Promoting the Inclusion of Conflict-Affected Iraqi Youth: Micro- Entrepreneurship for Training the Vulnerable Iraqi Youth in the Selected Communities (Group I -500 trainees)

Project ID: P161654

Project Title: Promoting the Inclusion of Conflict-Affected Iraqi Youth

Borrower Bid Reference: MOYS/CQS/TR/02-I

Republic of Iraq

Ministry of Youth and Sports

Request for Expression of interest on Micro- Entrepreneurship for Training the Vulnerable Iraqi Youth in the Selected Communities

Project name: Promoting the Inclusion of Conflict-Affected Iraqi Youth

JSDF Grant number:  TF0A5365

Reference number:  MOYS/CQS/TR/02-I, and MOYS/CQS/TR/02- II

The Government of Iraq (GoI) received a grant in the amount of US$ 2,75 million from the World Bank (WB) acting as administrator of grant funds provided by Japan under the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) toward the cost of the Promoting The Inclusion of Conflict-Affected Iraqi Youth project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for services detailed in the attached Terms of Reference (TOR).

The services are aimed to support the social and economic inclusion of conflict-affected Iraqi youth and consist in the provision of pre-creation support to 1000 youth and post-creation support to at least 730 young micro-entrepreneurs. For that, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) intends to recruit two separate service providers. Each service provider will be responsible for at least 500 beneficiaries in the agreed district(s). The work will be implemented across project targeted areas, namely the districts of Sadr City, Al-Amriya, Zayouna, Al-Doura, 9Nisan and Abu Ghraib in the Governorate of Baghdad. Service providers must indicate the territories in which they wish to intervene. The target  youth will be identified among beneficiaries who  have passed the training on soft skills, psycho-social support and community-development. More details can be found in the attached Terms of Reference (TOR).

The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) now invites eligible and experienced service providers to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested service providers should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services (description of past and similar assignments in the field of micro-entrepreneurship, which will clarify their experience and ability to accomplish this task, etc.). Copies of supporting documents and staff CVs should be attached with service provider's profile.

Eligible service providers will have to meet the following criteria to be considered for short listing process:

1. The service provider should provide a track record of working in youth entrepreneurship for the last four years and it should provide a detailed portfolio of youth entrepreneurship projects implemented in the last four years detailing the nature of activities implemented and the profile of beneficiaries. (30 points)
2. The service provider should have a track record of supporting vulnerable youth for at least four years: unemployed young men and women, youth working in the informal sector, youth with IDP status, youth from poor households, youth who dropped out of school, and youth with basic literacy level. (20 points)
3. It should show a good standing financial record for the last two years and it should have a good standing in its area of operation. (20 points)

1. It should show the availability of staff with qualifications and experience as described in the table below. (30 points)

The attention of interested service providers is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 revised November 2017 and August 2018 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest

A service provider will be selected in accordance with the Consultant’s Qualifications Based Selection [CQS] method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours [08:00 am to 2:00 pm Baghdad Local time].

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below in person, or by e-mail by January 21, 2021 at 11:00 AM Baghdad local time.

Ministry of Youth and Sports-Project Management Team

Attn: Ms. Aseel Falih / Head of IT Department

Address: Ministry of Youth and Sports building/Palestine Street, Baghdad, Iraq

Mobile: 07701743792

WhatsApp: 07701743792

Email: moys.wbteam@gmail.com - wbteam@moys.gov.iq

Attachments: Term of reference.

Terms of Reference for Micro-entrepreneurship for Training the Vulnerable Iraqi Youth in the Selected Communities

1. Project Background

The Government of Iraq (GoI) through the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) has received a grant in the amount of US$ 2.75 million from the World Bank (WB) acting as Administrator of grant funds provided by Japan under the Japan Social Development Fund to support the social and economic inclusion of conflict-affected Iraqi youth.

The overall objective of the project is to promote the social and economic inclusion of at least 3,000 conflict-affected Iraqi youth (aged 15-29) through engagement in entrepreneurship and youth-led community development activities.

The Project consists of two components:

Component 1: Youth-Led Community Development, Peacebuilding and Micro-entrepreneurship

Sub-Component 1.1: Soft Skills Training, Psychosocial Support, Community Development

This sub-component will be the entry-point for all participants into the project and will provide soft-skills training for at least 3,000 conflict-affected youth and psychosocial support modules as needed. Soft-skills training will include emotional coping skills, social/interpersonal skills, and life skills training. This sub-component aims to increase youth’s self-confidence, build positive-self-perception, and develop non-cognitive skills that will encourage youth to contribute to the socioeconomic development of their communities. Youth will also learn how to design and implement local community projects and work together on a proposal for a community infrastructure or non-infrastructure sub-project.

