Consultant for Data Analysis for the project “Strengthening access to online skills training for young workers in Viet Nam

Position Title: Consultant for Data Analysis for the project “Strengthening access to online skills training for young workers in Viet Nam

Duty Station: Home – based

Type of Appointment: Consultant

Estimated Start Date: As soon as possible

Closing Date: 5:00 PM, 22 October 2021

Reference Code: VN2021/HN/019 (C)

Project background

Economic growth and changes in industrial structures in Viet Nam has led to a high rate of internal migration towards industrial zones for job opportunities. Despite this trend, unemployment rate amongst the Vietnamese youth remains high (7.3 per cent in 2019 and even higher rate due to COVID-19 pandemic). This high unemployment rate persists largely because of their lack of appropriate working skills as required by employers. In another word, Vietnamese youth skills do not meet the labour market’s demands, particularly the vocational and technical skills show a mismatch between labour supply and demand of skillsets.

To address this skill mismatch, the Government of Viet Nam started reforming the national educational and training system towards strengthening vocational and technical education and training (TVET) to upskill current and future workers through TVET institutes and narrow the gap between labour supply and demand side. At the same time, the global COVID-19 pandemic is causing a massive return to hometowns and villages of both Vietnamese migrant overseas and internal migrants due to job loss and no income. Returning migrants include construction workers, labourers, skilled and semi-skilled workers and low-skilled housekeepers and street vendors, precariously working in the informal economy. Providing this group of people with informal training is the most prevalent type of technical and vocational training.

To tap into the national efforts of improving the workforce’s skills, this project aims to provide youth workers, including migrants, with better access to online skills training aligned with ongoing efforts by TVET institutes in selected industrial zones in Vietnamese provinces. In partnership with industrial zones and TVET institutes, the online skills training is developed in response to the skill needs within the TVET institutes and skill demand from the workforce. Through accessing to the online skill training, youth workers including migrant workers can improve their online literacy to better respond to the demand from employers in the national labour market and in the long-term can enhance their employability.

With the wide usage of personal electronic devices, an online programme could give better accessibility to skill training courses with flexibility in time and location for workers and better tracking of training progress and result for the project. The target beneficiaries within the scope of the project are youth workers, including internal migrants, in provinces with high numbers of youth workers, including internal migrants, employed in the electronics industry. This will be Dong Nai Province, Binh Duong Province and Ho Chi Minh City, three areas with 78 industrial zones that comprise a labour force of approx. 1.7 million people. The approximate percentage of migrant workers in the area in Dong Nai Province, Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong Province is 60, 70 and 90 per cent respectively.

The specific outcomes of the project include:

Outcome	Area of intervention	Responsible agency
Outcome 1	Youth women and men workers in Viet Nam, including internal migrants, have improved employability through knowledge gained from online skills training programme	IOM
	Output 1.1: Selected industrial zone authorities and TVET institutes commit to supporting and delivering training	IOM
	Output 1.2: Online skills training is developed through labour market demand analysis and understanding of local business’s interests and needs.	IOM
	Output 1.3: Participating TVET institutes have increased capacity to implement online skills training	IOM
	Output 1.4: Women and men youth workers, including internal migrants, have enhanced awareness on accessibility of online skills training	IOM

The project duration is 14 months (25 August 2020 – 25 October 2021).

Scope of assignment:

As the project is closing, IOM is looking for a data analyst who will assess the pilot of learning platform congdanso.edu.vn developed under the project. The findings of this assessment are expected to inform IOM and its partners about the opportunities and challenges, potentials for scalability of the project’s platform, and rooms for further developing the platform. The findings also help IOM and its partners to design relevant interventions which aims at strengthening access of migrant workers and young people to the skills development via digital platform.

The specific objectives of the assignment:

The specific objectives are to

Assess the relevance of the project’s results to the national needs and priorities for improving digital skills for workforce.
Assess the preliminary impact of the project’s online learning platform and trainings (including Training of Trainers).
Outline lessons learned and good practices that can be used in further development of the platform and further scalability of the platform.
Elaborate on opportunities and challenges of sustaining the platform.
Provide constructive and practical recommendations on the future of the platform considering the global trends of e-learnings particularly in the technical and vocational education and training.

