Call for Expression of Interest: Assistant Consultant

The ILO Country Office for Nepal is calling for applications for the position of an Assistant Consultant.

News | 30 July 2019

Work in Freedom

 Terms of Reference

 For hiring an Assistant Consultant to conduct

 Two days critical engagement workshop with Deputy Mayor and Municipal (rural/urban) Assembly Members to mainstream equality, right to mobility by choice and women’s empowerment agenda in to regular development programs

  1.         Background

ILO is implementing a programme on "Fair Recruitment and Decent Work for Women Migrant Workers in South Asia and the Middle East" known as Work in Freedom (WiF), funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Social Security (MoLESS). The WiF’s second phase is a five-year (2018-2023), inter-regional project, with an overall development objective “to reduce vulnerability to forced labour and trafficking among migrant women” and is implemented across seven countries, Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, and Nepal. The programme targets groups are care sector, manufacture, and leather in addition to the domestic and garment sector. The programme is under implementation in four districts (Rupandehi, Chitwan, Morang and Dolakha) through implementing partners including government, civil society, trade unions, private sector, CBOs and women migrant workers themselves.

 The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 has introduced Nepal as a federal democratic republic country and has shifted the whole paradigm of the governance system of the country form unitary to federal and from unitary to decentralization. The main state structure is divided into three levels and State power has been distributed to all tires of the government structure from the federal, province and local level. As all spheres of the government are bestowed with executive, legislative and judicial power, efforts need to be done to address the gaps in existing normative framework and adapt policy in line with the spirit of the constitution that makes the government of all tier responsible in ensuring that migration is safe, systematic, and free from exploitation, and that the rights of workers are upheld[1] and talks about ensuring the right to equality and freedom to every citizen. Similarly, The Local Government Operation Act, 2018 as per Section 24 has empowered the municipality (both rural and urban) to enact local laws in the areas of its own jurisdiction and has obliged them to formulate periodic, annual, strategic and thematic mid-term and long -term planning at the local level. The Act has mentioned that Municipality should prioritize the area while formulating local level planning such as:

         The issue relating to a significant contribution to economic development and elimination of poverty

         The issue that enhances the lifestyle, income, and employment of people.

         The issue that will enhance the maximum use of local source, means, and skills.

         Programs and Plans that will directly benefit women, children, and members of the marginalized and disadvantaged community

         Plans that will promote gender equality and social inclusion issues.

         The Act has also envisioned about seeking maximum participation of thematic expert, experienced individuals, youth, professionals and so on in the policy formulation and implementation at the municipality level. This is also one of the key areas where the thematic experts and experienced individuals could be directly involved in safe labour migration policy formulation. 

With the presence of these provisions in the law, local government units are trying to incorporate the issues of women and have gender-sensitive budge and policies but are not very successful in their initiatives. They are seeking for technical inputs and engagement with the thematic experts to deliver optimally in this area.  Therefore, in this context, this Terms of Reference is developed to have a continued critical engagement with the Local government units especially Rural/Municipal Assembly[2] members who are bestowed to develop different plans and policies those are relevant to empower and promote gender equality and ensuring quality of work to women. For this purpose, WiF plan to engage with Deputy Mayors, Rural/Municipal Assembly Members, chief administrative officer, social development officer, ward secretary and employment coordinator who plays key role in the overall planning process to mainstream equality, right to mobility by choice and women’s empowerment agenda in to local government regular development programs and in increased resource allocation for issues related to women and girls. This will also aim in re-enforcing the rights-based approach in their daily work and advocate for women’s rights to mobility choice and to shed on the government priority theme of equality for prosperity. 

2.         Objectives /Outputs

The general objective of the assignment is to maintain continuous engagement with local government and relevant officials and to ensure that the local policies and plans adequately reflect the women concerns and issues and to support Lead Consultant in this process. The following are the major outputs to achieve the set objective. 

·         Enhanced engagement and strengthened capacity of the ward representatives, Rural/Municipal Assembly Members, chief administrative officer, ward secretary, social development officer and employment coordinator of Municipalities of all four districts where WiF is working for women empowerment and their right to mobility choice. 

