requirements.

c)  International Standards

• OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 — Textile safety.
• Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) Organic fibers.
• WRAP, SA8000, and BSCI — Social and ethical compliance.

5.  Expected Deliverables

• Training materials and manuals — including manuals, toolkits, and checklists on market standards and certification requirements, tailored to the leather, textile and garment sub-sectors.
• Training completion report — documenting sessions delivered, MSME attendance and participation, and knowledge gains achieved.
• Gap assessment reports — covering all participating MSMEs, benchmarked against relevant standards.
• Certification facilitation and linkage report — documenting MSMEs connected to certification bodies and testing laboratories, and the outcomes achieved.
• Group-certification model documentation — describing the methodology and clustering criteria.
• Certification-readiness tracker/dashboard —a tool reflecting the status of each MSME.
• End-of-assignment report — summarizing certification status of MSMEs, key achievements, challenges encountered and recommendations for future support.

6.  Expected Outcomes

• MSMEs demonstrate improved knowledge of relevant national, regional and international quality standards through participation in training.
• An increased number of MSMEs initiate or obtain relevant certifications.
• Enhanced product quality, regulatory compliance and market credibility among participating MSMEs.
• Improved MSME readiness to domestic, regional and export markets.

7.  Target Audience

• 275 MSMEs operating in the leather, textile and garment sub-sectors under the Mabqat Program.
• Women and youth-led enterprises preparing for domestic, regional, and international market entry.

8.  Location and Coverage

Engagement will be coordinated through the following hub cities, with support extended to MSMEs across the broader geographic areas within each respective region:

• Addis Ababa
• Hawassa
• Bahir Dar
• Dire Dawa
• Jimma
• Mekelle

The financial proposal must include all associated costs — including travel, accommodation, per diem, and a detailed cost breakdown per deliverable and per location, as applicable.

Required Qualifications

The consultant/firm must demonstrate the following:

• Proven expertise in quality standards and certification processes relevant to the leather, textile and garment sectors.
• Demonstrated ability to design and deliver hands-on, participatory training, coaching and mentoring to MSMEs.
• Established working relationships with recognized certification bodies and testing institutions.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing group- or cluster-certification approaches for MSMEs.
• A proven track record of delivering similar assignments, supported by verifiable references.
• Capacity to manage large-scale MSME engagement across multiple regions.

Submission of CVs for all proposed key personnel is mandatory.

Proposal Submission Requirements

Interested bidders must submit the following as part of their proposal:

• A technical proposal detailing the proposed methodology and work plan.
• A detailed work plan aligned with the assignment timeline indicated in Section 3 above (September 2026 – May 2027).
• A proposed training curriculum and sample training materials for the training and capacity-building component.
• Profiles/CVs of all proposed key personnel, including trainers.
• A description of the tools, templates, and methodologies to be used, including the proposed group-certification model.
• A financial proposal with a detailed budget breakdown per deliverable and location.
• Evidence of previous similar assignments, including reports and/or client testimonials.