Position: Assessment of National Employment Policy Implementation in Cambodia (International Labour Organisation)__Deadline:01-January

The National Employment Policy (NEP) 2015-2025 was adopted by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in 2015. Its development was supported by the ILO, with financial resources from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The goals and objectives of the NEP 2015-2025 of Cambodia, as outlined in the document, are designed to develop the labour market institution and ensure decent and productive employment opportunities for all Cambodian people. The policy is a strategic roadmap aimed at benefiting from the demographic situation of having abundant young and dynamic labour forces and diversifying the economy. It focuses on providing high-quality work experience and proper workplace organization to transform  these individuals into a capable workforce supporting sustainable and inclusive economic development.

The NEP aimed to bring together different sectoral ministries at the national level, and to set out an annual action plan for implementation, monitoring and reporting. The inter-ministerial committee to carry out monitoring and reporting of the Policy was set up and coordinated by its secretariat in the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT). The MLVT has been making efforts to translate the policy into implementation at the provincial level, through awareness raising, capacity building and coordination activities among provincial committees. The action plan for the implementation of NEP in Siem Reap province was endorsed by Siem Reap Provincial Committee for NEP Implementation on 20 May 2022.

As the NEP 2015-2025 will be concluding in 2025, MLVT has initiated the development of the new NEP 2026-2035 in August 2024. To inform the direction and framework of the new NEP 2026-2035, MLVT aims to assess the NEP 2015-2025 implementation at the national and sub-national levels, with a particular focus on Siem Reap province for the sub-national level.

Purpose of NEP Assessment

The assessment seeks to identify key results, lessons learned, good practices, pragmatic institutional arrangements and mechanisms for policy implementation, and practical challenges faced in using the NEP framework to implement concrete and grounded policies and programmes nationwide. It will also review implementation guidelines, monitoring indicators and targets, as well as additional instruments and capacities needed for a new generation of NEP after 2025.

In addition to the assessment of the NEP at the national level, it will assess the implementation of the NEP 2015-2025 in Siem Reap province in order to have a clear picture of how the NEP has been implemented at the provincial level, including the institutional arrangements for its implementation, the coordination with the national level as well as with social partners.
The evaluation aims to generate recommendations for enhancing the design, implementation, and monitoring and reporting mechanisms of the NEP 2026-2035.

The evaluation is proposed to be carried out by a national expert with technical guidance and input from the ILO and MLVT experts and coordination / facilitation support provided by the current NEP Secretariat.

Objective of the consultancy

1. The objective of the consultancy is to conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the NEP 2015- 2025, which aims at identifying key lessons learnt and best practices and generating actionable recommendations to guide the formulation of the new NEP 2026-2035. For more specific information about the assessment’s objective and its areas of focus, refer to the purpose of the assessment and the scope of the assignment.
2. To conduct the assignment, the consultant is required to closely coordinate with ILO experts, relevant MLVT teams and the current NEP Secretariat.

Scope of the assessment

1. Description of the key economic and labour market context in Cambodia during the National Employment Policy (NEP) implementation period, leveraging available data to outline the situation comprehensively, with a particular focus on the high-level impact indicators that are part of the NEP Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework. The assessment extends to include a detailed examination of the economic and labour market context within Siem Reap province during its NEP implementation period. Wherever possible, it utilizes available province-level data to depict the scenario accurately. It incorporates findings from ad-hoc data collection exercises that were undertaken during the COVID-19 restrictions. This period saw significant impacts on various sectors, particularly affecting tourism-related businesses in Siem Reap.
2. Description of how NEP 2015-2025 implementation fitted with the national strategic planning exercise (periodicity, main objectives, existing implementation, monitoring and reporting exercises, coordination across departments), highlighting good practices, lessons learnt and challenges.
3. Description of the relevance and the fit of NEP framework to the national and provincial development strategies and to the Siem Reap provincial strategies, in terms of meeting the priorities, intended labour market outcomes (e.g. number of young TVET graduates that are employed, % increase in income from work), and supporting activities.
4. Description of the process that was undertaken to develop both the national and the provincial level action plans, its implementation, monitoring and reporting. This shall include coordination set up at the national and provincial levels (e.g Siem Reap), as well as coordination with the national line ministries, provincial departments and existing provincial mechanisms such as Provincial Training Board (PTB), and efforts to make the process more inclusive, particularly vis-à-vis the workers’ and the employers’ organizations. Identify the challenges or gaps in coordination mechanisms in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, both at the national and provincial levels.
5. Description of the capacities (strengths and gaps) for the policy implementation, morning and reporting, including human resources, financial resources and its mobilization requirements, as well as overall budgetary availability and constraints. This analysis will be done for both national and provincial levels (Siem Reap). In addition, description of the capacities of the social partners at the national and provincial levels to meaningfully engage in the NEP process, including at the implementation stage.
6. Analysis and description of the tentative achievements or positive changes in the labour market, with reference to the NEP M&E framework, that can be partly attributable to the implementation of the NEP 2015-2025 and its action plans. At the same time, identification of structural challenges that the country has been and will likely be facing in the next three to five years.
7. Based on the assessments, actionable technical and institutional recommendations for making a NEP framework more easily and intuitively implementable at both the national and provincial levels, in terms of indicators, targets, monitoring, coordination and reporting and ensuring its relevance.

