State of Labour Migration and Mobility Governance in the IGAD Region: Fair Recrutement Practices in the IGAD Region At International Labour Organization

Background

The search for decent work and livelihood opportunities is a key driver of human mobility around the world. According to the latest ILO estimates[1], there are 169 million migrant workers, 62 per cent of international migrants, globally. Likewise, migrant workers constitute a significant share of the migrant population in the African Continent. According to the third Africa labour migration statistics report[2] there are about 14.5 million migrant workers, 72 percent of working-age migrants in the continent. Turning to the sub regions, East, South and West Africa hosted more than 80% of the migrant workers in Africa in 2019. IGAD hosts 3.4 million migrant workers, of which 46% are women. This represents close to 3% of the workforce.

Growing numbers of migrant workers from East, North, and West Africa are also migrating to the Arab States to work in construction, manufacturing, agriculture, services and retail trade, and domestic and care work. According to UNDESA, the stock of migrants from African countries in the GCC in 2017 was estimated to be over 3.4 million. The most popular destination countries for migrants from African countries were the UAE, KSA and Qatar. While comprehensive data from IGAD Region is limited, evidence shows a considerable increase in flow of migrant workers from the IGAD region to the GCC and middle east countries.

It is evident that labour migration brings benefits to countries of origin, countries of destination as well as migrant workers and their families. Migrant workers play a key role in fulfilling labour market demands in countries of destination, increasing labour productivity through diversifying skills sets, boost local consumption, pay taxes and make social contributions as well as innovation and creativity, thereby contributing to aggregate GDP growth of countries of destination. Migrant workers also contribute to the development of countries of origin through remittances while abroad and financial investments, as well as human and social capital acquired abroad including new skills, ideas and know-how up on their return.

Despite the benefits of labour migration, migrant workers experience a range of challenges and decent work deficits. The challenge starts with the complex recruitment industry which involves a networks of recruitment agencies, travel agencies, brokers and informal intermediaries, as well as online recruitment services. Fraudulent recruitment practices, particularly payment of recruitment fees, is common challenge leading to debt bondage, modern day slavery and significant protection risks for migrant workers. In addition, unavailability of standardized written contract and even when they exist contract substitution up on their arrival in the country of destination is a major challenge that puts migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Although IGAD Member States are increasingly aware of the challenges of Recruitment and placement of migrant workers and begun strengthening their national legislations and specify the process of Recruitment and placement of migrant workers in Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs), significant gaps persist. Improving legal frameworks and compliance mechanisms on licensing, monitoring and inspections of private employment agencies require considerable investment in understanding and analysing the industry, developing relevant policy instruments as well as capacity building and staffing of government departments, ensuring government agencies have appropriate enforcement mandates and sensitizing and incentivising private recruitment agencies and employers on fair recruitment practices and their benefits

Cognizant of these and other challenges, Ministers of Labour and Employment of IGAD Member States signed the Djibouti Declaration on Labour, Employment and Labour Migration[3] on October 21, 2022, in Djibouti city, the Republic of Djibouti. The declaration, among other things calls up on member states to institute relevant supervisory mechanisms on the process of recruitment, placement, working conditions, return and integration of migrant workers. Furthermore, the IGAD Regional Guidelines on Rights Based Bilateral Labour Agreements, adopted by IGAD Ministers of Labour and Employment through the Djibouti Declaration, provides detailed recommendation on key Recruitment and placement related issues to be considered in drafting, negotiating and signing BLAs with countries of destination. At continental level, the ILO Regional Office for Africa in close collaboration with African Union Commission, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and International Organization of Employers (IOE) also launched the continental fair recruitment initiative in Africa. During the launch, among other things, Regional economic Communities, including IGAD secretariat, and AU member states make pledges to ensure Recrutement practices are transparent, fair and rights based. More specifically, IGAD commits to convene regional and inter regional dialogues, promote fair recruitment practices and develop regional guidelines on regulation of private employment agencies.

