Within the CARE International project: Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative

Deadline for application: 15th, April

Purpose of the consultancy

CARE International is looking for a Consultant(s)/ organization/ company to undertake a participatory process of designing a business plan for the SEI Centre – a (Self) Employment Socio-Economic and Entrepreneurship Centre in Brcko District (BD), which is planned to be formed within the project and in cooperation with the partner: the Development-Guarantee Fund of Brčko District Government – RGFBD, responding to the current needs of the Brcko District and its citizens.

General information

About CARE in the Balkans

CARE’s mission in the region of Balkans is to contribute to post-war recovery, socio-economic development and building the societies of equality in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (FYROM). CARE’s work in the Balkans started in 1993, when it provided humanitarian support to people affected by war. In the late 90-ties, CARE shifted its focus in the region from humanitarian post-war assistance and rehabilitation to socio-economic development, engaging in interventions directed at conflict prevention and peace-building, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence.

CARE in the Balkans places the quality of its program at the centre of its mission and has developed a regional strategy that encompasses two main program directions: Gender Equality and Social and Economic Inclusion. The goal of the Social and Economic Inclusion Program is to strengthen capacity and create opportunities for the marginalized, socially excluded and poor to integrate into society and access rights. CARE’s Gender Equality Program aims to empower women vulnerable to violence, discrimination and poverty, to reach better life opportunities and social justice and to work on prevention of peer violence and building of tolerance among young men in the Western Balkans. CARE’s engagement and contribution lies in strengthening sustainability of key regional, national and/ or local civil society organizations and networks promoting equality and diversity, in the context of social inclusion and non-violence.

Project information

The project “Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative” will contribute to socio-economic integration of disadvantaged and vulnerable categories of citizens of Brčko District. The Project concentrates its efforts to Brčko District and invests in increasing the socio-economic inclusion of marginalized groups. This is mirrored in the Project Objective: to increase social inclusion and create sustainable employment opportunities for citizens in Brčko District (BD) with a particular focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, through raising employment capacity, support to entrepreneurial activities and enabling a conducive environment for more inclusive economic development.

The following project results/outputs are expected:

Output 1: Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations of the Brčko District have increased their capacity for employment and knowledge of their citizens’ rights, through project conducted trainings and awareness raising.

Output 2: Increased capacity, skills and job opportunities for the unemployed citizens of BD and creation of new employment for the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, via project financial and technical support.

Output 3: Enhanced environment for a more efficient economic inclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, by creation of public-private partnerships to address labour market barriers and promotion of sustainable employment models.

Information about the Project partner RGFBD:

The Development-Guarantee Fund of Brčko District Government – RGFBD (https://rgfbd.com/) is a public institution established under the Government of Brčko District (BD), responsible for providing financial support or guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises, individuals or agricultural producers. More specifically, the main current RGFDB services include:

a) Approval of credit funds and their placement,
b) Allocation of funds to small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs,
c) Investing in securities,
d) Providing guarantees for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and independent entrepreneurs and farmers with the aim of faster employment,

e) Providing guarantees for lending in the rural sector,
f) Other credit and financial intermediation.

Role in the Project: Unit for Implementation of International Projects at RGFBD (further PIU) has been mandated by the Government of BD to act as the main Project partner and beneficiary focal point (for
all three project Outputs). PIU will also act as an intermediary between the selected the project applicant/implementer and the Government of BD, in particular on strategic issues such as legislation, long-term financing and sustainability of project outputs, etc. PPIU will, through this Project, establish and develop the (Self) Employment Socio-Economic and Entrepreneurship Centre, which will aim to provide comprehensive support to BD residents, and especially marginalized persons, on their path to self-employment, entrepreneurship and long-term/permanent employment. The Centre would serve to develop, strengthen and upgrade the skills of BD residents so that they are employable in the labour market. At the same time, it can provide retraining and other training courses, personalised training, coaching, consulting, mentoring, therapeutic and psychosocial services and similar types of help and assistance. It would serve also serve as an incubator for start-ups and early stage entrepreneurs.