Following the successful completion of the training, participants will be eligible to apply to the youth-led community development and/or the micro-entrepreneurship activities.

Sub-Component 1.2: Youth-led Community Development

Youth will submit their proposed sub-project as a group to the Grant Approval Committee for approval. Youth sub-projects may include either a small infrastructure or a non-infrastructure activity that serves an identified community need. Non-infrastructure activities can include the provision of equipment for community or youth-focused infrastructure, organization of events, skill-building seminars, clean-up campaigns, or the development of online platforms, activities or seminars. For infrastructure activities, youth will be able to repair small-scale infrastructure or to rehabilitate public spaces, including but not limited to repair of youth centers, parks, classrooms, youth-friendly spaces in health centers, business and innovation centers, and libraries, and sports and cultural facilities. The selection of activities will be done in a way that is participatory and inclusive of all youth participants and that has demonstrable impacts for other young people or for communities at large.

Sub-Component 1.3: Micro-Entrepreneurship

This sub-component will provide immediate assistance to at least 1,000 conflict-affected youth to set up independent micro-businesses. Overall, the micro-entrepreneurship sub-component will promote and develop micro-entrepreneurship among conflict-affected Iraqi youth in Baghdad, through the establishment of a technical and financial support mechanism for pre and post creation, thus boosting business creation among young people and improving the survival rate of businesses created.

Component 2: Project Management and Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Knowledge Dissemination

A Project Management Unit is responsible for overall coordination and implementation of the project. Key responsibilities will include project coordination, beneficiary outreach, procurement, financial management (FM), safeguards, communication and knowledge management, selection and oversight of two local NGOs and service provider, and monitoring and evaluation. The PMU will comprise a team of dedicated MoYS staff who are seconded to the PMU, as well as small team of consultants. The expenditures financed by this component will primarily include consultant salaries for the PMU, transportation, and office operating costs.

1. Scope of Work and Tasks

The service consists in the provision of pre-creation support to 1000 young beneficiaries and post-creation support to at least 730 young micro-entrepreneurs. For that, the MoYS intends to recruit Two (2) separate service providers (each service provider will be responsible for 500 beneficiaries in the agreed district(s), and for the provision of post-creation support to at least 365 micro-enterprises). The work will be implemented across project targeted areas, namely the districts of Sadr City, Al-Amriya, Zayouna, Al-Doura, 9Nisan and Abu Ghraib in the Governorate of Baghdad. Service providers must indicate the territories in which they wish to intervene. The target youth will be identified among beneficiaries who have passed the training on soft skills, psycho-social support and community-development under subcomponent 1.1. Additional details on criteria of selection of youth and a detailed description of pre and post creation support activities are provided in Annex 1. Supported young micro-entrepreneurs can operate in any sector contributing to the creation of jobs and added value. The creation of social enterprises having a social impact at the community level is also encouraged by the project team.    

The assignment is articulated in the detailed tasks below:

i) Pre-creation support (see Annex 1 for more details)