Against this background and in an effort to follow up on the commitments and recommendations put forward in the Djibouti Declaration and IGAD Regional Guidelines on Rights Based BLAs, the ILO in close collaboration with IGAD secretariat plans to conduct a study on the state of labour migration and mobility governance with a focus on the Recruitment and placement of migrant workers in the IGAD Region to serve as a background document for the Second Ministerial Conference on Labour, Employment and Labour Migration scheduled to take place in November 2022. To this end, this ToR is prepared to hire the service of an external collaborator to produce the report as elaborated below.

Objective

The overall objective of the study report is to provide a general overview about the state of labour migration and mobility governance and present in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations on Recrutement and placement practices in IGAD Region. To be more precise, the study is expected to:

• Provide an overview about labour migration and mobility governance in the IGAD region

and provide in-depth analysis of Recruitment and placement of migrant workers in the IGAD region;

• Identify good practices, challenges, opportunities and provide strategic recommendations to advance fair Recruitment and placement practices in the IGAD Region

Methodology

The report will be conducted using mixed research method involving desk review, qualitive and quantitative research tools as explained below

1. Desk Review: the consultant is expected to thoroughly review latest available research and data in the area of labour migration and mobility governance in general and recruitment practices in particular in the IGAD region drawing/building on the study report titled “an assessment of labour migration and mobility governance in the IGAD Region” conducted by IGAD and ILO in 2018 and 2019 and Africa Fair Recruitment Report [4] conducted by ILO. To this end, the consultant is expected to review latest academic and non-academic literature and publication on the subject and make use of available data sources / databases at national and also international level.
2. Qualitative Methods: the consultant is also expected to conduct key informant interviews and focus group discussion, where possible, to update and triangulate findings from primary and secondary sources and further understand recruitment practices in the region. Key Informant Interview will be conducted with key stakeholders including experts and officials of IGAD Secretariat, IGAD member states particularly Ministries of Labour and Ministries of Foreign Affairs, representatives of Trade Unions, Employers Organizations, Private Employment Agencies and other stakeholders working on labour migration and mobility governance as well as potential migrant workers and returnees. In order to provide a more detailed account of emerging good practices and reenforce the recommendations, selected good practices will be further examined and presented as case studies annexed to the report. Examples of such case studies / promising practices is available on the ILO fair Recrutement hub[5].

The consultant will be responsible for developing appropriate data collection tools and gathering reliable data in all countries to meet the objectives of the study. The consultant is advised to use and adapt already existing data collection methods and tools developed by the ILO in the past. Relevant data collection tools are available as annex to the labour migration and mobility governance study report and Africa Fair Recruitment Report . At the end, the consultant is expected to write analytical report which will be presented, reviewed and endorsed by ILO, IGAD, IGAD Member States and Social Partners.

Deliverables

• Inception Report: the consultant is expected to produce an inception report explaining his/her understanding of the assignment, detailed methodology and research tools, implementation plan, draft outline of the report and key resources/materials and data sources to be examined for review and comments of the ILO and IGAD. The ILO and IGAD will provide their comments and inputs within 10 calendar days after submission of the inception of the report
• Draft Report: the consultant will submit first draft report to the ILO and IGAD for comments and inputs. The ILO and IGAD will review and provide their comments within 10 working days from the submission of the report;
• Revised Draft Report: the consultant will submit the revised draft incorporating comments and inputs provided by the ILO and IGAD in track changes and clean copy. ILO and IGAD will review the revised report and provide their feedback with 10 calendar days. if the comments and inputs are well incorporated and the report is found to be up to the expected quality, the report will be shared with key stakeholders and partners for inputs and comments..
• Presentation: once the revised draft report is up to the standard and expectation of the ILO and IGAD the consultant will present the revised draft report in a regional virtual consultation workshop.
• Final Report: the consultant will incorporate comments from the virtual consultation workshop and submit the final report within 5 working days after the consultation workshop. The consultant will also present the major findings and recommendations of the study in the second IGAD Ministerial conference on labour, employment and labour migration