Objectives and Description of the Task

The consultation will be agreed in every step with the CARE Project Manager and RGFBD partner and should include the following:
a. Examination, through field visits (minimum 2 days) of the conditions and circumstances for the development of SEI Centre services, with the purpose of designing new business plan for the provision of socio-economic aid services to BD residents and particularly the most vulnerable clients for the achievement of their self-employment, entrepreneurship involvement and long-term/permanent employment.
b. Analysis of development options for the SEI Centre: checking feasibility of the potential business ideas for the SEI Centre currently listed/recommended within the document “Socio-Economic Analysis – SEA Analysis” undertaken by the project and particularly informed by the Czech best practice examples (brought by the Czech consultants Tomas Evan and Alena Zieglerová), as well as the local context of BD. The Analysis should also include the design of a set of operational documents for implementation (public calls, application forms, evaluation and monitoring forms) for the following main SEI centre activities:

• Soft skills and digital literacy, mainly targeting beneficiaries with low education level, to prepare them for the process of seeking employment, job interviews etc,
• Vocational education and training (VET) based on labour market demand. The SEI Centre will be in constant examination of the labour market of Brcko District, searching for current employment opportunities,
• Internship – working practice in locally operating companies will be undertaken by the Employment Centre, who will be supported and supervised by CARE,

Public calls for business development grants,
c. Delivery of a consultancy package for the participatory design of the SEI Centre business plan, consisting of:

• Initial two-day training for the recruited SEI Centre staff (around 6 people), providing comprehensive support for the creation of a sustainable Business Plan for the development of the SEI Centre, introducing appropriate knowledge and methodologies. Entire logistics for the event will be provided by the Project. The training is expected to be entirely designed and implemented/facilitated by the selected consultant(s), in consultation and agreement with CARE and partner RGFBD. It should cover a wide range of topics around the subject of business plans development:
• analysis of the business idea, competition, and sales prospective, value chains and importance of good marketing, further business development and utilization of external investment funding, as well as other topics deriving from the consultants’ experience and the SEI Centre’ needs. Particular attention will be paid and consultant’s expertise provided to the Businesses Incubator section planning, as one of the main SEI Centre activities. The training should be facilitated in a participatory manner (rather than ex cathedra), with the use of modern learning tools and business development methodologies. The Outline of the SEI Centre Business Plan should be a practical output of the training.
• Online coaching/mentoring of the training participants will follow, in the duration of up to 15 days, for the purpose of further elaboration and fine-tuning of the SEI Centre Business Plan. The process will also include defining/confirming operational costs of the SEI Centre (staff, office costs, management costs, costs of small repairs and specification of needed equipment for SEI Centre functioning).
• Final two days participatory workshop, for the final agreement of the SEI Centre Business Plan and outlining the Investment plan with specifications for its realisation, as an Annex to the main document (Business Plan). The workshop will be facilitated by the consultant(s), organised in a participatory manner and supported by concrete information/documentation gathered within the entire process of the Business Plan design. The final product of the workshop will be a finalised SEI Centre Business Plan document, completed for submitting to the project for funding.

The training and workshop will be organised in local language and should include internal evaluation of the participants satisfaction with the organisation and effects, as well as measuring of the gained knowledge of the participants, through the usage of pre-post-tests!

Consultant’s Outputs

• Review of the documentation and inputs relevant for the project, provided by CARE.
• Field visit(s) to the targeted SEI Centre for the purpose of the detailed assessment of current state of development and capacity and establishment of the needs for improvement.
• Detailed plan for the entire training and consultations package for the SEI Centre staff – agenda, work plan, materials, tools. Finalisation of these documents in communication and agreement with CARE Project Manager and RGFBD partner.
• Training/coaching/mentoring package implementation for the recruited SEI Centre staff, as described under Objectives and description of the task.
• Provision of the training consultancy report to CARE Project Manager (in English 3-5 pages). Apart from the general consultancy coverage, the consultancy report will contain an Annex with completed SEI Centre Business Plan (including the Investment plan with specifications) and a set of operational documents, materials, tools for the use by project partner.

