National Consultant Social Security Outreach Officials Training: Engaging Facilitation Techniques and Communication Skills. At International Labour Organization

PROJECT BACKGROUND

General background

Overlapping drivers of displacement worldwide have coincided and increased the scope, scale and complexity of displacement. Approximately 25.4 million individuals are recognized as refugees who have fled their homes due to a well-found fear of persecution. This is alongside millions of internally displaced persons and those who have fled their homes, but are not recognized as refugees by the 1951 Refugee Convention. As a country neighboured by Iraq, Syria and the West Bank, Jordan is facing a historic forced displacement crisis and as the crisis extends into the next decade, the country is at an inflection point, given the scope, scale and protracted nature of the displacement. In response to the considerable challenges posed by forced displacement, a new strategic partnership, named PROSPECTS, was established by the Government of the Netherlands, IFC, UNICEF, ILO, UNHCR and the World Bank. The partnership spans eight countries and covering a five-year period (2018-2022).

Through the Prospects partnership, the World Bank, IFC, UNICEF, UNHCR and ILO aim to leverage their comparative advantages and areas of expertise to programme complementary and interdependent interventions that address education, employment and protection challenges that negatively affect the livelihoods and well-being of host communities and forcibly displaced persons. The combined efforts of the organizations will endeavour to bolster the medium- and longer-term development goals for host communities and forcibly displaced persons to access quality and market-relevant education; decent work and enterprise opportunities; and comprehensive protection systems.

2. PROSPECTS IN Jordan

Jordan is facing a historic forced displacement crisis and as the crisis extends into the next decade, the country is at an inflection point, given the scope, scale and protracted nature of the displacement. Through Prospects, partners will undertake interventions that will align with national strategies, helping to mitigate the impact of the current displacement crisis on both refugee and host communities, with a longer-term goal of supporting human development through support to increased economic opportunities, wider access to quality education and stronger protection mechanisms. As of January 2020, Jordan hosted over 745,000 refugees, including over 655,000 Syrians and almost 100,000 other nationalities. Children represent a little over half of the refugee community. With refugees constituting almost seven percent of Jordan’s population, the Kingdom is one of the top refugee hosting countries per capita worldwide.

Whilst Jordan’s economic situation pre-dated the Syrian crisis, the impact of its forced displacement crisis has worsened the situation. The IMF has estimated that Jordan’s economy lost one percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) each year of the crisis due to investment and export losses. Syrian and Jordanian households across the Kingdom continue to live in highly vulnerable conditions, with all communities dependent on overstretched and weak education systems; limited, and often informal, employment opportunities; poorly coordinated protection systems; and nascent social safety nets.

Through the Prospects partnership, the five partners aim to leverage their comparative advantages and areas of expertise to programme complementary and interdependent interventions that address three areas where challenges negatively affect the livelihoods and well-being of Jordanians, refugees and other vulnerable groups: education, employment, and protection. Through an in-depth theory of change process, the combined efforts of the organizations will endeavour to bolster the medium- and longer-term development goals for Jordanians, refugees and other vulnerable groups to access quality and market-relevant education; decent engagement, work and enterprise opportunities; and comprehensive protection systems, which will in turn support more sustainable livelihoods, in line with Jordan’s national plans. Integrated into the joint programme is systematic learning and knowledge management that will feed into future planning, the scaling up of innovative approaches, and ultimately transform the way partners respond to displacement crisis.

3. Estidama++ Fund -extension of social security coverage and formalization

In Jordan, the majority of the workforce is in the informal economy, where there is increased risk of exploitation and a lack of social protection coverage. The exact number of informal workers in Jordan is difficult to measure, but based on previous labour force surveys, certain characteristics appear to increase the likelihood of workers being informal, marked by their lack of social security coverage. Workers in micro and small enterprises, non-nationals and workers in particular sectors such as construction and agriculture, all have lower rates of social security coverage. A combination of factors such as legal exclusion, contribution cost, awareness and employer compliance, influence participation. Without some form of social protection, workers face higher financial risks and consequences to their well-being when contingencies, such as sickness, unemployment and work injury, occur. The right to social protection is universal, and one in which Jordan has taken important steps to realize.

