Consultancy Opportunity to Develop 3 Strategic Plans for the Directorates of Vocational Training Centres in Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru Counties in Kenya

International Labour Organization 

Consultancy to Develop 3 Strategic Plans for the Directorates of Vocational Training Centres in Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru Counties

Inclusive Growth through Decent Work in the Great Rift Valley Project: Public Private Development Partnership (PPDP)

1. INTRODUCTION

Background

The International Labour Organization (ILO) with support from SIDA, a government agency working on behalf of the Swedish government, is implementing the “Inclusive Growth through Decent Work in the Great Rift Valley Project” through a Public Private Development Partnership (PPDP) approach. This approach is a modality for concrete cooperation between public partners and private sector and encourages the private sector to proactively create business ventures that also improve conditions for people in poverty. The PPDP implementation model allows private sector companies and public partners to be implementing partners - not just donors - which fosters sustainability, local ownership and exchange of expertise.

The overall goal of the project is to improve the living conditions for young people in and around the project areas, i.e. Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru counties in Kenya by acting as a catalyst to boost decent job creation through skills development, business development and community engagement.

The project focuses on youth, women and vulnerable community members, in Nakuru Narok, and Kajiado counties, and seeks to address: exclusion of indigenous communities, high levels of poverty, lack of employable skills leading to lack of job opportunities, weak informal sector and low grade SME activities, gender inequalities, high risk of opposition to private sector investments if a non-inclusive approach is taken, and need for capacities to advocate for basic rights and services – water sanitation, health, education and basic rights of workers.

The project has three main outcomes (a). Decent and green jobs resulting from relevant and quality skills provided by selected vocational training centres and other training institutions. (b). Outcome 2: Decent and green jobs resulting from improved and more sustainable value chains and growing enterprises (c). Outcome 3: Communities access improved services due to increased accountability in service delivery and advancement of human rights, including SRHR. The project is in sync with promoting employment creation and employability, a priority jointly set by government, employers, and workers organizations under the Kenya Decent Work Country Programme. The project is among the pathways through which DWCP and the Decent Work Agenda (DWA) is being implemented in the country.

Outcome one of the project aims at creating decent jobs through improving the quality and relevance of skills provided by selected vocational training centres, which will serve as a model for other training institutions. Through a skills demand and supply survey, industry engagements and social dialogue between various public and private partners, the project has determined the type of skills demanded by power developers and partners. It is anticipated that this will extend to various other industries in the programme areas.

The seven new vocational training centres which the project is partnering with are Kapweria and Kilgoris (Narok County), Njoro and Nakuru (Nakuru County), Meto and Isinya (Kajiado). The vision of the three counties is to transform the vocational training centres into model centres of excellence for other vocational training centres in the Counties of Narok and Nakuru.

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to align the vocational training centres activities to the Governments overall policy to enhance skills development for increased productivity in order to stimulate economic growth and employment creation.

The Consultant will work closely and collaboratively with the County Governments of Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru to facilitate the development of three (3) Strategic plans for the Directorates of Vocational Training Centres in Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru Counties the period 2024-2027. An initial review should be undertaken to accommodate recently adopted policy documents such as the TVETA Act no 29 of 2013, the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDPs), Medium Term Plan IV, Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda and Kenya’s vision 2030.

The three strategic plans will be developed that provide the vision and mission of the respective directorates of vocational training in each county with a special focus on partner vocational training centres in the same counties. It will present an analysis of the Internal and External Environment using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) and Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL) analyses. Subsequently, it will identify stakeholders and interested parties, define their roles, outline the strategic issues and objectives, and identify the strategies to address them. The Strategic plan will prioritize activities to be implemented, and provide an implementation plan, a projection of resource mobilization requirements and a monitoring and evaluation system.

Gender equality, diversity, skills for green jobs to tackle the effects of climate change, and inclusion of vulnerable groups such people with special needs should be explicitly addressed throughout the process.

2. Description of Tasks

The consultant is expected to develop three strategic plans that will include key information listed in the tasks below, but not limited to the following:

  1. Review current relevant national and county standards on vocational education and training in Kenya, County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) and other relevant documents.
  2. Undertake a situation analysis of operations of the partner vocational training centres ofNarok, Kajiado, and Nakuru to date and identify strengths and challenges and being able to list and name the number of vocational training centres in each county.
  3. Review the institutional capacity, structure, organizational set-up, financial and administrative systems of various vocational training centres against prior strategic plans, objectives, and key result areas (if any) and make recommendations for renewed focus if needed.
  4. Review the mandate, vision, and mission of the directorates of vocational training centres in each county and facilitate discussions to inform the strategic plans.
  5. Through a consultative process and application of an appropriate tool of analysis, identify/select the focus areas of the strategic plans and develop strategic objectives and key result areas for the same.
  6. Analyse the project document and in consultation with the partner County Governments of Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru and other stakeholders, identify good practises in the project that will be integrated and adopted in the strategic plans to cover VTCs in the three counties. The VTCs should be able to extract information from the developed strategic plan for implementation.
  7. Propose a strategy for achieving the strategic objectives and key results identified in e. above;
  8. Identify a roadmap required towards realization of the partner vocational training centres becoming centres of excellence.
  9. Develop a Results and Resources Framework for the planned period for successful implementation of the strategic plans ;
  10. Facilitate stakeholders’ validation meeting to validate the draft Strategic Plans, Finalize Strategic plan and submit to the ILO and County Governments of Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru County Governments.

