Terms of Reference (ToR): Gender-Sensitive Labor Market Assessment

Description of programme locations

SOS Children’s Villages Addis Ababa and Harar programme locations are two of the seven programme locations under SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia and have been operating various interventions primarily focusing on children, young people, families, and communities in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa city administration as well as Harari and Oromia regions… SOS Children’s Villages Addis Ababa and Harar programme locations currently implement alternative childcare programmes, Family and community development programs, humanitarian actions and advocacy. The specific sub cities, and kebeles in all intervention areas will be provided for the winner consultant while he/she develops inception report.

Rationale and overall objectives of gender sensitive market and livelihood assessment:

SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia, with funding from the Government of Canada, is implementing the Green Grow Project aimed at increasing decent and sustainable green employment opportunities, particularly for youth and women. The project is designed to align with Ethiopia’s climate-resilient green economy strategy and contribute to gender equality and economic empowerment.

To inform project design and implementation, a gender-sensitive labor market assessment (LMA) will be conducted in Addis Ababa, Adama, and Dire Dawa to analyze employment trends, identify green job opportunities, skill gaps, barriers to participation (especially for women), and provide actionable recommendations.Promoting the economic participation and resilience of disadvantaged youth, particularly young women in the green economy is not only vital for poverty reduction but also for climate adaptation. By creating sustainable jobs in sectors such as renewable energy, green agriculture, and waste management, youth can be equipped with skills that foster self-reliance, innovation, and resilience to the impacts of climate change. These jobs are designed to be sustainable. Hence, market and livelihood assessments have paramount importance to identify livelihood engagement options for disadvantaged youth, particularly young women.

Objectives of the Gender sensitive market and livelihood assignment

General Objective:

To conduct a comprehensive gender-sensitive labor market assessment from both employers and job seekers side to inform inclusive and sustainable implementation of the Green Growth Project.

Specific Objectives:

• Map existing and emerging green job opportunities in the target cities.
• Assess the skills needed by employers, so that the support to TVETs will be market oriented.
• Identify skill gaps and training needs related to green sectors.
• Assess access and barriers to labor market participation for women and youth.
• Analyze gender disparities in employment trends and workplace environments.
• Provide strategic recommendations for gender-responsive programming and skills development.

Project outcomes and outputs:

The Green Growth project has the following ultimate outcome, intermediate outcomes, immediate outcomes and outputs.

Ultimate Outcomes: Increased economic participation and resilience of disadvantaged youth within the green economy, especially for young women, in Ethiopia.Intermediate Outcomes

• 1100 – Improved provision of quality gender-sensitive technical and vocational education, including trainings in green skills, for disadvantaged youth in Ethiopia, Somalia and Rwanda.
• 1200 – Enhanced marketable skills among disadvantaged youth, especially green skills among young women, in Ethiopia.
• 1300 – Increased formal employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for disadvantaged youth, especially for young women in the green economy, in Ethiopia.

Immediate Outcomes:

• 1110 – Enhanced capacity of TVET institutions to provide gender-s
• 1120 – Enhanced capacity of TVET instructors to provide gender-sensitive and market-relevant education, especially in green and emerging skills.
• 1210 – Improved access to market-sensitive skills training among disadvantaged youth, especially young women.
• 1220 – Improved proficiency in employability skills among disadvantaged youth, especially young women.
• 1310 – Improved access to self-employment opportunities, especially for disadvantaged young women, in the green economy.
• 1320 – Improved access to waged employment, especially in the green economy, for disadvantaged youth.
• 1330 – Enhanced capacity of labour market actors and financial institutions/associations to support the economic participation of disadvantaged youth.

