Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference for a Consultancy Service in Support of the Development of an

Employment Strategy

Economic and social participation of vulnerable displaced persons

and local population in the South Caucasus

Programme: Economic and social participation of vulnerable displaced persons and local
population in the South Caucasus
Programme duration: December 2017 – October 2021
Contract duration: 2,5 months (October – 10. December)
Location: Baku

1. Project background

Economic and social participation of vulnerable displaced and local population in the South
Caucasus – EPIC - is a regional programme, launched in 2017 and implemented by the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ).

The programme aims at enhancing the economic and social participation of vulnerable
internally displaced persons (IDP), refugees and members of local population by enhancing
their employability, facilitating business start-ups, supporting existing businesses and
empowering communities as well as supporting state actors in improving offers for vulnerable
IDP’s and local population.

Fostering the participation and empowerment of young people and women is a cross-cutting
priority for all project activities and is also reflected in the programme’s indicators.
EPIC pursues its goal of improving economic and social participation of vulnerable IDPs and
the local population in Azerbaijan through the following four lines of work:
1. Strengthening capacities of public sector actors to promote the economic and social
participation of vulnerable IDP’s and the local population;
2. Increasing the employability of vulnerable IDP’s and the local population;
3. Improving business development opportunities for vulnerable IDP’s, refugees and the
local population to create income and employment;
4. Empowering vulnerable IDPs and local population to stimulate social cohesion and
engagement in the community.

2. Scope of work

Employment and self-employment are key elements for participation and for empowering
vulnerable persons. Internally displaced persons (IDP) are among the most vulnerable
population who need special support. Therefore, the State Committee on the Affairs of
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons of the Republic of Azerbaijan (from hereinafter the
Committee) is establishing an Employment Department that will provide support to IDP’s in
becoming economically active through finding employment or self-employment. The EPIC
programme supports to the Committee in its efforts to provide a good public service and to
help to vulnerable IDPs to become economically active.
Terms of Reference

The consultancy aims at supporting the newly established Employment Department of the
Committee in the set-up of an employment strategy. The strategy should present a
comprehensive approach to decrease the unemployment among vulnerable IDP. Besides
the strategic outlook, the document should collect proven approaches, methods, policies as
well as programmes and offer guidance to the employment department on how to
operationalise the presented approach. Another topic will be the cooperation with other
institutions and stakeholders in the field as well as the mobilisation of additional resources,
e.g. through Corporate Social Responsibility. The consultancy shall provide follow-up advice
and guidance on the implementation of the strategy, including trainings and/ or advice on
policy and programme development, process development and steering.

The consultants will coordinate their work, tasks and inputs in close discussion with the EPIC
programme officer, responsible for overseeing the contract. The consultants will agree on the
specific tasks and work-packages to be delivered with the contact person in the EPIC team.
The consultants are expected to support other administrative, monitoring or implementation
tasks upon request.

3. Activities, deliverables, terms and timelines

# Activity Deliverable/ Reports Deadline

1 Conduct needs Need assessment report October,
assessment 2020
- Explores the structure and set
up of the employment
department;
- Identifies training needs for staff;
- Develops proposals for structural
adjustments (organizational
development) for trainings;
- Conducts in-depth semi-
structured interviews and
meetings, including field visits to
develop a comprehensive
picture of the current situation.

2 Collect proven Best practice paper October –

approaches, methods as
well as policies and
programmes
November,
- Gives an overview of proven 2020
(self-) employment promoting
practices from Azerbaijan and
the world, particularly the
approaches, policies and
programs for the employment
promotion of the vulnerable and
displaced groups of relevant
government, non-government
and international actors;
Terms of Reference
3 Develop a cooperation Cooperation strategy document
strategy for the
employment department
4 Follow-up advice and/or Reports on the delivered advice
trainings for the staff of measures and/or capacity
the employment development training
department
- Lists at least 10 proven
approaches, 10 proven methods,
5 policies and 5 programmes for
employment and self-
employment promotion (brief
overviews of 1-2 pages per
examples – total max. 60 pages
according to a jointly agreed
structure);
- Reflects on the transferability of
international examples to the
Azerbaijani context and reality
and shows how a feasible
adjustment would look like;
- The structure of the document
will be agreed on together with
the responsible officer in EPIC
programme and the Committee.
October –
November,
- presents a strategic view on 2020
cooperating with public, private
and international stakeholders;
- develops a practical approach to
increase the cooperation
according to the type of partner;
- identifies promising fields of
cooperation;
- The structure of the document
will be agreed on together with
the responsible officer in EPIC
programme and the committee
(collecting the data might require
additional interviews and/or
workshops).
October –
November,
2020
- Covers support for the
implementation of the strategy
by the Committee in the form of
advisory and/or training services
- Needs to refer and back up the
key elements identified in the
employment strategy (activity 5)
Terms of Reference
5 Develop (and compose)
the employment strategy
-
6 Final report
All reports must be submitted in digital format (Words, Open Office, PPT or similar
programmes). All deliverables will be handed to EPIC programme together with their copy-
rights. EPIC programme will be granted permission to use, print and reproduce the materials
according to its needs.
and will be implemented parallel
to it;
- Should consider development of
the capacities of the Committee
staff to modify and adjust the
strategy in future;
- Includes participation list;
- Reports on the advisory and/or
training outcomes and
formulates observations,
identifies further training needs
and gives recommendations.
Employment Strategy document October –
November,
- Comprehensive strategy 2020
document (30 to 50 pages) for
reducing unemployment among
vulnerable IDP (based on the
needs assessment, desk/field
research results and may require
additional workshops);
- Will include references to the best
practices document and
cooperation strategy as
developed under point 2 and 3;
- Needs to address measures on
the individual level, the collective
(meso) level, and the policy
level;
- The structure of the document will
be agreed on together with the
responsible officer in EPIC
programme and the committee.
Evaluation Report December,
2020
- Report on conducted activities,
results, further support needs,
recommendations (5-10 pages).
Terms of Reference