3. Collaboration Mechanism

The Consultant will work closely with technical staff from the International Labour Organization, social partners, technical officials in the relevant ministries in the County Governments of Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru, relevant officials in the vocational training centres, including the respective Board of Governors in the training centres, and the Skills Technical Working Group Sub-committee.

4. Methodology Approach

The methodological approach may be adjusted by the Consultant, in consultation with the PPDP project team, provided that the purpose of the assessment is maintained, and the expected outputs produced of the required quality.

  • Conducting desk review of the project documents, national policies, County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP) for Narok, Kajiado and Nakuru counties, and other relevant literature and documentation.

The methodology should include: -

  1. Reference other relevant information sources such as existing strategic plans, Bottom Up Economic transformation Agenda, ILO’s document on greening TVETs, or skills for green jobs strategies.
  2. Design an effective and comprehensive data collection tool and methodology for the strategic plans.
  3. Conducting both qualitative and quantitative analysis of collected data.
  4. Consultations and interviews with relevant stakeholders / organizations including County Governments of Narok, Kajiado, and Nakuru, the vocational training centres, Akiira Geothermal Ltd, KenGen PLC, Ministry of Labour & Social Protection, COTU-K, FKE, NITA, TVETA, CDACC, KNQA, Kenya School of TVET, relevant sectorial bodies and other relevant stakeholders.

5. Expected Deliverables & Timelines

The Consultant will be required to present:

  1. A plan on how to undertake the assignment.
  2. An inception report to be presented at a stakeholders’ inception meeting.
  3. Three drafts of the Strategic plans for vocational training centres for Nakuru, Kajiado, and Narok counties
  4. Three final validated strategic plans.

All deliverables are expected to be completed within 30 days, beginning on 30th October 2023, and concluded latest by 30 November 2023.

The final strategic plans should contain the following, in English:

  1. Electronic and hard files with all raw and data analysis details (e.g. table of response rates – full, partial, non-response etc) in excel or other agreed format.
  2. Electronic copies of draft and final strategic reports in English.

The report format should use the government approved template for strategic plan, NOTE: Printed copies and an electronic of the final report in English should incorporate input, feedback and comments on the draft report.

6. Resources and Administration

The Inclusive Growth through Decent Work in the Great Rift Valley (PPDP) Project will make payments based on deliverables listed in the below payment schedule:

1st instalment - 30% (USD) - Upon approval of the Inception report by the ILO.

2nd instalment - 40% (USD) - Upon approval of the draft strategic plans by the ILO and the County Governments of Narok and Nakuru.

3rd instalment - 30% (USD) - Upon approval of the final validated strategic plans.

7. Evaluation Criteria

The selection of the Consultant will be based on: -

  1. Responsive technical proposal
  2. Financial proposal
  3. Having received the highest score at qualification and experience.

Criteria - Maximum Points

  1. Technical proposal - 60 points
  2. Qualifications and experience
    1. Academic qualifications in education, economics, development studies, business administration and management or other closely related field. - 5 points
    2. Atleast 7 years’ proven experience in developing strategic plans in the TVET sector, TVET reforms, analysis and/or management. - 15 points
    3. Good knowledge and understanding of the Kenyan education and TVET skills is an added advantage. - 10 points
    4. Excellent research, analytical, and report writing skills in English. - 10 points

Total - 100 points

Incomplete applications and applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Only the selected candidate will be notified, not later than 1 week after the close of applications deadline.

7. Qualifications & Experience

  1. At least 7 years’ proven experience in developing strategic plans in the TVET sector, TVET reforms, analysis and/or management.
  2. Extensive experience in undertaking qualitative and quantitative analytical research.
  3. Good knowledge and understanding of the Kenyan education and TVET sector is an added advantage.
  4. University degree from a recognized university, in education, economics, development studies, business administration and management or other closely related field.
  5. Excellent research, analytical, and report writing skills in English.

How to apply

Interested applicants should submit their letter of application, CV, copy of credentials, a detailed technical and financial proposal and other supporting documents that show previous work experience to E-mail: nboprocurement@ilo.org to reach no later than 5:00 P.M. on Friday 20th October 2023, quoting “Consultancy Services for Developing 3 Strategic Plans for the Directorate of Vocational Training Centres in Narok, Nakuru, and Kajiado Counties” on the subject line.

 

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