Outputs under immediate outcomes:

• 1111 – Revised TVET curricula that include the teaching of green skills to youth are developed.
• 1112 – Partnerships with the private sector created to ensure the provision of practical internships to TVET students.
• 1113 – Technical and material support provided to TVET institutions to facilitate teaching of new green and emerging skills in an inclusive environment
• 1121 – Training provided to TVET instructors on the revised TVET curricula focused on green skills
• 1122 – Training on inclusive teaching strategies provided to TVET instructors and management
• 1123 – Training provided to TVET instructors on work-readiness skills
• 1211 – Financial support provided to support the enrolment of disadvantaged youth in technical and vocational education, especially in green fields
• 1212 – Entrepreneurship training provided to disadvantaged youth
• 1221 – Trainings on employability skills provided to disadvantaged youth. (Includes digital literacy skills, soft skills, financial literacy, etc.)
• 1222 – Career guidance provided to disadvantaged youth (includes exposure to the workplace, job fairs, field trips to businesses, mentorship, etc.)
• 1311 – Business Development Services (Entrepreneurship coaching) provided to disadvantaged youth
• 1312 – Financial and material support provided to young entrepreneurs
• 1321 – Job and internship placement support provided to disadvantaged youth
• 1331 – Material and technical support provided to SACCOs/VSLAs and finance institutions to improve their capacity to provide financial support to disadvantaged youth.
• 1332 – Dialogues facilitated between stakeholders on the topic of youth employability and the green economy

Major baseline study questions:

The commissioned consultant should list relevant, tailored and possible market and livelihood assessment questions. He/she is expected to refer the project document in detail, log frame, indicators in the performance measurement framework while developing the research questions, data collection tools and show the gender sensitive market and livelihood questions during inception report presentation. SOS CVE Ethiopia will share the project document, log frame and the performance measurement framework (Ethiopia) for winner consultancy firm.

Scope of Work:

Geographically, the market and livelihood assessment is limited to the project participant disadvantaged youth, young women, young women with disability in the target communities and key implementation partners (TVET centers, SACCOs, VSLAs or banks/financial institutes) in Harar location (Dire Dawa) and Addis Ababa programme locations (Addis Ababa and Adama.) The project will specifically target some of the most disadvantaged youth, especially female youth, age 15 to 35 years old such as: youth who have dropped out of school; teenage and single mothers; youth living with special needs or a disability; unemployed high school, TVET and university graduates; youth living on the street; youth in the child welfare system; youth at high risk of being radicalized; illiterate and semi-literate youth; internally displaced and returnee youth.

The assessment will focus on the following key areas:

• Labor market dynamics and employment opportunities in green sectors (renewable energy, waste management, eco-tourism, sustainable agriculture, etc.)
• Gender-specific barriers to employment (e.g., socio-cultural norms, lack of childcare, safety concerns, discrimination)
• Private sector demand and perceptions on green skills and women’s employment
• Existing technical/vocational training programs and their gender responsiveness
• Policy and institutional frameworks supporting green jobs and gender equality

The Project has the following direct participants/beneficiaries.

Project direct Beneficiaries for SOS CVE Ethiopia		Addis Ababa	Adama	Dire Dawa
Disadvantaged youth (60% women and 8% women with disability)	7,000 (4200 young women)	2,450 (60% young women of which 8 % women with disability)	2100 (60% young women of which 8 % women with disability)	2100 (60% young women of which 8 % women with disability)
private sector partnerships including partnerships with Green Tech electric vehicle manufacturing company and STEM Synergy solar bakery production company	56	20	17	19
TVETs	4	2	1	2
328 SACCOs, VSLAs or financial institutions	4	2	1	2

Methodology:

The consultant/firm is expected to propose a robust and participatory methodology that includes both qualitative and quantitative methods such as:

