Request for Proposal (RfP)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is looking for an individual consultant or consultancy firm to conduct a research on “Enhancing financial support services for migrant workers”.

Background/Context of the programme:

Bangladesh is a labour surplus country. Each year, around 2 million youth join the labour force of Bangladesh while about 200,000 new workers are absorbed into the formal job sector. The rest find jobs in the informal sector or become self-employed, and a large section of them remain unemployed and underemployed. The other well-known option available to Bangladeshi youth is to participate in the international short-term contract labour market mostly in the Gulf and other Arab and South East Asian countries.

There are various services extended to aspirant migrants to complete the recruitment process for overseas employment. However, the costs of recruitment remain high and usually the aspirant migrants do not have enough money to cover the migration cost by themselves. Thus, they often end up borrowing from unreliable and informal sources to cover the costs of migration. These informal sources often add to the burden of migrant workers as they end up paying high interests and often fall to the subject of debt bondage. In case of returnee migrants, many return home empty-handed either for reasons of cheating by the recruiting agents or non-payment of wages and other benefits by their employers. The Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB), a state-run scheduled bank has been established by the Government of Bangladesh in 2010 to provide services to both aspirant and returnee migrants. PKB provides collateral-free loans to workers going abroad for employment, offer loans to returnees for income generation, facilitate sending of remittances and encourage the wage earners to invest in the country. However, PKB has faced challenges to disburse the rehabilitation loans among greater number of returnee migrant workers. The bank, till date could disburse loans to only 161 returnee migrant workers. In case of the aspirant migrant workers, majority are unaware of the existence of PKB services.

In this regard, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Bangladesh under the guidance of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) and in collaboration with the PKB is proposing to conduct an assessment aimed at enhancing financial support services available for migrant workers. The assignment will assess the service delivery of PKB – in terms of costs (including remittance transfers, interest), capacity, efficiency, variety of migrant friendly services like loans, insurance inter alia.

1. IOM Project to which the Consultancy is contributing:

Bangladesh: Sustainable Reintegration and Improved Migration Governance (Prottasha), is a four years project implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with BRAC and funded by the European Union (EU). The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the sustainable reintegration of returnees and the progressive achievement of Goal 10.7 to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed policies.

The specific objectives (SO) of the project are to ensure that;

• SO 1: Irregular migrants returning to Bangladesh are sustainably reintegrated (Reintegration component)
• SO 2: Strengthen policies and practices to improve migration governance (Migration Governance component)
• SO 3:Relevant actors make informed decisions about migration, and practice and promote safe, orderly and regular migration behaviours, including remittance management. (Awareness Raising component)

2. Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of the consultancy is to conduct an assessment of financial services for migrant workers and propose way forward for effective and efficient ways to strengthen the financial services of PKB.

The specific objectives are to;

• Review of existing commercial banks providing financial services to migrant workers and processes to analyze gaps
• Suggest effective ways to strengthen financial services of PKB

3. Key Tasks of the Consultancy:

• Conduct a review of the existing financial services for migrant workers through commercial banks including PKB
• Identify gaps in effective financial service provision to migrant workers
• Suggest way forward for effective approaches to provide financial services through commercial banks with the main focus on PKB

4. Methodology¹ :

The consultant needs to detail out a methodology for the proposed activities, however, the methodology can include, but not limited to the following: 

• Secondary data collection, involving literature review including identifying good practices in at least 2 other countries of origin
• Primary data collection methods, including with Government officials, migrants (aspirant and returnees), various financial institutions, PKB and other resource persons
• All work submitted must be in line with the programme communication guidelines including IOM spelling list, IOM House Style Manual and IOM Brand Guidelines 2018.

5. Deliverables

The following are the expected deliverables;

1. Inception Report² containing the final methodology and work plan
2. Study Protocol containing tools for data collection
3. Draft report³ to be shared at a validation workshop with a range of stakeholders
4. Final report, incorporating comments from the stakeholders
5. Policy brief summarizing the recommendations (not to exceed 6 pages).

6. Duration/ Timeline:

The total duration for this assignment is proposed to be approximately 4 months.

7. Method of Application:

Interested Consultants are invited to submit documents stated below by September 11, 2019 through e-mail to faahmed@iom.int; mentioning the RFP: RT/CO/2019/026: Enhancing financial support services for migrant workers in the subject line.  Please keep the attachment size under 9 MB.
For any queries please write to DhakaProttasha@iom.int  and DhakaPL@iom.int

8. Required Documents:

Consultancy Firm/Individual consultant need to submit a technical and financial proposal.

Each Submission Must Include the Following:

• Consultant Profile: A detailed CV of the experts including records on past experience in similar assignments and name of the references.
• Technical Proposal with detailed methodology, tools and work plan along with samples (at least two) of previous work;
• Financial Proposal listing all costs associated with the assignment. In particular, the financial proposal should itemize the following:

1. Consultancy fees in local currency per day;
2. Variable costs inclusive of transportation costs; meetings  

9. Professional and Related Experiences:

The proposed team from the consultancy firms or the consultants should have following competence.

• Must be an expert with sound knowledge of the migration sector
• Ability to deliver according to a specified timeline while maintaining the quality of the output.

The Proposal should be written in English.

Any attempt for persuasion will be considered as a disqualification

ONLY SHORTLISTED CONSULTANTS/CONSULTANCY FIRMS WILL BE ASSESSED

ORGANIZATIONS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TAX OR VAT ISSUES IF APPLICABLE.

IOM is an equal opportunity employer and women are encouraged to apply.
IOM Offices and vehicles have smoke-free work environment.