• Identify the bearers of ideas interested to develop their entrepreneurial activity and support the participation of young women to micro-entrepreneurship activities (50% of beneficiaries will be young women entrepreneurs – target of 250 young women entrepreneurs per service provider). The participation of young people with disabilities to micro-entrepreneurship activities will also be encouraged and supported;
• Submit the list of beneficiaries to the PMU for approval;
• Inform project leaders that they have been selected and clarify the modality of delivery of the pre-creation technical support (time, date, location, content, etc.).
• Support project leaders during the pre-creation phase, according to the methodology and with the tools proposed in the technical proposal submitted by service provider and negotiated with the MoYS;
• Support project leaders during the pre-creation phase in the development of a solid business plan for their entrepreneurial project. Business plans have to specify goods, services and equipment to be purchased with the total amount of start-up grant (USD 1,000). Start-up grants will be released by MoYS;
• Deliver the technical pre-creation support by conducting individual (online or onsite) or group sessions (online) for a period of 1 to 2 months depending on the maturity level of the business activity proposed by the project leader;
• Grant a certificate of completion of pre-creation support to those participants deemed suitable to enter the next stage;
• Produce monthly reports on the identification of young project leaders and pre-creation technical support activities for young project leaders: number, diagnosis of needs, detailed nature of support, as well as any other information deemed relevant and requested by the PMU. Reporting templates will be communicated to service providers by the PMU. Additional information may be requested from the provider at any time by the PMU;
• Receive and assist the PMU missions monitoring achievement of results through: the provision of any information requested by the PMU, and the provision of all information collected from beneficiaries;
• Collect relevant data from the beneficiaries of the pre-creation support under the Project;
• Report any anomaly noted in the deployment of the support;
• Adjust technical support based on results of evaluation forms filled out by youth project leaders (evaluation forms indicate youth project beneficiaries’ level of satisfaction with technical support activities, allowing coaches to make adjustments to technical support as needed) - Evaluations forms will be communicated to service providers by the PMU;
• Produce the necessary supporting documents for payments related to activities carried out;
• Provide the MoYS PMU with project leaders’ documents, including business plan, profile of the candidate and application form; and Participate in the selection process of project leaders for post-creation support by participating in monthly meetings of the GAC, to be held on the premises of the MoYS;
• Ensure each business plan contains a description of proposed business activities, including budget and timeline for implementation;
• Support project leaders in their proposals (projects preparation phase) that will be submitted for GAC selection, in the phase of agreement signature (see Annex 1) and in the implementation phase of the post-creation technical and financial support;
• Make available to the GAC any information deemed relevant to evaluate the candidate application presented (profile of the candidate, application form and business plan);

ii) Post-creation support (see Annex 1 for more details)

• Sign agreements with project leaders which application was approved by the GAC, thus benefitting from post creation support (50% are young women entrepreneurs);
• Provide post-creation support activities to all project leaders / youth entrepreneurs which application received GAC approval;
• Ensure regular reporting, detailing nature of post-creation support actions carried out and their impact on the development of supported companies. Monitoring templates will be made available to the service providers;
• Receive and assist the PMU verification missions of achievement of results by providing any information requested by the PMU, and by also providing the feedback of information collected from beneficiaries;
• Track disbursements and expenditures related to allocated start-up grant;
• Collect the relevant data from beneficiaries of post-creation support under the Project;
• Report any anomaly noted in the deployment of support;
• Adjust technical support based on results of evaluation forms filled out by youth project leaders (evaluation forms indicate youth project beneficiaries’ level of satisfaction with technical support activities, allowing coaches to make adjustments to technical support as needed) - Evaluation forms will be communicated to the service provider by the PMU;
• Produce needed supporting documents for payments related to activities carried out;
• Keep an attendance list for each pre and post creation technical session and send a copy to the PMU; Take pictures of all technical sessions to document and keep a record of the pre and post creation support; Notify the PMU as soon as a participant has missed two or more sessions in the pre and/or post creation support stage; Ensure a high participation rate among youth selected to participate in pre and post creation support;
• Month 1 and Month 2 after agreement signature: After agreement signature (between GAC, service provider and project leader), coaches visit all youth selected to receive matching grants under the Project three times a week for a period of two months;
• From Month 3 onward: Coaches visit all project leaders who started a business once a week starting from the third month since agreement signature. The actual duration of each visit (coaching session) will be 1 hour on site. The follow-up service should support youth in implementing lessons learned and provide practical guidance to address business challenges;
• Coaches must report and summarize the findings and recommendations provided in each visit. Coaches will be responsible for follow-up support services and they will prepare a report on the difficulties encountered by youth micro-enterprises in putting into practice the skills learned during the pre-creation phase. The report must also include recommendations to improve youth businesses.

1. Expected Deliverables, Reporting Requirements and Time Schedule for Deliverables

The implementation period is estimated at 9 months from the signing of the contract. The table below defines the expected deliverables and related time schedule for each service provider.

1. Team Composition & Qualification Requirements for the Key Experts

In order to implement the activities, selected service providers are required to designate the team of experts who will be assigned to the assignment. This team must be multidisciplinary and include specialists who differ in knowledge and experience according to the stages (pre and post-creation) of support, as mentioned in the table.

The team must have an expert in project management, responsible for the coordination and overall monitoring of the execution of the provider's activities under the Project. This expert will act as focal point and main interface with the PMU in charge of the implementation of the project. All experts must have a higher education diploma in the fields entrusted to them.
The service provider will deliver on the pre-creation and post-creation stages, and the CVs of the experts common to the two phases (in project management, entrepreneurship and monitoring and evaluation) may be the same.