Estidama++ Fund – Extension of Coverage and Formalization project was initiated as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. This COVID-19 crisis funnelled into pre-existing decent work deficits, in particular those related to gaps in social protection coverage. Workers themselves realized the consequences of inadequate coverage as firms slowed operations and put workers into Furlow. The programme leveraged the increased attention to social protection during the pandemic as an opportunity to extend social security coverage to vulnerable informal workers, including refugees, while providing short-term income support to incentivize registration with the Jordanian Social Security Corporation (SSC) and to support compliance with contributions in the medium/long-term. The design and inception phase of the project started in June 2022 and will have a total duration of 18 months, the facility will focus on certain key priority sectors and typologies of workers. In Phase 2 (started in August 2023) and other subsequent phases of the project, it is expected that the overall scope will be extended to additional sectors and types of workers. Phase 2 design is for 12 months and was designed based on lessons learned from phase 1.

The project is innovative in bringing together donor governments to help offset some of the financial barriers vulnerable workers experience in accessing social security, and to help offset the risk incurred by the SSC in extending benefits to groups who may be unable to pay full contributions in the short-term. In Phase I, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom pledged their support.

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

Social Security Corporation is the national entity responsible for social insurance in Jordan. SSC provides workers with various types of insurance including old-age, disability, death, work injury, maternity and unemployment insurances. SSC has taken several measures to extend the coverage to formal workers as well as informal workers, including an article in the agriculture workers’ bylaw to the Labour Code (Regulation No. 19) which mandates that all agriculture workers should be covered by social security, alongside changes to social security regulations to include the self-employed workers. In addition, SSC issued further regulations to extend the coverage to part-time workers.

However, the different benefits provided and contribution rates are difficult for the average worker to understand. The absence of information and knowledge on social security schemes and benefits hinders the ability of workers and employers to understand the importance of social security and eventually make the decision to enrol in SSC.

Raising awareness of social security rights and benefits leverages the extension of coverage among workers and employers. Therefore, following the government approval of the mandatory coverage of workers holding flexible work permits in specific sectors, ILO PROSPECTS initiated a series of sensitization sessions targeting informal workers in the agriculture sector and industrial firms. The aim is to provide information to workers and employers about social security benefits and entitlements and raise the self-employed workers awareness of short and long-term benefits and promote their registration in SSC.

As part of the efforts to increase SSC’s outreach to the beneficiaries and encourage registration of firms and workers, the ILO and SSC identified the need for strengthening capacities of outreach officials both on the design and the facilitation stages of conducting information and outreach sessions. Last year, an ILO’s implementing partner organized a training session for 50 outreach officials on effective communication strategies drawn from Behavioural Sciences. The capacity-building training aim to enhance the knowledge of the SSC officials and equip them with the necessary tools to conduct field visits and engage effectively with local Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs).

This assignment will support an improved information and communications among informal workers and vulnerable workers in different sectors, through providing training, mentorship and skills development to SSC officials in the branches. The assignment will develop the capacities of outreach officials in 34 branches and service offices across the country. The ultimate goal is to ensure that SSC staff are able to design and facilitate well-structed information and awareness-raising sessions that cater to the needs of different workers and employers, while addressing the gaps in reaching different workers and employers specially the informal workers in different sectors and areas, and forcibly displaced and host community worker.

The overall objective of the assignment is to support the Social Security Corporation (SSC) capacities to reach to different workers through developing the skills, knowledge and training approaches of SSC facilitators. The specific objectives of this assignment are:

-Increase the training capacities of SSC staff to facilitate training and information sessions in social security in their respective communities, taking into consideration a right-based approach for vulnerable groups.

– Strengthen SSC knowledge and understanding of effective communication strategies and facilitation techniques to design and deliver information session in social security rights.

– Enhance the communications and interpersonal skills among a group of SSC outreach officials.

