TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background of Sudokkho

Sudokkho is a 5-year private skills training and employment programme, funded by DFID and SDC and implemented by Palladium in a consortium with Swisscontact and the British Council.

The programme seeks to test and implement market-driven, quality skills training systems within the Readymade Garments (RMG) and Construction sectors that will stimulate further investment in training by trainees, private training providers and employers. The programme’s target is that 100,000 poor people, including women and disadvantaged populations, will earn increased income after successful completion of skills training.

The programme supports Private Training Providers (PTPs) and Industry-based training initiatives (supply-side stimulation) and raises awareness about the value of skills development among the trainees and industry (demand-side stimulation).
Sudokkho, in coordination with the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of the Ministry of Education (MoE), builds upon the TVET reform agenda. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) supports initiatives that facilitate greater involvement of the private sector to ensure that skills training is relevant and of high quality, thereby increasing post-training employment opportunities.

The rationale for the consultancy assignment

Sudokkho is in a process to make partnership agreement with 30 new PTPs.  A training module on ‘Soft Skills’ is common and mandatory for all trainees participating in skills training courses. As a part of the capacity building supports, Sudokkho plans to train instructors and training coordinators from the PTPs as they are new to the concept and lack of competencies to conduct training sessions on soft skills.  Further, the knowledge of soft skills will be institutionalized within the training institutes as a part of the skills training course. In this regard, Sudokkho is looking for a competent national consulting firm for training and building capacity of PTPs on soft skills.

Objective:

Objectives of the assignment are as follows:

• Conduct Training of Trainers on ‘Soft-Skills’ to build the capacity of instructors/training coordinators of PTPs
• Provide technical backstopping supports to the trained staff of PTPs to deliver sessions on soft skills during actual skills training environment

Deliverables:

The consulting firm will ensure the following deliverables:

• A work plan for the entire period of consulting work including a training schedule for soft skills training.
• A training delivery plan with an indication of training objectives and learning outcomes
• 5-day long TOT in 4 consecutive batches on soft skills training will be delivered to 100 instructors and relevant officers
• A mid-term report on TOT on soft skills will be submitted by the consultancy firm to Sudokkho with an assessment of trainees and an action plan for implementation
• Technical backstopping support to 30 new PTPs (two days for each PTP)
• A brief report on completion of consulting assignment including TOT on soft skills and technical backstopping supports to the PTPs
• An electronic copy of Powerpoint presentations for each training session and final presentation of the report to Sudokkho team

The report is to be accepted by the Skills Development Director and approved by the Team Leader of Sudokkho

Key duties and tasks

The consulting firm will undertake the following duties and tasks:

• Prepare a detail work plan for the entire period of consulting work including a training schedule (based on the existing training manual on soft skills) and on the job coaching support to PTPs
• Conduct four Training of Trainers (TOT) workshops on Soft Skills to train 100 instructors and relevant officers from the new and existing PTPs (each TOT  workshop will have a minimum of 20 to 25 participants)
• Provide technical backstopping supports for two days for the trained staff of each PTP to institutionalize and implement sessions on soft skills during the actual skills training environment. The date of such support will be decided in collaboration with Sudokkho and PTPs.
• Collaborate with Sudokkho team for the nomination of participants and smooth implementation TOT workshops.
• Prepare mid-term and assignment completion reports. Present the final report to the programme team with findings, lessons learned and recommendations for the next course of actions.

Time schedule

A total of up to 87 consultancy-days within the period of November 2018 - March 2019 has been allocated for the entire assignment, including all deliverables, duties and tasks as mentioned above. Travel days outside of Dhaka will not be considered as workdays. The following time schedule is suggested:

Profile/requirement of the consultant

The consultant firm should meet the following profile:

• A minimum of 10 years of working experience in the field of TVET sector with special focus on Soft Skills Training
• The proposed consultant must have 3 years of experience in conducting Soft Skills training
• Proficiency in MS Office (particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Excellent communication and analytical skills
• Proficient in English and fluent in Bangla

Consultancy proposal

The consulting firm should prepare a technical and financial proposal.

The technical proposal should include:

• Overview of relevant experiences
• CV(s) of the Consultant(s) proposed (during due diligence conduction, Sudokkho may ask to submit a copy of the highest academic certificate of proposed persons)
• Methodology to be applied
• Copy of eTIN and VAT

The financial proposal should include the number of consultant-days and daily per-person consultancy fee including VAT and taxes where applicable. Financial proposal should clearly mention the cost of training manuals and stationary and any other relevant costs involved during the training and coaching process. All payments are subject to VAT and IT deduction at source in accordance with NBR rules. Both proposals should be sent to Sudokkho with  ‘Soft Skills Training ‘in the subject line., email: info@sudokkho.org