Qualifications

The consultant is expected to have:

• Post graduate degree in social sciences disciplines such as Development Studies, Economics, political science or international relations;
• Ten years of experience in the field of labour migration in general and fair recruitment in particular;
• Five years of experience in conducting and managing multi country research activities and providing consultancy services in the field of migration for international organizations;
• Excellent report writing skills and ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing,;
• Good computer application skills including use zoom, skype and other teleconferencing applications, managing and administering online surveys as well as extracting and analyzing data using appropriate tools and methods;
• Excellent knowledge and understanding about labour migration issues in Africa in general and the horn of Africa in particular
• Experience in working with UN agencies and multi-lateral organizations and institutions such as AU, IGAD and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

Timeline

The study needs to be finalized in two months period from the time of signing of the agreement between the ILO and the consultant.

Management Arrangements

The consulting company will work under the direct supervision of the FMPT Project Chief Technical Advisors based in Djibouti. Technical guidance and support will also be provided by different ILO specialists in the Africa region and Headquarters. All information and assets related to the assignment will be property of the ILO Country Office for Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.

Evaluation Process and Criteria

The evaluation process would be as shown below. In summary, the proposals will be evaluated on a weighted score of 70/30 for Technical/Financial relative score of 70/30.

Technical proposal evaluation criteria

• In evaluating the technical proposal, the score allotted in the next table shall be used.

Evaluation Dimension Max. Score

1. Consultants Profile 40

Criteria:

2. Methodology 20

Criteria:

3. Overall quality and responsiveness of the proposal 10

• The proposal responds comprehensively to the TORs

Total 70

The minimum total score required from the technical proposal to be able to proceed for evaluating the financial proposal will be 49/70 which is an equivalent of 70%

Evaluation of the Financial Proposal

The financial proposal offers having passed the technical review will be considered. The financial offer will account for 30% of the final score. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest priced proposal. All other price proposals receive pro-rated points according to the following formula: p = y (x/z), where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal x = price of the lowest priced proposal z = price of the proposal being evaluated. The proposal obtaining the overall highest score, after adding the score of the technical and the financial proposals, is the one that offers best value for money.

The financial proposal should detail all lines of envisaged expenditure. For each line, the unit cost, the quantity of units, and the total cost should be provided.

Technical and Financial Proposal evaluation will be based on the following percentage combination.

Technical Proposal 70

Financial proposal 30

Total 100

Deliverables with payment Schedule

Payments upon submission to ILO satisfaction of the deliverables and in line with the following payment tranches:

Deliverables:

1. Inception report: detailed inception report explaining firm’s understanding of the ToR/assignment, methodology, research tools, work plan and outline of the report

Payment tranches:

First tranche: 30% of total payment

Time frame:

2. Revised Draft Report: the consultant will submit the revised draft incorporating comments and inputs provided by the ILO and IGAD in track changes and clean copy. ILO and IGAD will review the revised report and provide their feedback with 10 calendar days. if the comments and inputs are well incorporated and the report is found to be up to the expected quality, the report will be shared with key stakeholders and partners for inputs and comments.

Payment tranches:

Second tranche: 50% of total payment

3. Final Report: the consultant will incorporate comments from the virtual consultation workshop and submit the final report within 5 working days after the consultation workshop.

Payment tranches:

Third and Final tranche: 20% of total payment

Note: As ILO procedure the office will not cover receiver’s side bank charges

[1] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_808935.pdf

[2] https://au.int/en/documents/20211118/report-labour-migration-statistics-africa-third-edition-2019

[3] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—africa/—ro-abidjan/—sro-addis_ababa/documents/genericdocument/wcms_824830.pdf

[4] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—africa/—ro-abidjan/documents/publication/wcms_806628.pdf

[5] https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/WCMS_778839/lang–en/index.htm