• Desk review of secondary data and relevant policies
• Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with government, private sector, CSOs, TVET institutions
• Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with women and youth
• Surveys and labor market data analysis
• Stakeholder mapping and engagement
• The commissioned external consultant must deliver the gender sensitive market and livelihood assessment findings within 45 days of the contract signing.
• The consultant is expected to analyze the findings by programme intervention sites (Addis Ababa, Adama and Dire Diwa). Based on the work plan, SOS Children’s Villages of Addis Ababa and Harar programme locations’ MEAL coordinators, the national office MEAL and FS teams expect the following deliverables:
• An inception report of 8 pages on the baseline study design, methodology, sampling frame, sampling technique, sample size, assessment tools and work plan
• Draft baseline study report of maximum 20 pages.
• The consultant is expected to present the findings of Green Growth -donor (for both draft and final findings)
• Validation Workshop Presentation
• Final Report (with executive summary, findings, and recommendations)
• The findings of the market and livelihood report including an executive summary and data collection tools in both electronic and hardcopy formats should be submitted. The reporting template will be provided for the winner consultant as explained in the annex part.
• Raw data, which has been cleaned (both qualitative and quantitative, including original field notes for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and recorded audio material), should be submitted with the report. SOS CVE will have sole ownership of all final data, and any findings shall only be shared or reproduced with the permission of SOS Children’s Village Ethiopia.

Gender analysis tools must be integrated throughout the assessment process.

Sampling:

The Commissioned consultant is expected to use appropriate and convincing sampling techniques and set a representative sample size for both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Based on the project objectives, outcomes, the baseline study equations and the Green Growth project result framework. Hence, the consultant should produce appropriate sampling methods and ensure representativeness of the sampled households or respondents, and the sampling frame is from target youth, women, TVETs, SACCOs and VSLAs and relevant community structures.

Work plan and expected deliverables:

Work plan/timetable:

The baseline study task is expected to be finalized within 45 days after the contractual agreement is signed.

The consultant is expected to develop her/his detailed work plan based on the following table.

Activities	Dates	Time frame	Location

Deliverables:

• The commissioned external consultant must deliver the gender sensitive market and livelihood assessment findings within 45 days of the contract signing.
• The consultant is expected to analyze the findings by programme intervention sites (Addis Ababa, Adama and Dire Diwa). Based on the work plan, SOS Children’s Villages of Addis Ababa and Harar programme locations’ MEAL coordinators, the national office MEAL and FS teams expect the following deliverables:
• An inception report of 8 pages on the baseline study design, methodology, sampling frame, sampling technique, sample size, assessment tools and work plan
• Draft baseline study report of maximum 20 pages.
• The consultant is expected to present the findings of Green Growth -GAC project (for both draft and final findings)
• Validation Workshop Presentation
• Final Report (with executive summary, findings, and recommendations)
• The findings of the market and livelihood report including an executive summary and data collection tools in both electronic and hardcopy formats should be submitted. The reporting template will be provided for the winner consultant as explained in the annex part.
• Raw data, which has been cleaned (both qualitative and quantitative, including original field notes for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and recorded audio material), should be submitted with the report. SOS CVE will have sole ownership of all final data, and any findings shall only be shared or reproduced with the permission of SOS Children’s Village Ethiopia.

Child Safeguarding and ethical issues:

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to ensuring that all research, evaluation and data collection processes (i.e. evidence-generating activities) undertaken by SOS Children’s Villages and its partners are ethical and respect child safeguarding policy and procedure.

The consultant must respect the rights, dignity and protection of children and other vulnerable population groups and should ensure special protection for children and other vulnerable groups during any data-generating activities to minimize any potential risks. Any research, evaluation and data collection SOS Children’s Villages is directly carried out or is involved in as a partner.

Ethical practices need to be ensured in the following circumstances:

• Any research, assessment, baseline, midterm or final evaluations and data collection SOS Children’s Villages has commissioned for ethical oversight of these processes.
• Any research, evaluation and data collection carried out by researchers/consultants on SOS Children’s Villages programmes and participants.

