► Terms of Reference

Implementing Partner for provision of:

ILO Innovation Challenge on Skills & Enterprise Development for the Youth in Rwanda’s Digital Economy

(for NGOs/NPOs only)

The project of Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Skills for the youth in Rwanda’s digital economy ILO Country Office for the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

► 1. Background

1.1. Youth Employment Project in Rwanda

The project for Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Skills for Youth in Rwanda's Digital Economy, is a multi-year project, funded by the Government of Luxembourg and brings together the ILO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ‒ in support of the African Union (AU) under the umbrella of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth. The programme aims to implement interventions that empower African youth, ensue they benefit from new opportunities in Africa’s growing digital economy and steer it forward with their energy and creativity. The joint programme is continental in scope and is implemented across six countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.

In Rwanda, the project aims to support Rwanda’s structural transformation and contribute to a just transition towards a digital economy. Its main goal is to enable more young women and men in Rwanda to access decent jobs in Rwanda’s digital economy, focusing on the youth between the age brackets of 16 and 30 years from Secondary Cities as well as Kigali. The three main components of the project are: (i) Promoting job creation and entrepreneurship opportunities in the digital economy, (ii) Improve digital skills of young women and men, and (iii) Facilitate young people’s transition to decent work in the digital economy.

Under these components, the project will implement digital-job interventions geared to create new jobs, strengthen existing programs aimed at promoting digital skills and stimulating demand for digital services among MSMEs startups. The project will also boost the capacity and relevancy of employment service centres to bridge the information gap between job seekers and employers in the field of the digital economy. Additionally, it will strengthen platforms for sharing labour market information and enhance the dynamic partnership between skills training providers, youth innovators and private sector players for job creation.

1.2. ILO’s Innovation Challenge (IC)

Rwanda has highly prioritized digitalization as means to transform Rwanda’s socio-economic development. The digitalization of the Rwandan economy is conceived as a cross-cutting enabler for the growth of other sectors of the economy but also as a source for the creation of decent and productive jobs within and beyond the ICT sector. In 2000, the Government of Rwanda adopted the Vision 2020 with a primary objective of achieve Rwanda’s transforming into a middle-income country by year 2020. Subsequent to that, Smart Rwanda 2020 Master Plan was developed. It drew its inspiration from the Smart Africa Manifesto that was launched during the Transform Africa Summit in October 2013 where prominent African Heads of State signed the SMART Africa Manifesto which aims to accelerate African development through ICT.

Despite Rwanda's ambition for economic growth in the digital economy space, there is a significant gap in skilled digital workforce, and youth specifically are challenged by limited digital literacy, connectivity disparities, and inadequate infrastructure, leading to skills deficiencies and constrained business development opportunities. Similarly, the limited digital literacy also hampers access to decent jobs in the digital economy. As of 2018, around 8 per cent of the population of Rwanda was estimated to be literate in using computers. Many people lack the skills to use smart devices to access digital services without depending on agents. This leaves young people often without opportunities to practice their (digital) skills, through job placements and internships, and even worse, to access employment. Several findings point to the barriers related to accessibility as a contributor to the lingering digital skills gaps.

To contribute to addressing this issue at a grassroots level, the ILO is devising its Innovation Challenge (IC) mechanism, which is a structured initiative aimed at addressing pressing issues through innovative solutions. The Innovation Challenge allows innovators from Business Development Services (BDSs) and Skill Development/TVET institutions to jointly develop creative solutions for pressing challenges they face in their day-to-day service delivery.

The Innovation Challenge aims to inspire creativity and encourage fresh perspectives by leveraging the creativity and ingenuity of organisations and institutions working in Business Development Services and Skill/TVET Development at the frontline level of the digital economy. Potential participants are invited to devise initiatives, which are envisaged to generate a wide array of solutions and innovative ideas and models that could contribute to expanding the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem, improving access to digital skills training, business mentorship, digital finance, and/or promoting access to digital jobs or digitally enabled jobs for young people. The Innovation Challenge will also provide a structured framework for driving innovation in the realms of skills and enterprise development, helping to identify and prioritize strategies that offer tangible benefits for developing digital businesses and skills in Rwanda.

The innovation challenge is targeting to award 5 to 7 innovative solutions a grant in the range of USD10,000 to USD

50,000 (total is USD 200,000), however, final award will be agreed between the ILO and the winner to achieve best Value for Money as per ILO rules and regulations. Preference will be given to ideas and organizations that have reallife expertise in the proposed intervention areas and intend to extend it geographically. The awarded grants are milestone-based and will be used directly to support the development, implementation, and scaling of the initiative.

The applications must be joint submissions between one Business Development Service Provider (or any institution that has track record in rigorously providing those services) and one Skills Development/TVET Institution (or any institution that has track record in rigorously providing those services). For instance – but not limited to - organizations such as ICT hubs, business incubators, and NGOs focused on training for digital skills and growing digital businesses. Both organizations must be Non-for-Profit and the lead organization must be selected and clarified as part of the submission. The grant will be disbursed in two to three batches as per agreed milestones in the award contract. Winning solutions will also be provided with technical support by the ILO and the Implementing Partner to develop, pilot, test and measure the impact of their solutions. Participating organizations will commit to be available for engagement in the entire Implementation Agreement timeframe spanning between nine to twelve months after signing the Implementation Agreements between the ILO and the winners.