Moreover,  eligible Service Providers will have to meet the following qualification criteria to be considered for short listing process:

• The service provider should  provide a track record of working in youth entrepreneurship for  the last four years and it should provide a detailed portfolio of youth entrepreneurship projects implemented in the last four years detailing the nature of activities implemented and the profile of beneficiaries.

• The service provider should have a track record of supporting vulnerable youth for at least four years: unemployed young men and women, youth working in the informal sector, youth with IDP status, youth from poor households, youth who dropped out of school, and youth with basic literacy level.

• It should show a good standing financial record for the last two years and it should have a good standing in its area of operation.

• It should show the availability of staff with qualifications and experience as described in the table above.

1. Performance Criteria

Upon the successful completion of the pre-creation support for the first 100 beneficiaries, the performance will be evaluated based on the following criteria: (i) process (how was the pre-creation support conducted, logistical arrangements) as well as (ii) the outcome of the pre-creation support (at least 80% of aspiring youth entrepreneurs are satisfied with pre-creation support/ coaching provided).

In case the performance of the service provider is unsatisfactory, the contract with the concerned service provider will be terminated and the MoYS will envisage the distribution of the remaining load of 400 participants to the other satisfactory performing service provider.

1. Schedule of Payments

The work period is estimated at 9 months from the signing of the contract. The service provider will be paid after the submission of the invoices and subject to receiving the deliverables within an acceptable time. The payment plan is as follows:

Annex 1 : Detailed Description of Micro-Entrepreneurship Activities

Under Project sub-component 1.3, the following activities will be implemented, which correspond to the main stages of entrepreneurship:

Step 1: Provision of technical support at the pre-creation stage, including targeted awareness-raising activities and individual support for ideas bearers for the creation of viable economic activities;

Step 2: Provision of technical and financial support at the post-creation stage, for project leaders who have effectively created an economic activity in order to ensure its viability.

Step 1 : Pre-creation support stage

Table 1 : Conditions to access pre-creation support stage, modalities, and results

This step will mainly consist in supporting young eligible project leaders in the preparation of their entrepreneurial project, to improve the level of preparation of their project and increase the chances of success of their activity.

During this stage, service providers will select young project leaders, meeting the requirements formulated in table 1 above. Awareness-raising activities, supported by the service providers, will be fundamental to inform about the micro-entrepreneurship activities.

Successful applicants will be required to sign a commitment to participate and attend the micro-entrepreneurship activities.

The service providers will provide candidates with adequate support for the preparation of their project, over a period of 1 to 2 months, based on a needs assessment interview. This support consists essentially in supporting the bearers of ideas in the preparation of their business project, including the preliminary market study, the preparation of the business plan and short introductory courses in business management. Concepts covered are: accounting and taxation (i.e. how to calculate costs, how to know its tax regime, the deadlines and calculate its taxes), pricing, management and negotiations with suppliers, inventory management, how to apply for credit from financial institutions, how to prepare a business plan, and how to register a business. Providers will have to propose a methodology and tools to support young project leaders during this stage. These elements must be detailed in the technical proposal.

Screening and Evaluation Step

Screening: The PMU will review all business plans including budget before recommending them to the GAC. The PMU reviews the consistency with the goals of the project, compliance with legislation, ownership of assets, feasibility, sustainability, and compliance with all grant facility requirements. The screening process by the PMU also verifies the quantitative information and budget, with a focus on cost effectiveness and cost competitiveness including (as appropriate): (i) the unit cost for goods, works and services, (ii) the validity of cost estimates and documentation, and (iii) the number of vulnerable persons benefiting from the project directly/indirectly.

In addition, applications are screened by the PMU regarding safeguards implications. Only initiatives that can be classified as Environmental Impact Category C will be approved. All project proposals, safeguards related documents, and relevant communication is uploaded to Box (cloud-storage). For each batch of applications, the review process is streamlined in an Excel spreadsheet. During the review process, all decisions and recommendations are tracked in the spreadsheet to avoid losing critical decisions and information in emails.

The GAC reviews, evaluates, and judge the eligibility for post-creation support, and recommend an outcome (evaluation step):

• Validate the project;
• Refer to pre-creation (for candidates who need pre-creation support) or Extend the pre-creation support period to better prepare the project;
• Discard the entrepreneurial project if it does not meet the criteria defined below. 

