Productive Social Safety Nets and Youth Employment (Сьерра-Леоне - Тендер #52166161)

• Project ID

P176789

• Project Title

Productive Social Safety Nets and Youth Employment

• Country

Sierra Leone

• Notice No

OP00278168

• Notice Type

Request for Expression of Interest

• Notice Status

Published

• Borrower Bid Reference

SL-NACSA-388529-CS-CQS

• Procurement Method

Consultant Qualification Selection

• Language of Notice

English

• Submission Deadline Date/Time

Mar 09, 2024 10:30

• Published Date

Mar 08, 2024

• CONTACT INFORMATION
• Organization/Department

National Soacial Action Commission

• Name

Silas Sesay

• Address

14-16 Charlotte Street Freetown Sierra Leone

• City

• Province/State

Sierra Leone

• Postal Code

• Country

Sierra Leone

• Phone

078677738

• Email

silassesay@nacsa.gov.sl

• Website

http://www.nacsa.gov.sl/

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR SEVICE PROVIDER TO IMPLEMENT YOUTH-LED HOUSEHOLD ENTERPRISES

1. Background

In March 2022, the World Bank approved the Productive Social Safety Nets and Youth Employment (PSSNYE) Project. The PSSNYE is an Investment Project financing of US$40.0 million equivalent, with an expected project implementation period extending over five years (closing June 30, 2027). It will provide much needed technical and financial support to the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) to advance the agenda of social protection and jobs.

The Project Development Objective (PDO) of the PPSNYE is: “to improve access to social safety nets and income generating opportunities for targeted beneficiaries”.

The project consists of activities continuing from the Social Safety Net (SSN) Project as well as new ones such as the provision of Economic Inclusion (EI) Support, entrepreneurship support package and activities implemented in new settings such as public works in urban areas.

The project tackles key constraints faced by different segments of the population. The different components of the project were designed to collectively benefit the different target groups and where they fall within the socioeconomic spectrum in the country. Component 1 (cash transfers) targets current or previous extreme-poor households, who constitute about 12.8 percent of Sierra Leone’s population, mainly reside in rural areas and are highly likely to be in areas further affected by climate change. The public works component targets eligible youth aged 18–35 from extreme-poor, poor, and climate-vulnerable households in urban and rural areas to provide income and employment support through public works activities aimed at improving climate resilience. The entrepreneurship component targets eligible youth ages 18–35 in urban areas from poor and non-poor households with some level of education to provide them with business training and grants and connect them with relevant opportunities for employment and empowerment through a youth portal. Finally, the project also provides for the implementation of emergency cash transfers (ECTs) targeting the segment of the population increasingly vulnerable to climate change-induced natural disasters and other types of shocks to support them through ECTs and the Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC).

The project is composed of five components as follows. The National Youth Commission is implementing Component 3A- Youth-led Household Enterprises. This component provides grants and training to at least 8,000 urban youth aged 18–35, and access to information to youth, employers, trainers, service providers, and government agencies supporting youth programming. The component will support young individuals and youth groups who either have established businesses or are interested in opening new business with training to improve their skills and business management practices and targeted start-up grants.

The Government of Sierra Leone through the National Youth Commission – the implementing agency, is therefore seeking the services of a Service Provider to support the implementation of this component

The project will be implemented in the urban cities of Freetown, Bo, Makeni, Kenema and Port Loko and the service providers should have expertise in the following sectors: (i) Food and hospitality, with a focus on eco-tourism; (ii) Fisheries; (iii) Vegetable and Flower Production; (iv) Garbage collection and recycling; and (v) Technical training (vi) Youth Employment Readiness & Psycho-social training among others, to work with in coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the sub-component. This menu of fundable activities is subject to further consolidation/change during project implementation.

2. Purpose of the assignment

The Service Provider (SP) will provide support for budding or fledgling entrepreneurs in the economy (young individuals aged 18-35 and youth groups) who either have established businesses or are interested in opening new businesses in urban areas to increase productivity of youth working in existing household enterprises and facilitate the entry of youth into household enterprises. They will provide the urban youth with effective interventions needed to improve mental health, social behaviours and thus their readiness for their employability. The SP shall work in close consultation with the NAYCOM Project staff to establish a learning and work-enabling environment to target individuals who can demonstrate a need of skilling and funding support for their business.