All reports for CARE should be written English, while the SEI Centre Business Plan should be written in local language. The Consultant will ensure excellent quality of all written language.

CARE’s outputs

• Provide to the Consultant the project documentation relevant for the consultancy – initial and upon Consultant’s request.
• Agree on the work plan and training/consultancy curriculum with the Consultant.
• Coordinate with the Consultant and the targeted SEI Centre throughout the consultancy period.
• Monitor the consultancy progress, assess the consultancy products, especially SEI Centre business plan.
• Provide logistical support to the Consultant necessary for the realization of the task (the travel costs for the envisaged field work should be included in the Consultants’ bid).
• Undertake the payment upon the successful job completion and adoption of the outputs.

RGFDB’s Output

• Provide the Consultants with information necessary for understanding the local context concerning the consultation task,
• Approve the detailed consultancy plan of the Consultant, together with CARE Project Manager
• Provide contacts with local stakeholders who should be included in the initial Analysis of development options for the SEI Centre (during field visit(s)),
• Provide logistics for the meetings/trainings held within this consultancy,
• Regularly collaborate with the Consultant during the whole time of engagement, provide all relevant documents for the process. Ensure participation and appropriate activity level of the project recruited SEI Centre staff in the entire process of the design of the SEI Centre Business Plan, as described above,

Schedule

• The Consultant will be engaged for 20 working days, over the period 22nd April to 20th June 2024, according to the following timetable:

Action
Responsible Date

Payment schedule

The detailed payment schedule will be outlined in the Consultancy Contract and will be made upon the work completion and the approval of the final consultancy report by CARE. The Payment will be carried out in line with all necessary documentation as per CARE’s administrative procedures (time sheets, consultancy report, etc).

Required qualification of the Consultant:

CARE invites individual experts, teams of experts, NGOs and agencies, familiar with the type of work required in the context of this consultancy, to submit their bids and present in details their expertise, experience, division of work and responsibility levels/responsible persons (in case of teams or agencies). The general requirements are:

• MA in economy or business development field.
• Excellent knowledge and previous documented consulting experience in business development (including support to most marginalised and relations to BD stakeholders),
• Excellent knowledge of the business environment in Brcko District, especially around the conditions of the local labour market.
• Particular expertise for the development of a business incubators system is a must!
• Excellent understanding of the idea, aims, principles and expected results of the BD SEI Centre. Proven knowledge of concept and principles of supporting vulnerable and marginalized citizens for self-employment, entrepreneurship and long-term/permanent employment.
• Good knowledge of gender equality issues and its implications to business development.
• Excellent trainers skills, knowledge and proven experience in participatory training and mentoring and coaching methodologies and techniques.
• Excellent written and oral knowledge of English and local languages.

Additional requirements (desired):

• Experience from previous involvements in similar activities.
• Prior experience in international donor funded projects.

The Consultant’s bid/application should consist of the following:

1. Consultant’s CV or portfolio, with detailed information relevant to the required qualifications.
2. Draft consultancy plan outlining the approach and tentative timeline (schedule) for the consultancy.
3. Bid – financial offer: The Consultant shall suggest a daily fee/rate in BAM per consultancy day. (All transportation, food and accommodation costs for the consultancy should be included). There is no standard format for the bid.
   
4. THE APPLICATION- BID SHOULD BE IN ENGLISH!

The received applications will be evaluated against the below stated criteria:

Interested candidates are invited to apply to the address:

CARE International, Balkans, Derviša Numića number 6, 71000 Sarajevo, or to the e-mail: shalkic@care.ba
Closing date for applications is April 15th, 2024, 15h

We thank to all applicants for their interest. Only selected applicants will be contacted. For any additional information concerning the application, please contact:
Branislav Tanasijevic, Project Manager, E-mail: btanasijevic@care.ba

REMARK: This and other project activities are pending approval by the donor CZDA for this year
Sarajevo, 12th March 2024