If needed, the consultants are expected to support further project activities within the frame of
the outlined assignment upon request.

The experts are requested to follow GIZ data collection, storage and protection regulations
when collecting, processing and dealing with personal or sensitive data of programme
beneficiaries and partner institutions as well as any information on activities in the frame of
the contract. All information and data, project, personnel and beneficiary-related will be
handled confidentially and will not be shared with any third party, whether an individual or an
organization. The service provider is not permitted to provide information for external public
communication purposes, including media, press and interview. Any such intension should
first be raised and discussed with the EPIC team. The service provider consultant is
responsible to safely and securely store data during the contract period, handover the required
data after the contract ends and securely delete all data collected and stored that is not
required by EPIC team.

4. Requirements

The experts for Employment Strategy Development should have the following experience and
skills:
• University degree in Economics, Social sciences, administration or similar field;
• At least 5 years of experience in strategic planning, preferable as well with a
governmental institution;
• Proven expertise in working on employment generation and developing large scale
programmes;
• Strong advisory skills, including political advice;
• Strong experience process design;
• Proven Research skills;
• Proven expertise in Azerbaijani Labour and Employment Law;
• Experience in developing and conducting interviews;
• Excellent multitasking skills;
• Great leadership skills;
• Critical thinker and problem-solving skills;
• Team player;
• Good time-management skills;
• Great interpersonal, presentation and communication skills;
• Report writing experience;
• Native speaker level of Azerbaijani language; proficiency in English is considered an
asset.

5. Working time

The following inputs are considered for the national experts for the total of up-to 80 days:

Up-to Work
Activity
days
Needs assessment of the employees 5 days
Terms of Reference

Collect approaches, methods, policies and programmes 10 days

Develop cooperation strategy, includes interviews, study 10 days
Follow-up advisory and/or trainings 25 days
Develop employment strategy 20 days
Reporting, monitoring and evaluation 10 days
Total up to 80 days

As the total number of days cannot be delivered by a single consultant in the set timeframe,
consultancy firms and teams of consultants are encouraged to apply. When sending your
application, please indicate the expert consultant for each activity. Please make sure to send
the CV of each expert consultant, indicating the relevant experience and knowledge for the
specific task.

6. Deliverables

All deliverables and products should be handed to EPIC programme in a digital format (Words,
PPT, PDF, JPEG, MP4). The specific format will be agreed upon with the contact persons in
EPIC programme.

The experts will develop and hand-over the following deliveries in Azerbaijani language:
• Needs assessment report;
• Best practices paper;
• Cooperation strategy document;
• Advisory and/or training materials and reports;
• Employment Strategy document;
• Final Report.

The consultant will be responsible for collecting the participants' consent to data storage and
collection, as required by GIZ data protection regulations.

7. Payment terms

All financial operation within the framework of this contract are handled in accordance with
the laws and regulations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and internal procurement rules of GIZ.

Only worked days will be considered for payment. The total number of days can be lower
than the maximum number of it listed above.

8. Requested application documents

Please submit:

Technical Proposal
The applicant is expected to submit a concise proposal containing at least the following
aspects:
Terms of Reference

• If applicable: information on the company (Website or company profile/portfolio in

hardcopy);
• Outline of a proposed programme in line with the scope of work described in sections
two, three, five with an estimated implementation plan;
• CV of proposed experts with clear description of related experience;
*use technical assessment grid as a guideline for the technical proposal

Financial offer
Please, submit your financial offer for 80 working days. Only worked days will be considered
for payment. The total number of days can be lower than the listed above.