Project Description:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) aims to deepen its understanding of the Care Economy in order to design concrete solutions together with its Clients to address the issue of care. EBRD clients can be supported to improve their Human Resources practices, inter alia, by looking into options of child care, family care, work and life balance provisions so as to allow women to access programmes, trainings and meetings, or the introduction of paternity leave in order to retain women in the workforce and in turn foster equal care-giving responsibilities.
The Bank now wishes to engage a consultant (the “Consultant”) to undertake a study on the Care Economy by mapping and identifying the barriers to access, and providing an overview of best practices in the private sector to deepen the Bank’s understanding of the care economy, and identify international best practices, particularly by private sector employers, and propose possible interventions related to the care economy that could be integrated into EBRD operations and policy dialogue (the “Assignment”).
This study will identify ways of establishing and funding care solutions in industrial zones, ways in which corporates already implement innovative ways of responding to the needs for care provision, not only for child care, but also for elders, people living with disabilities, as well as efficient and sustainable policies, measures and mechanisms in place.
Assignment Description
The Assignment will focus on:
(i) mapping the legal frameworks of EBRD countries of operation (“CoOs”) related to ‘care’, (countries tentatively selected are Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Mongolia, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey) ;
(ii) identifying barriers in accessing care and best practices worldwide (including in less conventional countries, i.e. the global south and emerging economies) and countries relevant for EBRD region such as Poland and Czech Republic), that are cost-effective and sustainable;
(iii) analysing the role of the private sector and exploring the role of public-private partnership in the care economy, identifying best practices from the private sector to be considered as part of the Equal Opportunities projects of the Bank;
(iv) estimating the economic cost of the care economy (or unpaid work) in selected countries. Three countries (from the list of the countries selected for the legal review) will be selected after the mapping of best practices and the legal frameworks for comparative analysis in order to analyse the economic cost of care. The countries selected will need to have recent time surveys estimating the amount of time dedicated to care work/unpaid work disaggregated by sex.
(v) developing relevant case studies showcasing private-led and/or private-public operated provision of care in relevant areas for EBRD investments; and
(vi) developing key, strategic, cost effective and sustainable recommendations for EBRD investments (effective measures and policies) and policy dialogue relevant to EBRD’s mandate (in particular how to address specific regulatory challenges that create barriers for people with care responsibilities to access the labour market or entrepreneurship).
The Consultant is expected to:
· Produce an analytical, comparative study on the care economy, that will include:
o Comparative review of the prevailing legal frameworks, social norms and customary rules as they relate to the issue of care in the countries of Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Mongolia, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey;
o Literature review of the care economy concept;
o Mapping of worldwide best practices, particularly in relation to private sector practices and corporate policies and selected field research;
o Preparation of 5 case studies on best practices in companies;
o Estimation of the economic cost of the care economy in three selected EBRD CoOs (to be selected after the legal review will be finalised in discussion with EBRD Operation Leader);
o Specific recommendations for EBRD investments with regards sectors relevant to EBRD and where women are underrepresented; Country-level recommendations for policy dialogue in the three selected EBRD CoOs;
· Prepare a guidance note/communication product on best practices and how to address the issue of care access and provision in EBRD’s investments. The Consultant will provide a number of options with the different modalities of care provision relevant to EBRD’s mandate. (Two versions will be prepared: one for an external audience and one for an EBRD internal audience)
· Professionally edit the report in English;
· Prepare the layout, format and design of the document to be professionally printed. The Operation Leader will review and sign off every stage of the layout and design before going to printing;
· Print 1,000 copies of the report, in colour, with pictures and bound (guidelines to be provided by EBRD). The report will need to be of a similar standard to the recent EBRD publication “Enhancing women’s voice, agency and participation in the economy”, published in 2015;
· Present the Study at EBRD headquarters, and in selected Resident Offices (the ones relevant to the country studies); and
· Present the preliminary findings of the Study at the next Multilateral Development Banks Working Group on Gender (“MDBWGG”) joint workshop to be held in Washington DC in June 2016 and hosted by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start by the beginning of April 2016 and has an estimated overall duration of 12 months. No extension to the Assignment is envisaged.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 270,000 (exclusive of VAT).
The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by TaiwanBusiness EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to:
1. legislative frameworks related to labour, work and life balance and the care economy
2. the preparation of research studies based on strong qualitative and quantitative research skills
3. conducting time surveys and preparing methodologies to estimate the economic value of care work and its related value in terms of GDP impact.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
Key Expert No 1 (Team Leader):
· With preferably 10 years of previous professional experience in coordinating research/studies/surveys on gender-related issues, research methodologies and planning;
· With sound experience in managing team of consultants, enhancing complementarities among consultants’ diverse expertise and providing tailored supervision and support to consultants in their individual tasks;
· Experience in carrying out research/studies on EBRD’s CoOs; and
· Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and good report writing skills, assuring quality of the final deliverables in English.
Key Expert No 2 (Senior Gender/Legal Specialist):
· With preferably 5-7 years of previous professional experience in carrying out applied research on issues of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
· Preferably a national of one of the 10 selected countries with good knowledge of the legislative framework related to labour, work and life balance and care economy in at least one of the selected countries;
· Fluency in English and in any of the following languages: Arabic, French, Russian, Turkish.
Key Expert No 3 (Senior Economist):
· With preferably 7-10 years’ experience in conducting time surveys and preparing methodologies to estimate the economic value of care work and its related value in terms of GDP impact.
· With preferably 5 years’ experience carrying out applied research on issues on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
· Preferably a national of one of the 10 selected countries with good knowledge of the legislative framework related to labour, work and life balance and care economy in at least one of the 10 selected countries;
· Fluency in English and in any of the following languages: Arabic, French, Russian, Turkish.
Key Experts No 4 (Pool of three Additional Experts) consisting of experts from the selected countries with preferably 7-10 years’ experience of carrying out applied research on issues of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Good knowledge of the concept and application of care economy in the selected regions. They must be fluent in English and in any of the following languages: Arabic, French, Russian, Turkish.
Non-key experts: a professional editor with experience of proof reading and editing similar studies should also be included and a designer (design company) with experience in similar assignments.
Submission Requirements: in order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages).
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives. Sample of key relevant papers.
3. CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.
4. Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:
http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.
The above information should not exceed 15 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
Please access eSelection via Internet Explorer, as it is incompatible with other browsers.
Bank Contact Person:
Georgia Vasiliadis (Ms)
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7750
Email: VasiliaG@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal.
2. Up to the six highest-ranked firms after evaluation of expressions of interest against selection criteria (a) and (b) will be invited to an interview with the evaluation committee members to discuss their approach to the Assignment. The highest-ranked Consultant following the interviews will be selected from a shortlist and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
3. The selection criteria are as follows:
a) Firm’s relevant project experience – 40%
b) CVs of key experts – 40%
c) Interview – 20%