3. Scope of Work

The Service Provider will be the day-to-day direct interface with youth enrolled in the programme. They will be responsible to establish a learning and work-enabling environment to target, according to specific criteria, individuals who are in need of skilling and funding support for their business. They shall be responsible for (a) recruitment of youth/youth groups in collaboration with NAYCOM; (b) training of youth/youth groups; (c) provision of business grants to youth/youth groups (d) provide psycho-social training and pre-employment readiness to youth/youth groups (e) provision of post training support to youth/youth groups. The services will be required to be provided to the youths in the urban towns of Freetown, Makeni, Bo, Kenema and Port Loko to motivate them to take up employment and self-employment in their various fields of training

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Service Providers:

They will be responsible for the following activities:

(a) Recruitment and Training of Youth and Youth Groups

• The SP in collaboration with NAYCOM will recruit youth/youth groups who either have established businesses or are interested in opening new businesses in urban areas following a set criteria;
• A total of 8,000 youth will be recruited for training and their quotas in the various urban centres are as follows; Freetown – 2,000; Bo – 1,500; Makeni – 1,500; Kenema – 1,500; Port Loko – 1,500

(b) Implement Youth Readiness Interventions (YRI)

The Service Provider will implement Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) to address mental health problems among youth beneficiaries. This should integrate evidence based common practice elements from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and group interpersonal therapy (IPT) to address co-occurring mental health symptoms and functional problems that may impede life success and functioning in the Youth beneficiaries.

(c) Training and Counselling in Psycho-social Support

The SP will be required to prepare a training manual for psycho-social training in consultation with NAYCOM. Youth beneficiaries will be trained in the following areas:

• Emotion regulation for healthy coping mechanisms and wellbeing;
• Problem-solving abilities to assist with reaching their short and long-term goals;
• Interpersonal skills to enable healthy relationships and effective communication;
• Knowledge on sexual reproductive health; and
• Training on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) related issues for enterprises based on sub-project proposal.

(d) Training of selected Youth

The SP will conduct mandatory training for all selected beneficiaries in:

• Business Development and Management Training - The SP will train youth in business development and management for a period of 4 weeks in an organized module provided in the urban cities of Freetown, Makeni, Port Loko, Bo and Kenema;
• Sector-specific training – including priority sectors in the MTNDP that are earmarked for job creation potential as well as activities that promote climate sensitive and responsible business plans focusing on eco-tourism; (ii) Fisheries; (iii) Vegetable and Flower Production; (iv) Garbage collection and recycling; and (v) Technical training, among others. This menu of fundable activities is subject to further consolidation/change during project implementation.

5. Qualifications and Experience

a) Qualifications of the Firm

• Successful private sector Service Provider should be indigenous businesses registered in Sierra Leone and should be on-going business engaged in training of youth in their respective areas for the past five years.
• The Service Provider should have minimum of 5 years’ experience in Sierra Leone or abroad in the field of Youth readiness interventions and Psycho-social support with capacities in peacebuilding and/or psychosocial training.
• Service providers should have enough infrastructure in the form of training facilities, classrooms and state of the art equipment to train more than fifty youth at a time.
• The SP must have at least five years’ experience in technical and psycho-social counselling and employment readiness interventions.
• Plan for a pre-incubating program to filter applicants and gain an idea of their needs before entering the incubators. Through this, an appropriate path can be defined, and beneficiaries can be directed to the incubator that best suits their needs.
• Plan interventions and skill-development programs relevant to the socio-economic situation and local labor market needs, as well as reskilling programs for long-term unemployed groups.
• Have multi-level programs through which beneficiaries can progress from one incubation program to another according to the skill they gain and their performance.
• Promote and spread the culture of creating work opportunities rather than waiting for a permanent job.
• Should be a source of supporting the development initiatives and not a strict educational academy for the trainees.
• Forge partnerships with various public institutions including the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the City Council of Freetown, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School and the National Tourist Board through the National Youth Commission.

b) Qualifications of Staff

• Minimum of a Master’s degree in Economics/Statistics/Social-Sciences/Education/ Management/Psychology/Sociology/Criminology or another relevant field.
• The staff should display a deep understanding of their industry, business model, challenges, strategy and the day-to-day reality in which participants operate.
• The staff are required to have the professional expertise to accomplish the training of youth in business development, management and psycho-social training and also in all the areas of the subject matter training.

6. Application Process/Assessment:

Qualified and interested SPs are requested to send the following documents:

• a short letter of interest,
• documentation showing the business and legal status of the SP
• a detailed achievement-based CV detailing sample(s) of previous assignments of the firm/NGO
• detailed CVs of staff who have had experience in implementing similar ventures Based on the assessment by the Procurement Committee, NAYCOM/NaCSA will decide whether the application should proceed to the next step of the recruitment process – the submission of a full project proposal.

If more information is needed, please contact:

PSSNYE Senior Project Officer

National Youth Commission

Ministry of Works and Public Assets Building, 4th floor

New England Ville

Freetown, Sierra Leone

+232 79395585

Expressions of interest must be received in hard copy to the address below no later than 30th October 2023, at 5:00 PM.

Attn: The Procurement Officer

National Youth Commission

Ministry of Works and Public Assets Building, 4th Floor

New England Ville

Freetown, Sierra Leone

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