Provision of Services for the ILO’s Support in the Development of Rwanda’s Sector Skills Councils

► Terms of Reference(FOR NATIONAL CONSULTANTS ONLY)

Provision of services for the ILO’s support in the development of Rwanda’s Sector Skills Councils

The Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Skills for the youth in Rwanda’s digital economy ProjectILO Country Office for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda

June 2024

► 1. Background

1.1. Youth Employment Project in Rwanda

The project for Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Skills for Youth in Rwanda’s Digital Economy, is a four year partnership between the Government of Rwanda, workers’ and employers’ organizations, young people and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Funded by the Government of Luxembourg, the project is implemented within the context of a region-wide ILO/ITU/AU Joint Programme that seeks to empower African youth and unlock their creativity and potential to ensure they benefit from new opportunities in Africa’s growing digital economy. Under the umbrella of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, the programme aims to implement interventions in the countries of Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.

The project aims to support Rwanda’s structural transformation and contribute to a digital transformation of the economy. Its main goal is to enable more young women and men in Rwanda to access decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in Rwanda’s digital economy. The focus is on the young men and women in the age bracket of 18-30 years from Kigali and Secondary Cities. The three main components of the project are: (i) Promoting job creation and entrepreneurship opportunities in the digital economy, (ii) Improve digital skills of young women and men, and (iii) Facilitate young people’s transition to decent work in the digital economy.

Under these second outcome of Digital Skills Development, the project will support the government, social partners and other labour market actors to implement market oriented skills development interventions that contribute to access to digital jobs, strengthen upskilling of the youth and stimulate demand for Rwandan digital skilled labour across the region.

1.2. Digital Skills Development in Rwanda

The Government of Rwanda has prioritized digitalization as a means to transform Rwanda’s socio-economic development. The digitalization of the Rwandan economy is conceived as a cross-cutting enabler for the growth of other sectors of the economy but also as a source for the creation of decent and productive jobs within and beyond the ICT sector. Additionally, the Ministry of ICT and Innovation estimates employment in digital jobs and the ICT sector to rise to around 100,000 workers by 2035.

However, the limited digital literacy hampers access to decent jobs in the digital economy. Digital literacy, referred to as the ability to understand and interact with basic ICT, is estimated to support over 1 million jobs by 2030 (NSDEPS). As of 2018, around 8 per cent of the population of Rwanda was estimated to be literate in using computers. Many people lack the skills to use smart devices to access digital services without depending on agents. This leaves young people often without opportunities to practice their (digital) skills, through job placements and internships, and even worse, to access employment. Several findings point to the barriers related to accessibility as a contributor to the lingering digital skills gaps. For instance, infrastructure and pedagogical gaps related to access to key enablers in schools, including connectivity, digital devices, reliable electricity, digital content and adequate teaching and instructional design capacity, continue to adversely affect both the integration of ICT in the classroom and learning process, and the delivery of digital skills training.

Affordability of digital skills training is also a barrier, as less than 15 percent of households in Rwanda can afford to pay for the intermediate and higher digital skills trainings that will be required by 2030, and less than 40 percent can afford to pay access to foundational and intermediate non-ICT skills.

Additionally, the skills gap and skills mismatch amongst jobseekers has a bearing effect on the growing unemployment and substantial effects on the productivity of enterprises in the country. Accordingly, available evidence and policy narratives emphasise that the shortage of relevant skills and skills mismatch is a major impediment to the economic growth and competitiveness of the Rwandan economy. In terms of unemployment, the Rwanda labour force survey report of 2022 indicates that the unemployment rate among youth was at 25.6% (4 percentage points higher than general unemployment), the unemployment rate among graduates from HLIs is at 17.3% while the unemployment rate among Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates is at 18.9% and the rate of unemployment is exponentially increasing annually. Besides the skills gap and skills mismatch, there is an existing systemic structural challenge related to the lack of tripartite collaboration between suppliers of skills (education providers), those who are requiring the relevant talent (private sector), and the policy actors in the planning and development of skills required by the market.