► 2. Overall Objective

The overall purpose of this assignment is to assist the ILO to (i) finalize the design of the Innovation Challenge (based on the concept provided in Section 1.2), (ii) roll out the IC and (iii) providing technical support to winners of the Innovation Challenge. The implementation of the IC will be across the nine following districts: Nyagatare and Kayonza (in the East); Nyarunge and Gasabo (in Kigali Province,); Musanze (in the North,); Rubavu and Rusinzi (in the West,), and Ruhango and Huye (in the South). The Innovation Challenge will include five stages that the implementing partner will manage, which are: 1) Pre-launch preparatory activities, 2) Advertisement: Launching the call for applications and promoting the challenge through road trips, events at the district level as well as advertisement through communication platform that are locally used to the most, 3) Applications: Submission of initial proposals by applicants, 4) Screening, evaluation and selection: Evaluation of submitted proposals by a panel of experts and selection of winning solutions and 5) Announcement of winners and event: Publicizing the winners and organizing a celebratory event.

Following the announcement of the winners, the Implementing Partner is expected to Provide Post-Innovation Challenge Technical Support¹. That includes setting up a (temporary) Innovation Lab to offer intensive technical support services to the winning organizations in 6 to 8 months following the award of the financial prizes. The Innovation Lab will act as a hub for fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and capacity building, helping the winners to scale their initiatives and enhance their impact on the digital economy ecosystem in the target areas. Through targeted post IC services, winning organizations will be empowered to effectively scale their initiatives, ultimately contributing to the growth of the digital economy ecosystem and the creation of decent job opportunities for young people in refugee and host communities².

The role of the Implementing Partner in each phase is detailed in Section 3 below.

► 3. Key Deliverables and Timeframe

 The tasks under this assignment include the following:

• Examples of post-Innovation Challenge services that might be provided include:
  1. Capacity Building and Training: offer capacity building and training programs to enhance the winners' technical skills.
  2. Access to Expertise and Mentors: connect the winning organizations with subject matter experts and experienced mentors from the digital economy ecosystem.
  3. Networking and Partnerships: facilitate networking opportunities among the winning organizations, allowing them to share experiences and learn from each other.
  4. Innovative Financial Products/Services for digital businesses/entrepreneurs.
  5. Marketing and Visibility: help the winning organizations to develop and implement marketing strategies that effectively communicate the value of their initiatives to potential users.

• Implementation will take place in the same district where the implementing Partner is located.

► 5. Payment arrangements

The payment arrangements proposed for the assignment are as follows:

► 6. Reporting Lines

The selected Implementing Partner will work under the direct supervision of ILO Project Team and the Specialists of the Decent Work Country Team and the Regional Office. This engagement includes regular planning and progress meetings, joint discussions and missions, and agreement on research methods for the various technical areas covered under this intervention.

► 7. Submission

The interested Implementing Partner (NGOs only) should submit a technical, financial proposal and evidence of proven technical expertise and institutional and financial capacity no later than 14 June 2024 4pm [Kigali time] to darprocurement@ilo.org

➢ The Technical Proposal

1. The technical proposal should lay out, in detail, the comparative advantage of the organization in implementing the aforementioned deliverable and include at a minimum: a detailed work plan for the implementation cycle taking into account the time needed to for undertaking events at the district level;
2. Sample report that the Implementing Partner already published on similar interventions, preferably with the UN or other Development Agencies;
3. A list of the team members who will work on the assignment (international and national) including gender profile, CV(s) of the key personnel demonstrating competence and qualifications in areas relevant to the TOR.
4. Recommendations/references from previous clients for whom similar work has been conducted.
5. The organization should also submit evidence of institutional and financial capacity to independently carry out the service, including a recent registration certificate. A recent audit report is a plus.

➢ The Financial Proposal

1. The financial proposal is to include the detailed breakdown of cost per activity. It should also be submitted in USD. It should include all envisaged costs including logistical support, grant management and participants incubation cost.

All interested organization can send questions to (darprocurement@ilo.org) until 01 June 2024, 4 PM Kigali time. Questions will be answered and shared with the interested organizations by Close of Business on 05 June 2024.

Please note that the ILO will not consider incomplete submissions. All responses and supporting documentation received will be treated as strictly confidential and will not be made available for the public.

► 8. Selection Criteria

The selected Implementing Partner (NGO/Non-for Profit) will have a mix of expertise and qualifications in the focus areas related to this ToR. Evaluation of the suitability of the Implementing Partner to work on this assignment will be made against the following selection criteria:

• The Technical Proposal contains a workplan that provides adequate time to operationalize all field work across all the districts (35 point).
• The Technical Proposal submitted includes a clear indication of the comparative advantage of the organization and staffing plan (15 points).
• Technical Offer contains a list of similar interventions delivered to date as well as reporting the experience and CVs of senior staff including contact and reference information that helps to provide evidence that the proposed Service Contractor possesses the technical expertise required to implement the workplan developed to deliver the scope work required and reported in the ToR (30 points).
• Technical Offer includes supporting documents to provide evidence on institutional and financial capabilities (e.g. organogram, internal control measures, approach to risk management, relevant ethics/conduct protocols and the financial audit (conducted in the past 2 years) to demonstrate the financial capacity of the proposed Implementing Partner to undertake the requested scope of work identified in the ToR (20 points).

Please note that the Minimum Acceptable Score for the Proposal to be financially reviewed is 70 points.