Hence, relevant project coordinator and location MEAL coordinator in Addis Ababa and Harar programme locations will ensure that any researchers, evaluators and data collectors should receive awareness training on, sign and adhere to SOS Children’s Villages core policies:

Obtaining consent from research participants is central to the research relationship and signals respect for the research participant’s dignity, their capability to express their views and their right to have these heard in matters that affect them. Informed consent is an explicit agreement which requires participants to be informed about and understand the research/assessment. This must be given voluntarily and be renegotiable, so that participants may withdraw at any stage of the research process.

Logistical arrangements:

The awarded consultant shall show feasible logistical arrangements for the assignment as part of the technical proposal. National or location-level staff (SOSCV) will be available to help organize the interviews including contacting SOSCV, announcing and local preparation of evaluation, and linking to community duty bearers and national authorities if required.

Duration of the contract and terms of payment:

Payment will be made only upon SOS Children’s Villages’ acceptance of the work performed in accordance with the above-described deliverables. Financial proposals should include proposed stage payments. Payment will be affected by bank transfer in the currency of birr.

Funding and Payment:

The consultant will be paid by SOS Children’s Villages as follows:

• 30% on the submission and approval of the inception report.
• 30% on completion of the draft report.
• 40% on completion of the final report.

Duration of contract: the contract is effective from the moment it was signed until the acceptance of work by the SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia management team.

Notice of delay:

Shall the successful bidder encounter a delay in the performance of the contract which may be excusable under unavoidable circumstances; the contractor shall notify SOS Children’s Villages in writing about the causes of any such delays within one (1) week from the beginning of the delay.

After receipt of the Contractor’s notice of delay, SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia shall analyse the facts and extent of the delay and extend the time for performance when in its judgment the facts justify such an extension.

Copyright and other proprietary rights:

SOS Children’s Villages shall be entitled to all intellectual property and other proprietary rights including, but not limited to, copyrights, and trademarks, with regard to products, processes, inventions, ideas, know-how, or documents and other materials which the Contractor has developed for SOS Children’s Villages under the Contract and which bear a direct relation to or are produced or prepared or collected in consequence of, or during the course of, the performance of the Contract. The Contractor acknowledges and agrees that such products, documents, and other materials constitute works made for hire for SOS Children’s Villages.

All materials: interviews, reports, recommendations, and all other data compiled by or received by the Contractor under the Contract shall be the property of SOS Children’s Villages and shall be treated as confidential and shall be delivered only to SOS Children’s Villages authorized officials on completion of work under the Contract. The external consultant is obliged to hand over all raw data collected during the assessment to SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia.

Termination:

The termination of the service agreement for the assignment will be in accordance with the contractual agreement to be included at the formal agreement’s actual signing.

Qualification of the researcher / research team:

• The applicant consultant shall have at least a master’s degree in relevant fields of study such Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, development studies, Economics, Project Management, Monitoring & Evaluation and other related fields per the required assignment
• In-depth knowledge of green economy sectors and TVET systems in Ethiopia
• At least 5 years’ work experience & proven competency in assessments, monitoring, and evaluation, including baseline assessments or organizational/program evaluation (baseline, midterm, and final evaluations). The incumbent shall attach at least one sample baseline or final evaluation report on youth related projects produced by the candidate on a similar topic.
• A good understanding of family strengthening, community empowerment, education, livelihoods and development programme work.
• A good understanding of child/youth rights/safeguarding & other issues affecting vulnerable children in the Ethiopian context.
• Proven experience in working with conceptual frameworks and data collection methods (including age-appropriate data collection methods)
• Strong skills in coordination, good facilitation, organizational, and interpersonal skills
• Strong skills in coordinating teamwork
• Analytical and conceptual skills on market and livelihood assessment
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Ability to transfer complex concepts and ideas into practical and simple language.
• Experience in organizing research processes with SOS Children’s Villages or similar child focused organizations.
• Experience and credibility in providing market and livelihood assessments for external communication and organizational purposes.
• Legally registered firms with renewed license, VAT registration and TIN number