The methods of assessment would include:

1. A review of available documents, including strategic documents at the national level, provincial strategic documents and action plans, both at the national and provincial levels.
2. Examination of data at the national level as well as Siem-Reap-specific data, extracted from the national household surveys, e.g. LFS 2019, though the province-level representation may be limited at the disaggregated levels, in which case the data should be used with appropriate caution. Additionally, CSES’s data can be examined, though its extensive use may be limited if the sample size is insufficient. Any other available province-level data and information sources should also be consulted to the extent possible.
3. Key informants’ interviews and focus group discussions in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with key stakeholders, including the secretariat and members of the inter-ministerial committee for NEP and their provincial counterparts, and to the extent possible, relevant development partners, employers’ and workers’ organizations intended beneficiaries of NEP implementation.

Duration of the assignment

The assignment is expected to commence on 13 January 2025 and complete on 4 April 2025. Deliverables and Timelines

Deliverables	Indicative Deadline	# of days
Inception report, final version delivered to DEY Secretariat -       Review relevant NEP documents, including relevant government strategies. -       Collect secondary data relevant to NEP. -       Develop an annotated outline for the NEP assessment report, including a set of clear criteria to be applied. -       Prepare and present the draft inception report including the concept, plan, methodology, assessment questions, interview guidelines, list of interviewees, and work plan. The outline for the inception report shall be consulted in advance with the ILO and MLVT. -       Incorporate feedback from stakeholders to finalize the inception report. -       Submit the final inception report	24-Jan-25	3
Conduct assessment -       Prepare interview schedule, in close coordination with NEP Secretariat and ILO team. -      Conduct consultation meetings, interviews and focus group discussions with NEP Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) and Secretariats and other stakeholders, including development partners, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and intended beneficiaries in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap.	28-Feb-25	10
Draft assessment report Prepare and submit the draft assessment report to the NEP Secretariat and the ILO team.	14-Mar-25	10
Presentation of Findings Present the findings of the assessment to the NEP IMC, NEP Secretariat, ILO team and other stakeholders (TBI), and collect feedback	21-Mar-25	1
Finalize assessment report Finalize the report of the review, incorporating feedback from stakeholders, for adoption by IMC expected to be by the end of April 2025. The report will be based on the standard ILO report format.	4-Apr-25	3
Total		27

 

Required Qualifications and Experience of the Consultant

• Advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in international development, public policy, development economics or similar.
• Relevant experience in the technical evaluation and assessment of employment policies and programmes.
• Extensive consulting experience and expertise in the area of Evaluation with an excellent understanding of evaluation principles and methodologies, including capacity in an array of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as approaches that maintain full technical independence and impartiality.
• Extensive experience in planning, implementing, managing or monitoring and evaluation of development collaboration initiatives.
• Strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e., credible and independent reports that are used for improving strategic decisions.
• In-depth knowledge of human rights, gender equality and equity agendas, and conflict-sensitive programme management.
• Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team. Ability to plan and organise work.
• Good  leadership  and  management  track  record,  as  well  as  excellent  interpersonal  and communication skills.
• Knowledge of the UN system and ILO’s work in Cambodia and in the region.
• Sound  knowledge  and understanding  of  Cambodian  socio-economic  and  political  context, including the government system.
• Sound knowledge and understanding of the employment situation in Cambodia and the region.
• Good knowledge of Cambodian government’s structures
• Strong analytical skills, persuasion skills and strategic thinking.
• Strong communication skills, in writing as well as in communication with various stakeholders.
• Excellent English language skills as well as Khmer.

Interested candidates are kindly requested to send the following documents to the ILO team via e- mail at sou@ilo.org by 1 January 2025:
1.    Letter of interest indicating own ability and availability and daily professional fee;
2.    CV, including the names and contacts of 3 reference persons;
3.    1-2 reports of similar assignments;
4.    Technical proposal (max. 3 pages) outlining the proposed approach to conducting the assignment and the work plan.

Moreinfo: https://jobs.ilo.org/go/All-Jobs

Please mention "www.Cambodiajobs.Biz" where you saw the ad when you apply!