End-of-Project Evaluation Consultant Team

STRENGTHENING THE AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL

LABOR RIGHTS IN VIETNAM (SAP-ILR)

TERMS OF REFERENCE END OF PROJECT EVALUATION

Kenan Foundation Asia (Kenan) is seeking a consultant team to perform the final project evaluation of the SAP-ILR project that fulfils the overall and specific objectives stated below. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 Project Summary Kenan has been implementing the SAP-ILR project since August 2017. The project addresses gaps in the practice of the Vietnam labor code and international labor standards (ILS) in Vietnam. Working with selected enterprises and in partnership with key stakeholders in Bac Ninh province, the project has raised awareness of ILS, building capacity of a broad group of stakeholders, including workers, trade unions, enterprise executives, business associations, and the government to improve working conditions for the enterprises’ workers. The project has collected data on monitoring labor practices in the workplace, and used the data for constructive dialogues and negotiation meetings to facilitate interaction between employers and employees. The project results achieved include agreements on improvements to workers’ rights that have been reached between enterprise management and worker representatives. 1.2 Project Goal Key actors contribute to improved working conditions in Vietnam’s manufacturing sector through strengthening the awareness and practice of local and international labor standards. 1.3 Project Objectives Objective 1: Increased Awareness. Key actors (CSOs, trade union members, worker representatives) promote increased awareness of local and international labor standards with workers and management in Bac Ninh industrial zone. Objective 2: Sustainable Monitoring. Key actors manage a sustainable monitoring mechanism to collect and report information on the practice of local and international labor standards. Objective 3: Constructive Dialogue. Practice of local and international labor standards is strengthened through constructive dialogue channels conducted between civil society and workers, enterprises, and government. 2. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY 2.1 Overall Objective To conduct a final evaluation of the SAP-ILR project to evaluate the achieved results against project targets and to provide project lessons learned, stories of changes, and recommendations for scaling up. 2.2 Specific Objectives - Provide an overview of the context in raising awareness of international labor standards among workers and enterprise management in the project setting. - Assess (positive and negative, expected and unexpected) achievements of the project against project goal, objectives, outcomes and indicators. Specifically:

The effectiveness of project activities for raising and addressing working conditions at factories in Bac Ninh industrial zones.
The challenges and project solutions to improve compliance with ILS and foster constructive resolution of disputes between workers and employers.

- Review outcome results achieved through the project based on the project’s M&E plan and indicator table, indicating any obstacles in reporting against stated project outcomes andvevaluate any project outcomes not captured by the project’s M&E plan and targets. - Identify and document approaches adopted by the project that have contributed to effectively addressing international labor rights in the industrial zones, highlighting the factors that are important to the success including:

What is the process and what are key success factors in building trust with relevant authorities, private sector and employees to implement the project?
How are different stakeholders approached, how are they engaged and what roles have they individually and collectively served that have contributed to the project’s awareness raising activities and meetings with enterprise management?
How have online and offline awareness raising activities collectively contributed to improving understanding of labor standards among workers reached through the project? What channels are suitable for what types of messaging?

- Propose practical recommendations at the operational level for future programming on how to strengthen the awareness and practice of ILS at factories in Bac Ninh industrial zones. - Prepare 5 case studies that present examples of the model(s) adopted by the project in areas including: building trust; stakeholder engagement; awareness raising; documenting labor rights compliance; supporting social dialogues and collective bargaining. 2.3 Key study areas The consultant team should prioritize assessing the achievements made towards the project’s outputs and outcomes, along with the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of project approaches. To address the specific objectives of the evaluation, the consultant team will be expected to provide answers to the following specific questions. Relevance

To what extent was the project approach relevant in addressing specific gaps in the practice of ILS?
To what extent did the achieved results (project goal, outputs and outcomes) remain relevant to the needs of addressing specific gaps in the practice of ILS?

Effectiveness

To what extent has the project’s objectives (outputs/outcomes) been achieved? What factors supported or impeded the achievement of the project objectives?
To what extent have project activities been delivered through addressing specific gaps in the practice of ILS? How effective were the project activities in achieving project objectives?

Efficiency

Were activities delivered on time and within budget?
Could the same or better results have been achieved with the same or fewer inputs by doing things differently?
What methodologies used in implementation were most efficient and effective?

Impact

Do workers and enterprise management staff participating in the project express an increased understanding about international labor standards and increased confidence in how they can take action to address working conditions in the factory?
Were there any unintended results of this project?

Sustainability

How will the project outcomes be sustained without continuing external financial or technical support?
Have the capacities of the project’s stakeholders been enhanced sufficiently to address specific gaps in the practice of ILS without further support from Kenan?

Lessons learned, stories of changes and recommendations for the future

What lessons were learned through project implementation?
What are stories of changes from the project stakeholders?
What are the consultant team’s recommendations for future programming?