3.         Methodology/ Work Process

 a)      Critical engagement workshop with Deputy Mayor, Municipal (urban/rural) Assembly Members and other stakeholders to mainstream equality, right to mobility by choice and women’s empowerment agenda into regular development programs

 The total 15 municipalities of 4 working districts of WiF will be divided into 7 clusters for conducting the two-day capacity building events. Two-day workshop will be organized in Morang (Province 1), One in Chitwan, Two in Dolakha (Province 3) and Two in Rupandehi (Province 3). A total of 7 workshops of two days each will be organized in WiF working districts. The consultant with the help of assistant consultant will conduct the two-day workshops in all seven locations. All the events will be delivered in close coordination with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) of the ILO/Work in Freedom Programme Nepal. A two-member team will conduct the proposed seven events, based on a timeline convenient to the local authorities.

4.         Deliverables

·         At least  a total of 350 local government representatives including deputy mayor ward representatives, Municipal (rural/urban) Assembly Members, chief administrative officer, ward secretary, social development officer and employment coordinator of Municipalities are trained on equitable gender planning, women empowerment, valuing of women’s work and right to mobility choice for women

·         Local partners have improved engagement with local Government representatives and in the effective use of funds for the assigned purpose

5.         Work Plan

S.N

Activity

Date/ week (tentative)

Location

No. of Days

1

Preparation of training materials and finalize contents of two-day training

20 August 2019

Home-based, Kathmandu

1

2

Facilitate 7 workshops to local representatives (7 events x 2 days)

25 September 2019

Morang, Rupandehi, Chitwan, and Dolakha

14

3

Final report and follow up 

10 October 2019

 

1

 

Total No. of work days for the Assistant consultant*

 

 

16

 

* The Assistant Consultant will support the Lead Consultant mainly in organizing and co-facilitating the two-day events.

6.         Fees for the Assignment

The fees for the service will be per workday basis (not exceeding 16 days in total). The selected Assistant Consultant will be paid daily fees for the actual contracted days of work.  The rate of the daily fee will be determined based on a competitive process- through submissions of expressions of interest (EoI) by the qualified and interested individuals. In consideration of the same, the fee per workday for similar assignment(s) with the ILO or other UN and international agencies will be taken into account.

7.         Request for a Preliminary Expression of Interest:

 Brief Expression of interest (EoI) along with a cover letter summarizing key qualifications and demonstrated skills for the assignment, and an updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) is hereby requested from interested and qualified candidates for this assignment as stated above. The EoI shall include an asking rate of fee per workday.

 Based on these submissions, shortlisted candidates will be further contacted for a detailed methodology and execution plan.

 The EoI shall be submitted electronically on or before 9 August 2019 by 5:30 pm (Nepal time) with the subject-line “EoI for the Assistant Consultant: Critical engagement Workshop” to: Sandhya Sitoula, National Project Coordinator, Work in Freedom Project, ILO Nepal. Email: sitoula@ilo.org

 8.         SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Confidentiality Statement and Intellectual Property of Data            

All data and information received from the ILO and the stakeholders for the purpose of this assignment are to be treated confidentially and are only to be used in connection with the execution of these Terms of Reference. All intellectual property rights arising from the execution of these Terms of Reference are assigned to ILO according to the grant agreement. The contents of written materials obtained and used in this contract may not be disclosed to any third parties without the express advance written authorization of the ILO.  

Unsatisfactory or Incomplete Work  

For the assignment, the ILO’s Standard Rules and Procedure for ExCol/Service Contracts shall be applicable. In event that the service delivered is unsatisfactory or fails to conform to the conditions set out above, the ILO reserves the right, as appropriate to interrupt it, to request that it be corrected or modified, or to refuse to accept the service.  

For any further queries, kindly contact Ms. Sandhya Sitoula, e-mail: sitoula@ilo.org , National Project Coordinator, Work In Freedom Project (WiF), ILO Country Office for Nepal, Dhobighat, Nayabato, Lalitpur, Nepal, P.O. Box 8971, Tel: +977-1-5555777, 5550691 (Ext. 222)


[1] Article 51 (I) of Constitution of Nepal 2015

[2] As per the Article 226 of the Constitution Rural/Municipal Assembly has the power to make necessary laws under their jurisdiction. These assembly are the local legislative bodies comprising of Mayor/Chairperson, Deputy Mayor/Vice- Chairperson, ward chairpersons, four members elected from each wards (at least two women) and members of rural/municipal executives elected from Dalit or minority communities.