Implementing Partner to Organize a Business Plan Competition in Alemwatch/Dabat Refugee... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Ethiopia

Summary : Implementing Partner to Organize a Business Plan Competition in Alemwatch/Dabat Refugee Operation

Deadline : 22 Mar 2024

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 98251795

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : World Bank (WB)

Purchaser Ownership : Public

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION
Menelik II Avenue, ECA Congo Building, 5th Floor P.O Box 2788, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Phone: +251 11 544 4344
Ethiopia
Email :addis_procurement@ilo.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Implementing Partner to Organize a Business Plan Competition in Alemwatch/Dabat Refugee Operation, Ethiopia.

Closing Date: 22 Mar 2024

Type: Consultancy

Organization

International Labour Organization (ILO)

Project Title

PROSPECTS: Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons

Eligibility

Registered CSO/ non-profit organization including government institutions

Terms of Reference - Integrated Business Plan competition

Background

Ethiopia is the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, home to over 933, 000 refugees and asylum seekers—mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. The Tigrayan crisis led to difficult humanitarian conditions including limited access to basic social and life-saving services for refugees in the Shire refugee operation and its camps. Coupled with the security breakdown, many refugees opted to move from the Mai Ani, Hitsas and Adi Harush camps to Alemwach, Dabat in the Amhara region. Over 15, 000 refugees spontaneously relocated from the Tigray camps to Alemwach between February and July 2022, going through difficult transit. Following the cessation of hostilities in November 2022 with improved access to Mai Tseberi, UNHCR, RRS, and IOM relocated 7, 080 refugees to Alemwach. According to UNHCR, there are 8, 295 households and 22, 046 refugees and asylum seekers in Alemwach of which 65% are male and 45% are female.

The Partnership for Improving Prospects for Forcibly Displaced Persons and Host Communities (PROSPECTS) brings together the Government of the Netherlands and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children-s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank (WB) and aims to foster economic inclusion, and improve access to education and protection of forcibly displaced populations and host communities. As part of this Partnership, the ILO aims to promote market-based approaches and provide support to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs

In its second phase, the ILO-s PROSPECTS Programme is planning to focus on improving the socio-economic conditions for refugees and host communities in Alemwach. To this end, a comprehensive labour market assessment is currently being launched and is expected to provide information on the overall socio-economic context as well as the supply and demand of employment opportunities in and around Alemwach.

Several interlinked intervention streams are planned under PROSPECTS Phase 2, notably to improve sustainable access of refugees and vulnerable host communities to high-quality skill development training and certifications relevant business development services, financial services and capacitating technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to facilitate the creation and development of small enterprises and income-generating activities in and around settlements.

To this end, the ILO will work with selected public and private local institutions to build their capacity to effectively offer high quality service to refugee and host communities- needs and aspirations which will improve the overall ecosystem of refugee and host communities in the area. The ILO will also make use of its ‘Approach to Inclusive Market Systems (AIMS)- to identify and develop sectors and value chains with potential to encourage the creation of additional job opportunities for refugees and host communities in the wider region.

In a more immediate instance and while assessments and preparations for a more detailed strategy under PROSPECTS 2 are ongoing, the ILO is hoping to launch an integrated business plan competition for the benefit of refugees and hosting communities settled in and around Alemwach. This business plan competition will serve several objectives, and will:

Provide refugees and vulnerable host communities with immediate and direct financial and non-financial support that is needed to start and develop income-generating activities that have the potential to create jobs in and around Alemwach.
Provide entrepreneurship, business management, financial literacy and technical capacity building for a selection of refugees and host community members participating to the business plan competition through the provision of upskilling and reskilling trainings based on the needs assessment developed during the competition.
Link refugees and host community members with financial services providers to raise awareness about the business potential that represent this new market segment, support reducing the perceived risk by financial services providers and provide an outlet for refugees and host community to trust and be more confident towards the financial sector.
Demonstrate the viability of successful business creation and development by refugees to BDS and financial services providers as well as private sector actors that might be reluctant to see refugee settlements as a viable market for service provision.
Engage selected public and private partner organizations including BDS and financial service providers, Dabat TVET college, Dabat woreda agricultural office, - Dabat woreda local economic and development and job creation bureau, and LED offices as private sector associations in the organization of the competition in a way that encourages networking and exchanges, as well as paving the way for further action to build capacities and improve coordination amongst public and private stakeholders.
The ILO is seeking an implementation partner to support the preparation, organization, and implementation of such a business plan competition in and around the Alemwach refugee site.

Objectives

The Business plan competition (BPC) will aim to provide a selected number of refugees and host communities with technical, financial and non-financial support to start and develop small businesses as well as income-generating activities with the potential to create job opportunities also for other refugees and hosts. The BPC is open to both communities, but quotas will ensure that a minimum number of refugee businesses will be selected. Collaborations and joint ventures between refugees and host communities including in the form of cooperatives and joint ventures are highly encouraged to promote social cohesion amongst both groups.

The BPC will be organized in close collaboration with relevant local institutions to facilitate access of vulnerable groups to relevant financial and non-financial services in the long run, facilitate trust-building between institutions and refugee communities, and encourage networking between different institutions to set up a ‘one-stop shop- system in close collaboration with the regional bureau for jobs creation and skills development.

To this end, a local committee consisting of relevant organizations shall be set up and shall be involved in the preparation and implementation of the BPC including in the support programme for participating refugees and host communities. This local committee will include but may not be limited to representatives of the UNHCR, RRS, the Dabat city mayor-s office, the
Dabat city LED and job creation office, the Dabat city agricultural office, the Dabat TVET college, the agricultural office, 2-3 key financial services providers, 2-3 key BDS providers and selected private sector associations.

In parallel, a more restrained group of private sector experts will be created to act as a jury that will evaluate and select submitted business plans. This jury will consist of experts with the proven capacity to analyze and evaluate business project ideas and business plans based on criteria including the viability of the business idea, quality of the business plan, realism of technical implementation and continuation as well as ultimate market and job creation potential. To safeguard the objectivity of such a jury tasked with the evaluation of business ideas, it will be essential to include in the jury several experts from Amhara regional office and regions office without direct ties or involvement in the local support programme. The jury will thus include a restraint and selected number of experts from financial service providers, BDS providers and the private sector.

The BPC will be organized in different phases with different types of support and technical assistance being provided at different stages, as follows:

Phase 1: Co-design the concept for a BPC with the ILO and key partners

The implementing partner will work closely with the ILO and partners or/and steering committee to consolidate a concept and work plan for the BPC and ensure that it is context specific. The ILO has initial drafts of a concept and work plan, and the implementing partner will review this draft, propose changes if need, and use the work plan as a joint working document throughout the implementation of the BPC. In the design of the BPC, the implementing partner should ensure that the focus remains on both refugees and host communities.

Phase 2: Launch, sensitization, and support to business idea development

This initial phase will focus on the official launch and spreading of information regarding the business plan competition. It is important that all potentially interested and eligible participants have a clear idea of the process and requirements to maximize its potential impact. To this end, at least one large ‘launch workshop- should be held to spread information. Additionally, a marketing campaign involving flyers, posters and social media posts shall be launched to spread the information.

This first phase shall also see the organization of several brainstorming sessions with selected experts and representatives of institutions to brainstorm on possible market opportunities in the area. The objective of these brainstorming sessions is to inspire and accompany potential participants and help th

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