Description : Consultancy service for Impact Assessment - ILES project in Pakistan -. Company : null. Location :
Background
The ILO Country Office for Pakistan, with financial support from the European Union and in collaboration with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan), has implemented an eight-year project on the International Labour and Environmental Standards Application in Pakistan’s Small Medium Enterprises (ILES).
The ILES project aims to promote sustainable and inclusive growth in Pakistan by supporting the economic integration of Pakistan into the global and regional economy by improving compliance with labour and environmental standards and increasing competitiveness. The specific objective of the project is to promote the enforcement and implementation of and compliance with international labour and environmental standards through two sub-objectives:
1. to assist public sector institutions to improve the enforcement of existing legislation and compliance with international labour and environmental standards in Pakistan as well as to define new laws where necessary; and
2. to assist enterprises in the textile and leather sectors to institutionalize the implementation of and compliance with international labour and environmental standards.
Purpose
The main purpose of this exercise is to carry out an impact assessment of the ILES project’s labour component (Result Component 1)1. It will provide credible information about the project’s impact at the policy and enterprise levels. This impact assessment will thus assess the outcomes, achievements, challenges, and opportunities encountered during the implementation of the ILES project (2016-2024). It will focus on the direct effects the project brought to policy and enterprise outcomes and will go beyond the immediate activities of the project assess eventual indirect effects at the enterprise level (e.g. effects on suppliers).
This assessment aims to facilitate learning for the project\\\'s constituents, the ILO, donor, and other key stakeholders, with the goal of integrating these insights into future ILO interventions in Pakistan under the Decent Work Country Programme. This includes the replication and expansion of successful interventions and initiatives regarding the performance of smaller-scale (pilot) initiatives and the feasibility of achieving similar results on a larger scale.
The impact assessment will focus on the following areas:
a. Did the project intervention have a measurable impact in relevant enterprise-level outcome indicators (e.g. productivity, sales, exports, accident and injury, working conditions)? Are these improvements, if any, institutionalized and thus sustainable upon the end of the intervention?
b. Did the project intervention have an impact on enterprises beyond those directly targeted by the intervention (e.g. suppliers, competitors)?
c. Did the project intervention produce measurable labor policy results (e.g. closer alignment between national and provincial labour legislation and international labour standards)?
d. Did the project intervention strengthen Pakistan’s standing in GSP+?
e. Did the project strengthen social partners capacity to monitor labour conditions and offer policy solutions in the country?
f. Are the project interventions sustainable after the project’s finalization?
The ILES Project’s M&E Officer in coordination with the Regional M&E Officer, will support this project impact assessment, using the ILO Guidance Note on Impact Evaluation2. Scope
The scope of the impact assessment covers the 8-year period of project implementation from 2016 to 2024 and includes both federal and provincial geographical areas and structures where the ILES project. The assessment will consider the impacts brought by a comprehensive range of activities supported by the project, such as legislation and policy advice, advocacy, capacity building, strategic partnerships, direct support initiatives to target enterprises, and research.
The assessment will involve engagement with various stakeholders, including federal and provincial governments, employers\\\' representatives, workers\\\' representatives, donors, and beneficiaries.
Methodologies
The consultant team (one international and one national) is expected to develop and design a tailored impact assessment methodology to evaluate the factors influencing positive changes. The team can consider outcome harvesting as a potential methodology.
The impact assessment will adopt a participatory approach to the extent possible, incorporating a mix of face-to-face interviews and online consultations. To the extent possible, it will review enterprise level data. The ILES project team will provide a key framework for the process, drawing from the project document, reports of evaluability assessment, mid-term assessment, project’s annual progress reports, activity reports, and other relevant documents as key references.
The consultant team will undertake a desk review of relevant documents, conduct nterviews, facilitate stakeholder consultations, analyse collected data using qualitative data analysis techniques, analyse quantitative enterprise data, and produce the report.
Expected deliverables.
1. Inception report (not more than 10 pages) – the key elements of the inception report include: (a) administrative information, (b) background and context, (c) purpose, scope, and clients, (d) criteria and questions, (e) methodology, (f) deliverables, and (g) work plan. The consultant team will submit the inception report to the ILES project manager.
2. Impact assessment report which will include findings from the assessment and recommendations for future interventions.
3. Validation workshop to present the findings of impact assessment with the Country Office for Pakistan, the ILES project team, and key stakeholders.
Management arrangement
The ILO will provide support to the consultant team in identifying and arranging consultations with tripartite constituents, enterprise representatives where applicable and other relevant stakeholders.
The ILO will facilitate coordination with the parallel ongoing impact assessment being carried for the environmental component.
The impact assessment will be managed by the ILES Project Manager with the support from the M&E Officer in ILO CO for Pakistan, and the ILO Regional M&E officer. The consultant team should report to the ILES Project Manager.
The Country Office for Pakistan will provide all the relevant guidance and support necessary to facilitate this assessment.
Technical specialists from the Decent Work Team based in Delhi and Geneva will provide inputs.
Timeframe
The consultant team is expected to start from 15th March – 30th June 2024. Local travel is expected to Sindh, Punjab where all enterprises are located, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.
Qualifications for the Consultant
The consultant team should have the following profile:
- At least 5 years of experiences in evaluation, impact assessment or evaluability assignment.
- Demonstrated experience conducting similar assignments
- Demonstrated experience in the field of labour-related impact assessments
- Demonstrated experience working with the export-oriented industrial sectors. Specific work in the Textile, Readymade garments and Leather industry in the Asia Pacific region is an advantage.
- Strong analytical skills and ability to integrate diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of sources;
- Ability to work under time pressure and deliver work of outstanding quality;
- Ability to present results to a high-level audience;
- Outstanding writing skills in English, including a demonstrated ability to draft clear and concise legal acts drafts, develop policy analysis-oriented reports.
- Demonstrated capacity to carry out the assignment within allocated timeframe.
Please note that:
- The EXCOL will be responsible for own health insurance and need to provide information regarding insurance to the ILO at the time of contracting.
- Consulting company upon selection also need to complete the UNDSS BSAFE field security training (online training) unless already holding a valid certificate from UNDSS. SSAFE certification would be an advantage.