GAC assessments will be conducted ‘blind’ – in other words without exposing the name of the young entrepreneur. Selection will be made on a competitive basis in which criteria will be:

• Technical feasibility of business idea[1]
• Cost-effectiveness
• Ability of beneficiary to provide matching contributions (in kind or financial): 25 percent of the grant amount
• Potential for engaging other youth and adults
• Safeguards compliance
• Gender balance

Each member of the GAC evaluates the proposals independently from the other members. Those applications which meet all criteria will receive technical and financial post-creation support. The GAC prepares a decision note with the minutes of the meeting. The decision note provides the ranking of proposals and the requirements for successful post-creation support negotiation. The GAC sends the decision note, minutes of the meeting, and list of the approved proposals (in each round) to the MoYS PMU. Then, the MoYS PMU will share with the World Bank task team the same documents: decision note, minutes of the meeting, and list of the approved proposals. Within one week, the MoYS also announces the outcome of the funding round and makes this information widely available.

Step 2: Post-creation support stage

This step consists in providing technical and financial support to young entrepreneurs to improve the chances of success of their project and increase the survival rate.

Access to post-creation support services and financial support is subject to:

• For all beneficiaries, access to financial assistance is conditioned by their commitment to be part of the technical support process in the post-creation phase.

(i) Technical support – Post-creation

Table 2 : Conditions to access post-creation support stage, duration and results

During this second stage, the BDS providers will accompany selected young entrepreneurs following the effective start of their activity in order to improve the survival chances of the enterprise.

Technical support will be provided through coaching including practical training and individual and group support, including in the field (place of business). Technical support will be adapted to the needs of the young entrepreneur, and agreed between the service provider and the beneficiary, building on an initial assessment. It will cover the management skills essential to the adequate implementation of the entrepreneurial project, namely financial management, cash management, marketing, canvassing of business opportunities, marketing and support in carrying out administrative formalities/procedures. The support will also include the mobilization, on a more ad hoc basis, of sectoral or professional expertise appropriate to the beneficiary depending on the nature and sector of the project, offering technical advice, or mentoring and experience sharing from experienced entrepreneurs in the specific sector of the enterprise. The service provider may also offer group support modules for peer-to-peer experience sharing and networking.

The methods for assessing the skills building needs of young entrepreneurs and the support tools put in place may vary depending on the knowledge and expertise mobilized by each service provider. Providers will have to propose a methodology and tools to support young entrepreneurs during this stage. These elements must be detailed in the technical proposal.

(ii) Post-creation financial support

Table 3: Conditions, duration and results of the post-creation financial support

In addition to technical support, beneficiaries will receive start-up Grant, capped at 1,000USD per micro-enterprise created.

A schedule for the disbursement of financial assistance will be included in the agreement signed between the beneficiary, the service provider and the GAC.

Once the granting of financial assistance is recorded and post-creation support begins, ad hoc checks will be issued to youth project leaders participating in the post-creation phase. Micro-entrepreneurship grants will be disbursed in two tranches of each 50% of the micro-entrepreneurship grant value. The transfers will be made by the PMU Financial Officer. The service provider is required to regularly follow up with young entrepreneurs to ensure that the allocated funds have been used to finance the established business. A control and verification procedure will also be put in place.

Results

The micro-entrepreneurship sub-component aims to create at least 730 enterprises (365 enterprises per each service provider)  in the project targeted areas in the Governorate of Baghdad, and achieve the following results:

Table 4 : Micro-entrepreneurship sub-component results

Annex 2: Project Target Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries of this project will be 1,000 marginalized youth (aged 15-29), who are unemployed or underemployed and living in conflict-affected communities in Baghdad in the following targeted districts: Sadr City, Al-Amriya, Zayouna, Al-Doura, 9Nisan and Abu Ghraib. Of these, at least 50% are expected to be young women. MoYS will focus on unemployed young people who have dropped out of school or are working in the informal sector. Priority will be given to youth who meet multiple vulnerability criteria, as defined in the table below:

Beneficiary Eligibility Criteria

 [1] i.e. Business idea can be implemented with the proposed resources

CONTACT INFORMATION
Organization/Department: Ministry of Youth and Sports
NameAseel Falih
AddressMinistry of Youth and Sports building/Palestine Street, Baghdad, Iraq
City 
Province/StateIraq
Postal Code 
CountryIraq
Phone07701743792
Emailmoys.wbteam@gmail.com
Websitehttps://www.moys.gov.iq