To address the above challenges the Government of Rwanda has put in place different policy frameworks aimed at promoting a productive labour force and employment in the country. The National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) sets out a national policy target of creating 1,500,000 (214,000 annually) decent and productive jobs by 2024. Additionally, in 2021, the GoR through Chief Skills Office (CSO) of the Rwanda Development Board, and in collaboration with stakeholders including the private sector, developed an operational framework for Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). The impetus of this framework is to enhance skills development through a tripartite partnership between the private sector, education providers, and the government. This framework seeks to create a labour force that is competitive in local, regional, and international labour markets.

The policy stance of SSCs is to provide an inclusive platform for private employers, education providers, government, professional bodies, and other actors to drive skills development in all sectors of the Rwandan economy. The operational framework lays out the strategic arrangement, governance and legal framework of SSCs while considering the landscape of the private sector, training providers and the government in skills development in Rwanda.

Based on the above, the Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Skills for Youth in Rwanda’s Digital Economy project is planning to support in the capacity building and provide technical assistance that contributes to the establishment and operationalization of two sector skills council in Rwanda. The support aims to contribute to the agenda of creating an adequate skill base in Rwanda to identify industry needs and skill gaps to be addressed.

► 2. Overall Objective

The overall purpose of this assignment is to support the process of developing a tailored to context capacity building and technical assistance that contributes to the operationalization/establishment and development two Sector Skills Councils in Rwanda. This is expected to include the selection of the two SSCs for more comprehensive, bespoke support. The detailed scope of work is outlined below.

► 4. Key Deliverables and Timeframe

 The tasks under this assignment include the following:

► PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Payment of Professional Fees will be made in four instalments:

• 1st payment of 25% upon submitting the inception report (Deliverable 1).
• 2nd payment of 25% upon implementing Deliverable 2 and submitting the deliverable report.
• 3rd payment of 25% upon implementing of Deliverable 3 and submitting the deliverable report.
• 4th payment of 25% upon implementing of Deliverable 4 and submitting the deliverable report.
• 100% of DSA once all relevant receipts, boarding passes are submitted.

All reimbursement cost items need to reflect the ILOs commitment to using the most economical, direct, and standardized fares.

►SUBMISSION

The interested candidate has to submit the following documents:

1. A Resume including their qualification as skills development specialist;
2. Technical proposal including a description of the methodology to deliver against the detailed scope of work;
3. A sample report of prior similar delivered work; and
4. Financial offer that is deliverable based AND includes ONLY professional fees related to the activity. Number of field mission dates are also to be accounted and reported at the activity level.

Note: The following Table has been prepared to assist the Consultant in reporting their respective financial offers. Some deliverables have been reflected in the table as an example. However, all deliverable are to be reflected in the table.

*Deliverable Activity Cost = Daily Professional Fees X Total Activity Deliverable Days + Travel cost (mission days X DSA) + flight/travel cost

All the above to be submitted to darprocurement@ilo.org no later than 07 July 2024, 4pm Kigali local time. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

► SELECTION CRITERIA

The successful candidate will have a mix of expertise and qualifications in the focus areas related to this assignment. Evaluation of the suitability of the Consultant to work on this assignment will be made against the following technical criteria:

►Note to Consultants

• All CVs submitted should include the Date of Birth and Nationality of the Consultant;
• Consultant should quote in USD prices and/or using prices calculated using the Official UN Exchange Rates for the country;
• Candidates should be prepared to submit a copy of their national Passport upon Notification of Award;
• Candidates planning field visits, movements, and/or DSA travel dates are required to completed the UN BSAFE security training course upon Notification of Award. Failure to complete the course will prevent the finalization of contracting between the Consultant and the ILO;
• Professional Fees should include all costs associated with the Activity Deliverable;
• Consultants are responsible for arranging their own travel arrangements to project sites;
• Consultants agree to be paid based upon compliance with UN Harmonized DSA rates set for the country;
• Consultants agree that all mission costs will be based upon the most economical direct fares AND that any travel-related costs cannot exceed those payable to an ILO official on the same itinerary;
• All mission cost days will be paid based upon actual receipts paid by the Consultant and actual travel/mission dates;
• Consultants are not to add the VAT to their financial offer unless they are a VAT Registered Individual with the VAT Authority;
• Consultants should be aware that all intellectual property rights arising from the contract are vested with the ILO however authorship will be acknowledged by the Organization; and
• Consultants will bear all charges levied by their own bank in receiving of managing funds transferred by ILO.

[1] ILO will lead on the logistics