All along, the assessment is to generate evidence on the pilot online digital skill platform and its out-reach to Vietnamese youth and workers and to draw the ways for rolling out the project’s performance and results. It is expected to focus on the preliminary feedbacks of learners from the vocational institutions and private enterprises on the platform, in addition to the relevance of the project’s results to the national request for the improvement in digital skills for labourers in general and migrant workers.

Guiding questions

Relevance

To what extent the project’s result contributes to address the relevant challenges faced by Viet Nam such as skills mismatch and the urgent quest for migrating from traditional teaching and learning method to virtual learning, and the demands for the digital jobs in the era of IR 4.0 (and other relevant stakeholders including beneficiaries)?
To what extent the project’s design match the profile and priorities of target population groups (migrant workers and youth)?

Impact and potentials for scalability

What are the scale up opportunities and areas of expansion, based on the feedbacks of learners (students, staff, workers, teachers etc) on the platform?
What are the anticipated impacts of the provided digital skills training, on the learners upon their completion of the courses?
What are the scale up opportunities and areas of expansion, based on the initial feedbacks from stakeholders including governmental agencies, colleges, and private sectors?
What are the key indicators for the future scalability of the platform to more learners in general and internal migrant workers in particular?

Assessment methodology

As the travel is restrained by the COVID-19 pandemic in Viet Nam, the assessment will apply mainly desk review and home-based data analysis in addition to some virtual interviews and discussion with some selected informants.

The desk review of relevant documents including project document, result matrix and project report, training materials, and other sources of information
Analysis of data extracted from the online learning platform
Analysis of learners’ feedbacks on their experiences in learning on the platform congdangso.edu.vn and feedbacks from Training of Trainers participants (11 vocational colleges in Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ha Noi)
Quick interview with random learners on the platform to get some qualitative data on their experiences with the platform and initial impacts
Interview with companies, representatives from DoLISAs, colleges and any relevant organizations to understand the needs for digital skills training.

The project team will provide all relevant project documents and be able to aid in identifying key governmental partners and scheduling the interview with them for the consultant.

Management and implementation arrangements

The assessment is commissioned by IOM and the main IOM focal point will be the National Program Officer, under oversight by the Head of Projects and Partnership. Assistance will be provided by the Project Team where relevant. The data analyst should stay in close consultation with the focal point throughout the whole assignment to update on the progress and any challenge arisen.

Ethics, norms and standards for evaluation

The evaluation processes shall be in line with IOM Data Protection Principles, IOM standards of conduct, do no harm principles, UNEG norms and standards for evaluations and relevant ethical guidelines.

Key deliverables and level of efforts

The data analyst is expected to deliver the following:

Ref	Deliverable	Description	Level of Efforts [Tentatively]	Notes
1	Inception report	It is drafted based on the discussions with IOM Viet Nam and desk review. It should show the consultant’s understanding of the assignment including methodology, sampling plan, work plan and resource requirement	5
2	Draft final report	It is drafted after completion of data collection and analysis (including interviews)	8
3	Final report	It is written based on the comments provided by IOM to the draft report and guided by the TOR requirements, formatted as IOM House Style Manual and other relevant guidelines	5
4	Report in ENG and VIE	The report needs to be made into VIE and EN	2
5	Two-page assessment brief	Brief on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations (in both EN and VIE) to share with partners	2
Total level of efforts			22 person - days

Required qualifications and experiences

Education:

Academic background in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Economy, and relevant areas.

Functional Competencies:

Strong data analysis and project evaluation
Strong research and excellent writing skills in Vietnamese;
Strong English skills for communication;
Excellent organizational skills;
Experience in producing corporate products;
Experience in skills for labour market and online training for the Vietnamese youth in general and workers in particular;
Knowledge of IOM and UN terms, language and style;
Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure.

Behavioural Competencies:

Ability to be flexible and respond to changes to text/layout as part of the review and feedback process;
Strong interpersonal skills, able to communicate and work with diverse people;
Participate effectively in team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
Focus on impact and results for the client.

Submission of application

Interested consultants are required to submit

Introduction of profile and related experiences, including examples of relevant works.
A proposed consulting rate.

Applications may be delivered to the IOM Mission Office in Hanoi at 304 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi or submitted electronically to hanoi@iom.int referring to this Consultancy Notice’s Position Title.

Applications are non-returnable and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Posting period:

From 08- 22 October 2021

APPLY HERE