|
Tenders are invited for Development of a Policy Brief on Women and Youth Enhanced Participation in the Labour Market in Iraq. Closing Date: 20 Sep 2024 Type: Consultancy BACKGROUND Iraq faces significant challenges in unlocking its entrepreneurial potential due to heavy reliance on the oil sector and extensive government involvement in state-owned enterprises, hindering private-sector growth and diversification. This results in a small private sector struggling to compete against cheap imports and limited investments, compounded by a challenging business environment with complex registration processes, inadequate tax systems, and weak contract enforcement. Access to credit, especially for SMEs, is problematic, contributing to a prevalence of informal businesses. High unemployment rates, particularly among women and youth, worsen the situation. Iraq requires comprehensive structural reforms to address these issues, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) can play a vital role in supporting evidence-based policies, strengthening business and finance capacities, promoting formalization, and providing essential support to startups, ultimately aiming to boost job quantity and quality while diversifying the Iraqi economy. In response to these challenges, the International Labour Organization (ILO), with support from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), is implementing a project in Southern Iraq. The project focuses on enhancing private sector development and creating decent jobs, emphasising sustainable green businesses and support for startups. The project operates on three levels: at the macro level, it supports evidence-based policy options for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through business environment assessments. At the meso level, it builds the capacities of financial institutions to better serve their clients needs and provides training to intermediary organizations. At the micro level, it offers training to youth, small business owners, and startups, focusing on business management and financial literacy, while facilitating their access to financial services. The project collaborates with various ministries, employers and workers organizations, and financial institutions, ultimately benefiting vulnerable workers in Iraq. This initiative aligns with the Iraq Decent Work Country Programme and the governments Riyada initiative for development and employment, with a focus on the green economy, improving MSME capacities, enhancing financial inclusion, and providing essential support to startups. It includes enterprise assessments, identification of constraints in green business development, and training and support for trainers, financial institutions, and businesses. The ILO had also started in July 2023, an evidence-based gender-sensitive assessment of the enabling environment for sustainable enterprises in Iraq, with the objective of promoting MSME productivity and development, gender equality, and growth of the formal economy in a context of fragility. The framework and methodology draw primarily from the ILOs Enabling Environment for Sustainable enterprises (EESE) while building on the Guidance note on how to conduct EESE assessments in fragile contexts and incorporating dimensions from the Assessment of the Framework Conditions for Womens Entrepreneurship Development. A draft was finalized in August 2024. It provides an overview of the enabling business environment in Iraq, initially based on existing data and surveys which point to priority areas for structural change and diversification. In line with these efforts, the ILO has organised in July 2024 in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning (MOP), a conference to national MSMEs policy in federal Iraq with wide participation from different ministries, Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), workers and employers organizations, UN Agencies and international agencies, financial institutions, business services providers, and local related NGOs. The objective of this conference was Presenting the efforts of the Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Labor, and the Central Bank of Iraq to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including the Central Banks recent launch of the national banking loan strategy in May 2024. Showcasing the experiences of international organizations in Iraq in supporting MSMEs and green businesses. Providing an overview of womens participation in the Iraqi labor market, with a focus on entrepreneurship. Developing practical, actionable recommendations to unify national efforts in MSME development, including creating a national MSME development policy and setting a meeting date for the committee formed to develop this policy. One of the main conferences outcomes is developing the national MSMEs development policy. To that end, The ILO needs to hire this consultant to develop a comprehensive MSME policy that aligns with Iraqs national strategies and international best practices. The consultants expertise in policy formulation, stakeholder engagement, and data analysis is crucial for creating an actionable and effective policy. Their experience in Iraq and similar contexts ensures that the policy will address the specific challenges and opportunities of the MSME sector, contributing to economic growth, job creation, and decent work in IraqTop of FormBottom of Form ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES The objective of this assignment is to develop a comprehensive and well-informed MSME policy for Iraq that aligns with national priorities and international best practices, building on the findings of the EESE reports as well as other documents including research documents, surveys, and policy papers produced by key actors and development partners. The consultant will build upon the existing work done under the EESE report, focusing specifically on aspects related to MSME support and BDS programs. This will involve organizing and facilitating targeted consultative meetings and workshops with key stakeholders, including government bodies, MSMEs, yoworkers, employers, workers representatives, UN agencies, and other relevant parties, to address any remaining gaps and opportunities. The consultant will then draft, present, and refine the MSME policy through a series of validation processes, ensuring that the final policy is practical and aligned with stakeholder needs. The final deliverables will include the finalized policy document and a PowerPoint presentation for the policys official launch. SCOPE OF WORK The scope of work to develop the policy might be based on the three following phases: Phase 1- Setting up steering and technical committees to ensure political and technical buy-in In close coordination with the ILO team support in setting up steering and technical committee (interministerial and tripartite). The steering committee will help ensuring political and technical buy-in which would have the mandate to oversee to MSME policy design process, (or ideally use existing relevant committee (s) while ensuring the inclusion of social partners). In addition the working group or technical committee will work on the drafting the policy with the consultants support. More precisely, the technical group would be responsible for the organizational process necessary for the development of the MSME policy (communication, consultations, workshops etc) as well as organizing and overseeing the technical work. Phase 2- Development of a situational analysis and preliminary recommendations. The consultant in close coordination with the technical committee and the ILO would be in charge of reviewing existing policy documents and background studies, engaging in further desk literature review, analysing available quantitative data/statistics, national frameworks & policies and evaluations, and undertaking qualitative primary research as well as consultative meetings (including key informant interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders at national and sub-national levels) aims to develop a comprehensive and evidence-based situational analysis of Iraqs MSME sector, focusing on country-specific inequalities, structural challenges, and constraints. This will involve a thorough review of Iraqs existing policies, programs, and plans, including those of development partners, to identify any gaps in implementation and to draw lessons from current and past initiatives. A critical aspect of this work is to engage with key stakeholders to understand their needs and priorities, and to gather their input on potential policy solutions that can achieve substantial impact despite limited resources. Understanding and documentation of tripartite constituents needs and priority areas and their suggested approaches to address them will be key. Additionally, the project will analyze the political and institutional landscape, identifying capacity gaps that need to be addressed to create a robust framework for policy implementation. Furthermore, the project will explore relevant good practices from other countries to incorporate effective strategies into Iraqs MSME policy, ensuring successful coordination, implementation, and monitoring. The consultant in close coordination with the committee will develop a situational analysis that fulfils the above criteria and that clearly builds on the research and consultations findings. The situational analysis should feature a clear and coherent rationale as well as an analytical narrative/approach that clearly identifies problems and challenges. On this basis, it will identify what is the strategic path and orientation for short-, medium- and long-term SME development and the main priorities to support the strategic direction. At the end of this consultative process, the technical committee with the support of the consultant and ILO project team will organize a priority-setting workshop with national stakeholders. Based Tender Link : https://reliefweb.int/job/4090675/development-policy-brief-women-and-youth-enhanced-participation-labour-market-iraq
|
