Extension of application deadline.

Terms of Reference (ToR) 

FEGO Minority Inclusion Assessment and Strategy 

Swisscontact Kosovo for the project: 

Fostering Employment and Growth Opportunities (FEGO) 

Introduction 

The Fostering Employment and Growth Opportunities (FEGO) project in Kosovo is financed by Swedish  International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and implemented by Swisscontact in Kosovo. The  project aims to generate employment and income for women, men, and youth, presently living in poverty  and socio-economic marginalization. This is intended to be achieved through sustainable and scalable  growth of micro/small (family) business and start-ups, in the apparel, furniture and rural tourism sectors. 

FEGO applies a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, specifically focusing on market facilitation  through new, innovative business models to ensure large-scale sustainable changes in respective sectors.  The project will reach its goal through two main objectives: 1) Fostering the growth and development of  micro/small (family) business in the apparel and furniture sectors and facilitating their entrepreneurship  growth and 2) supporting local communities operating with rural tourism activities, and their micro and small  enterprises towards development of rural tourism. Both outcomes will contribute to more sustainable and  inclusive market systems, improving income, productivity and enhancing job creation in the private sector, therefore contributing to address high unemployment and poverty rates in the country, especially  amongst youth and women. Swisscontact, through the FEGO project, promotes inclusive social,  economic, and ecological development to make an effective contribution towards sustainable and  widespread prosperity, offering the chance to economically and socially disadvantaged people to  improve their lives on their own initiative. 

Background 

Poverty levels remain high, estimated at around 30%, with rural areas worse affected than urban areas,  and women and youths affected the most, along with the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. As  the UNDP Human Development Report (2016) notes, the most socially excluded groups in Kosovo are  disadvantaged children and youths, rural women, the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities, and  persons with disabilities. The main underlying cause of exclusion is limited access to basic education, which then affects their skills and employability. Various international human rights reports reveal that  the country needs to do more to tackle inequality and human rights violations related not only to ethnic  minorities. The project assumes a proactive role in ensuring equal access to resources and economic  opportunities for all minorities and other socially excluded groups, by targeted activities within  interventions, and the removal of structural (discriminatory) constraints to their access, participation, and  influence. 

FEGO project aims to hire a consultant to conduct a Minority Inclusion Assessment and Strategy as per  the ToR’s objective and scope of work. The consult will identify and assess competitive (dis)advantages  and bottlenecks of minority groups living in Kosovo and will develop strategies for awareness of inclusion  within the furniture, apparel, and rural tourism sectors. All consultancy related work outlined in this ToR  shall be conducted in close coordination with the FEGO project team.  

Objectives and Scope  

The project utilizes a strategy for Gender and Social Inclusion as outlined by the Swisscontact’s GESI policy  and its guidelines for Inclusive Intervention design. It considers inequalities and challenges faced by  targeted minority groups of FEGO. Throughout identification and design of activities, implementation, and  monitoring, the project applies considerations to favour women’s and other excluded groups’ inclusion,  participation, and transparency. A gender and social inclusion approach is applied, with particular focus  on women, to any intervention and activity.  

The Minority Inclusion Assessment will provide the project team with the necessary information on the  minority groups (i.e determination of marginable/vulnerable status according to the age, ethnicity, etc.) as well as to propose practical solutions for designing interventions and activities on inclusion of minorities in the project sectors (furniture, apparel, and rural tourism). In addition, the consultant is expected to identify the risks of exclusion from the expected results and benefits of the FEGO project due to their  social status in furniture, apparel and rural tourism sectors. The FEGO project will utilize the information  to draft and design inclusive interventions in all three project sectors.  

In addition, the objective of this assignment is to understand the role of minorities in the FEGO related  sectors, their opportunities, constraints and how they can benefit from FEGO interventions and activities.  It is expected that the consultant will use qualitative and quantitative information to analyse how  minorities will be affected within FEGO related sectors. 

The key objectives of the assignment are: 

• Identify constraints and opportunities for the participation of minority excluded groups, in general for  mainstreaming into project activities for all three sectors; 
• The minority inclusion strategy should reflect the project’s expected outcomes, objectives and results, as  well as include targets and indicators; 
• Formulate recommendations to orient the implementation of minority inclusion responsive project.  • Information on legislative and enabling environment conditions for minority inclusion (including  discriminatory social norms, attitudes and practises);  

These objectives are expected to be achieved through the collection of information and data  disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, economic status, and other relevant data in terms of conditions, needs, access to resources and services, control of assets, participation, laws, policies, institutional  practices and decision-making powers of minority excluded groups in furniture, apparel and rural tourism  sectors.  

This assessment will then be taken into account in the preparation, review or implementation of the  interventions in three project sectors. This information should help ensure that minority inclusion  concerns are appropriately integrated in the design of the interventions and implementation processes.  

Activities  

To achieve the objectives, the consultant is expected to conduct the following activities in close  coordination with the FEGO team: 

• Provide a detailed methodology for undertaking the minority inclusion assessment,
• Conduct desk research on minority inclusion in Kosovo’s context with regards to FEGO’s three sectors;
• Analyse existing information and findings of internal market assessment provided by the FEGO team on  the three given sectors; 
• Prepare a brief description of the sector’s policy, institutional and legal framework, focusing on those  related to the minority inclusion groups; 
• Conduct interviews with key market actors and stakeholders(if relevant); 
• Prepare the FEGO Minority Inclusion Assessment and Strategy; 
• Revise draft strategy as per team’s comments; 
• Submit the final approved strategy with annexes.  

Deliverables  

The consultant’s is expected to deliver the following:  

• FEGO Minority Inclusion Assessment and Strategy 

The final report should be submitted in English language.  

Timeframe  

The assignment period is planned between the period from mid-May 2022 – mid-June 2022. Costs  including, travel expenses, meals and other related costs, should be foreseen in the consultant’s proposal.  

Total working days for the consultant are reflected in the table below: 

Tasks | Days 

Methodology of the report | 0.5
Desk research | 2
Interviews with key value chain actors and stakeholders | 1
Collection of information and analysis on the FEGO’s sector | 3.5
Report writing | 3
Total days | 10

Consultant’s experience:  

• Education in relevant area such associal sciences, human rights studies, gender or any other related fields  for the tasks described; 
• A minimum of 5 years of proven relevant experience and practical working experience in social inclusion  topics; 
• Capability to deliver required outputs on schedule; 
• Good interpersonal, social, communication and computer skills; 
• Fluency in English. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. 

Contact and Submission of Offer 

Interested candidates shall submit a brief technical and a financial offer based on the terms of reference by 03 May 2022 with the subject REF: “FEGO Minority Inclusion Assessment and Strategy” to fegoinfo@swisscontact.org. 

Applicants must submit: 

• Professional profile of the consultant (CV of the consultant);
• Technical Offer including (methodology that shall be used, draft work plan and suggested timetable;
• Financial offer.