Scaling up

Assess the potential for scaling up the project or the innovations of the project.
Is this model replicable for other industrial zones in Vietnam? What aspects may need to be adjusted?

3. SCOPE OF WORK It is anticipated that the full scope of work will require 30 days’ consultancy time. The consultation includes fieldwork, report writing and presentation of results to Kenan. 4. METHODS The methodology for the study will be developed by the selected consultant team at the outset of the work and will be presented in detail in the inception report. However, it is anticipated that the study will include a range of methods including: i) desk review/research; ii) quantitative and qualitative methods. In conducting the study, the consultant team is expected to facilitate the active and meaningful involvement of project stakeholders, including Bac Ninh Industrial Zone Authority, Bac Ninh Provincial Trade Union, DOLISA, Business Associations, VGCL, MOLISA, ILO, civil society organizations, factory management, trade union and workers. The consultant team is responsible for design of interview questions and focus group discussion planning, however Kenan can assist in identifying and support arrangements for scheduling interviews and focus group discussions. 5. DELIVERABLES Deliverables for the assignment include: 5.1 Inception report An inception report with oral presentation to client including:

Summary of desk review and plan for field visits
Research objectives and questions
Methods and justification of the proposed methodology
Proposed list of interviews and focus group discussions
Key implementation challenges and risks including ethical considerations
Additional program design considerations
Implementation work plan and timetable

5.2 Oral presentations of top line findings 5.3 Final report The final report should be logically structured and respond to the key research areas/questions as described in item 2.3 of this ToR. It should include: (1) Executive summary Brief statement of the findings (concise analysis and main conclusions. (2) Background and specific objectives of the assessment

Short introduction/ description of the Project
Evaluation methodology
Presentation of the evaluation team
Limitation(s) of the evaluation

(3) Summary of main activities, methods of implementation and results of the Project (4) Project evaluation must be focused on:

Relevance
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Impact
Sustainability

(5) Conclusion

Successes of the project
Areas for improvement

(6) Lessons learned

Advantages
Difficulties

(7) Recommendations (8) Stories of changes One to two stories of changes (relating to improvements of working conditions in factories based on strengthening the awareness and practice of ILS) (9) Case Studies 5 case studies demonstrating the model(s) adopted by the project (10) Annexes

Terms of reference for the evaluation
Detailed evaluation method including options taken, difficulties encountered and limitations
List of stakeholders (persons/ organizations) consulted and interviewed
Literature and documentation reviewed

All results, impacts and changes must be substantiated by quantitative and qualitative data, and typical stories. All documents, data, meeting minutes, illustrative photographs arising from the process of preparation and execution, completion and reporting of this task are copyright of Kenan. 6. CONSULTANT QUALIFICATION AND TEAM COMPOSITION

International consultant based in Vietnam or region as lead evaluator with a Vietnamese national consultant as co-evaluator.
Minimum of 5 years’ experience conducting related formative research in Vietnam or the region with similar parameters of interest.
Demonstrated understanding of the Vietnam labor code and international labor standards, Vietnamese government system, operations at industrial zones.
Strong communication/facilitation skills and excellent English language.

7. CONTRACTUAL TIME AND PAYMENT PLAN

Kenan has a fixed budget of 250,000,000 VND for the evaluation. Payments are subjected to applicable taxes according to the national tax law.
The work will take place from 2nd January 2020 until 14th February 2020, with the final reportdue by 10th March 2020.

Payment schedule as follows:

30% within 15 working days after the signature of contract.
30% within 15 working days after submission of draft report.
40% within 15 working days after the acceptance of the final report.

Kenan will cover costs associated with FGDs and other fieldwork expenses. Kenan will reimburse consultants costs for transportation from Hanoi to Bac Ninh, accommodation in Bac Ninh and M&IE as required to conduct field work in accordance with Kenan’s travel policy within 15 working days of receipt of reports and evidence. 8. COMMUNICATION Ms. Phan Kieu Anh, Country Program Manager at Kenan shall be the representative on behalf of Kenan for this work, email: kieuanh@kenan asia.org, office phone #: 84-24 3715 1777. 9. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION The Offeror should submit its best proposal initially, indicating the proposed evaluation methodology including type and number of participants, indicative list of interviewees, timeline and expected number of days of each evaluation team members’ contribution to the study. Proposals are required to indicate how they will address the key research questions indicate in section 2.3 above. Proposals will be evaluated based on: 1) responsiveness to objectives of the study; 2) proposed methodology; and 3) qualifications of proposed staff based on CVs, references and past reports. Proposal submission, including CV(s), references, past reports, and quotation to conduct the evaluation is to be sent to Kenan Hanoi Office at: kieuanh@kenan-asia.org Closing date for applications: 17.00 on 31st December, 2020. Please note that responses received after due date shall not be considered and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Tags: Kenan