– Increase abilities of the selected facilitators in evaluating the needs of the audience, adapt the right content and language and training engagement strategies.

– How to plan and design the information sessions

– Effective communication and presentation skills

– How to engage with your target audience

– How to evaluate and assess the sessions

– Develop agenda and training material for five workshops targeting the outreach officials. Each workshop will be 4 days (25 participants each). Each workshop shall include 3 days of theory and exercises and the fourth day is for practical work, where participants present their projects/presentation of one session.

-Develop and implement effective training evaluation tools and report to ILO on the development of skills and competencies.

-Submit the narrative report in English on challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for capacity building improvements for the trained staff.

METHODOLOGY

The consultant should be an expert in communications, media and training of trainers methodologies. The consultant will evaluate the capacities and knowledge of the assignment through meetings with ILO, SSC, project stakeholders. Based on the findings of the consultations, the consultant shall draft the concept note and the training program and deliver 5 training workshops for SSC officials. The training must inspire, motivate and engage the staff and equip them with practical knowledge on how to design, develop an engaging and structured session that inform workers and employers about the social security rights, schemes and entitlements. The training shall improve their communications skills using simple and clear messages. The consultant shall develop practical exercises and provide staff with resources and materials to ensure the sustainability of the assignment and continuation of the activities. He/she will be expected to regularly discuss and report progress with ILO project team on a bi-weekly basis.

DELIVERABLES

Concept note ( 3 days ) ( 17th April )
A concept note detailing the methodology of delivery, the training tools, the results assessment of the capacities, the training needs and profiling of SSC staff after consultations with ILO, SSC and stakeholders. The concept note will also match the key skills and knowledge that will be build/ strengthening in the SSC staff corresponding to each training area as above mentioned. It shall also explain the skills assessment methodology and tools. The Concept note will be submitted in English.

2. Training agenda and material ( 7 days ) 17th April

Training agenda outlining the sessions design, case studies and group of works. The agenda shall include the training material that will be used in the training in the five workshops (25 staff each). It shall include the learning objectives, a content outline, detailed instructions, real-world examples, task instructions, practice exercises, working groups and test questions. The package of training materials (handouts, videos, presentations, case studies and training manuals) shall be submitted to the ILO in Arabic.

3. Conduct five workshops (4 days each) 31 May

Each workshop will take place for four days in Dead Sea and delivered in Arabic.

4. The narrative report ( 20 July )

The final narrative report submitted in English language shall include results of the evaluation from the training, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for capacity building improvements for the trained staff.

REQUIRED EXPERTISE:

At least 15 years of experience in communication, media and related fields
A proven track record in training and facilitation.
A certified training of trainers
Demonstrated experience in designing training programs for UN and international development organizations is an asset.
Previous experience working with Government institutions and/ or with SSC is an asset.
Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

PROPOSALS SUBMISSION

Qualified candidates should submit their technical and financial proposals to the ILO by 27 March 2024.

Technical proposals should include a brief summary of the work that will be conducted based on the information provided in this request. It should also include the expert CV. Applicants should include a list of relevant work, and include references for each assignment, where possible. At least two references should be included and contactable.

Financial offer should include all related cost ex. accommodation, travel costs, etc.

All materials should be sent to Ms. Ola Flaifel and Kurdi, flaifel@ilo.org , kurdi@ilo.org by midnight (GMT+3) on 27 March 2024. Please include the subject line “Social Security Outreach Officials Training: Engaging Facilitation Techniques and Communication Skills”. Only applications that fulfil the requirements indicated above will be considered.

SUPERVISION AND LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

The consultant will perform the assignment under the supervision of Social Protection Coordinator and the Social Protection Outreach Officer and the overall guidance of ILO PROSPECTS Chief Technical Adviser for the Arab States Region. The technical review will be carried out by ILO Senior Specialist for Social Security.

ILO will support the selected individual to deliver quality material in the given timeframe. Based on the proposed methodology, this may include providing literature and existing guides, facilitating meetings with relevant stakeholders, and supporting with contact information.