Training for Vulnerable Women

Country:

Afghanistan

City/Locality:

Kabul

Notice/Contract Number:

MOLSAMD/813

Publication Date:

Apr 26, 2008

Deadline:

May 17, 2008

Funding Agency:

World Bank

Buyer:

Vocational Education & Training (Afghanistan Skills Development Project)
Ministry of Education (MOE) and NSDP

Eligibility of Bidders:

• Details of registration of organisation;
• Experience in the delivery of the above mentioned services.
• Details of capacity for the provision of services required by the NSDP as set out above in the specific provinces interested to deliver the services (incl. staff and experience)

Original Language:

English

Address:

A.K Singh
Program Manager
Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services
Ministry of Economy Building, 5th and 6th floor
Malik Asghar Square
Kabul
Afghanistan

Telephone:

0093 (0) 798190199

Email:

Click here

80423000 - Vocational training services

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Consultancy Services for
Training for Vulnerable Women
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Afghanistan Skills Development Project (ASDP)
Consultancy Services: Training for Vulnerable Women
Grant No: H 352AF
Project ID No: P102573
Ref No: MOLSAMD/813
Expressions of Interest

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has received a grant from the International development association (IDA) and will use part of the proceeds of the grant to make payments under a contract for Consultancy Services to support Training for Vulnerable Women For Afghanistan Skills Development Project (ASDP) under National Skills Development Program (NSDP) of Ministry of Labour, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled.

Expressions of Interest are invited from training agencies willing to become Implementing Partners for the Afghanistan Skills Development Project to deliver market driven vocational training and business support development training, for self and waged employment, targeting very vulnerable and chronically poor women.

Project Background:

The overall goal of the NSDP is to contribute to the socio-economic recovery of Afghanistan through the provision of a national skills development and vocational education and training system that is responsive to labour market needs and that provides Afghans with the knowledge and skills for decent work.

Key objectives of the NSDP are:

1. To increase the capacity of the national VET system to manage and deliver market-oriented vocational skills training.
2. To facilitate and fund vocational and business development training which will lead to waged and self employment, and improved livelihoods.

The Intervention

One particular, and important, group which is of interest to the NSDP, and which is identified in an ANDS Benchmark, is vulnerable women. (Referred to as Chronically Poor Women in the ANDS Benchmark.) The Benchmark states that: By Jaddi 1389 (end-2010), the number of female-headed households that are chronically poor will be reduced by 20%, and their employment rates will be increased by 20%.

The NSDP believes that one way of achieving this is for vulnerable women, and especially those who have missed out on educational and training opportunities, to be provided with market relevant vocational and business development training, in order for them to earn more income and improve their livelihood opportunities.

The NSDP under Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled is looking for agencies which can deliver well-focused, market driven vocational and business development training interventions which are sensitive to the needs of vulnerable women and which, through innovative means based on national and international research, which may lead to improved waged and self employment opportunities.

Appropriate interventions include workplace or centre-based training, or mixtures of both (on-the-job/off-the-job ‘dual’-system training), and essential underpinning/supporting competencies – particularly literacy and numeracy. For some, business development and follow-up business incubation support training will be possible, and highly appropriate. In these cases the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled supports the procurement of independent and registered Business Development Service (BDS) providers to provide BDS training and facilitate the essential linkage to sources of finance – such as savings, revolving funds and microfinance. (Some interventions will need to develop the first two examples of finance for productive investment.)

The NSDP has a very clear focus on livelihoods development which emerges through improved remuneration for waged and self employment in decent work, and so the extent and degree of non-vocational, or cross-programming, supporting studies is expected to be minimal. However, some parts of this intervention might relate to awareness raising activities as far as promoting more remunerative and more varied work for women, and changing attitudes to such.

The crucial aspect of this intervention is to find and interact with the most vulnerable women and get them into waged or self employment and, for some, at the same time link them to the lifelong learning ladder and so enable them to access future opportunities.

The Request for Expressions of Interest

The NSDP under Ministry of Labour, Social affairs, Martyrs and Disabled is seeking to identify Private firm and NGO training providers who can address the requirements for training as stated above.

It is likely that agencies specialising in vocational training and small business development will be selected for this intervention. Individual or consortiums of such agencies are most welcome to apply.

This is to state that NSDP programs aim to cover all provinces in the country. The priority provinces under this EOI will be:
1. Badakhshan,
2. Samangan,
3. Bamyan,
4. Ghazni and
5. Paktika
The provinces under this EOI have been identified jointly with the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Organizations or firms interested to offer services as described above, are eligible to apply for one or more provinces but their EOI for each province should be in a separate envelop, clearly labelled as follow:

Expressions of Interest
Consultancy Services: Training for Vulnerable Women
Grant No: H 352AF
Project ID No: P102573
Ref No: MOLSAMD/813
Province: _____________________.

Consultants may associate with each other to enhance their qualifications and bid as a consortium.

The delivery of this project should start around mid 2008.

Submission Procedure

Expressions of Interest should be in English and contain the following information:
• Full contact details;
• Details of registration of organisation;
• Experience in the delivery of the above mentioned services.
• Details of capacity for the provision of services required by the NSDP as set out above in the specific provinces interested to deliver the services (incl. staff and experience).

The desirable Expression of Interest is between (5-10 pages).

The Expressions of Interest will be used to measure the level of interest and capacity to deliver the requested services. The information provided will form the basis of a desk screening and evaluation process. Consultants who have passed the screening will be notified and invited to respond to a Request for Proposals for the provision of the required services.

A consultant will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers, May 2004 and revised October, 2006.

Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below from 0900 to 1600 hours. Expressions of interest quoting Ref No: MOLSAMD/813 must be sent electronically to the e-mail address given below. Hard copies of the expression of interest along with copies of brochures and relevant information should be sent by courier to the address below. The deadline for submitting the expression of interest is 15:00 hrs on May 17, 2008

Address: -
Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services,
Attn: Mr A. K. Singh, Program Manager ( MOLSAMD/813)
Ministry of Economy Building, 5th and 6th floor,
Malik Asghar Square, Kabul, Afghanistan

Email: sanjeev.mathur@ards.org.af, copied to: ak.singh@ards.org.af ; h.ibrahimi@ards.org.af
Website: www.ards.org.af

Cell Number: 0093 (0) 798190199, 0093 (0) 0797690164

Training for Vulnerable Women

Request For Expressions of Interest

General Information

Contact Information

Assignments

Original Text

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