Established in 1951, The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a Related Organization of the United Nations, and as the leading UN agency in the field of migration, works closely with governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

1. BACKGROUND

Over two years after the adoption of the UN Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), the global COVID-19 crisis and border restrictions continue to have adverse impacts on human mobility with migrant workers and their remittance-dependent communities being some of the most vulnerable groups. Understanding the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on migrant workers and their families is crucial for identifying emerging gaps in migration governance and international cooperation adhering to the GCM as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.

The number of Vietnamese workers going abroad for work has been increasing steadily year on year from 2016 to 2019. Covid-19 pandemic, and border closures have negatively impacted this trend. The number of Vietnamese migrant workers in 2020 decreased to 78,000(*) compared to 152 thousand deployed abroad in 2019. With new and ongoing challenges for Vietnamese migrant workers brought about by the pandemic, there is a need to strengthen the evidence base on the impacts of COVID-19 over time to inform current, future, and post-crisis responses.

In line with IOM’s Strategic Response and Recovery Plan (SRRP) 2021 and as part of IOM’s regional COVID-19 response under Corporate Responsibility in Eliminating Slavery and Trafficking Project in Asia (CREST) programme, IOM Viet Nam aims to carry out a socio-economic impact assessment to understand, among other issues, gender-specific vulnerabilities, significance of debt, recruitment and employment challenges, access to social protection and health services, access to information, access to grievance mechanisms and remedy.  

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH

The objective of this research is to strengthen the evidence base on the impact of COVID-19 on returned international migrant workers in Viet Nam to inform policy makers and businesses in adopting necessary measures to build back better, address the needs and challenges that the migrant workers are faced with, and further strengthen the protections of international migrant workers. 

3. SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

IOM is seeking proposals from a service provider (a qualified team of research consultants with a research lead) to conduct the COVID-19 impact assessment on returned international migrant workers and their families in Viet Nam and produce a migrant-centred, gender-sensitive analytical report with policy recommendations.

The research questions include but not limited to the following:

(1) Who are returned international migrant workers (both contracted and undocumented) in Viet Nam? What is their migration motivation, plans and decision factors?
(2) What are the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on returned international migrant workers in Viet Nam? 
(3) What are the determinants of the vulnerabilities of returned international migrant workers of different genders?  What are the differences in these determinants among the two groups of contracted and undocumented migrant workers?
(4) What are available assistance and support the returned international migrant workers impacted by COVID-19 could access, including various aspects such as livelihood, reintegration, social protection including Covid-19 vaccination and tests? Their level of access and service evaluation during crisis situations? 
(5) What policy level and programme level interventions are needed to respond to these socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on returned international migrant workers? (In the short, medium and long term?) 

The final analytical report should be 40 pages maximum, exclusive of annexes, produced in English and Vietnamese. The report should include executive summary (highlighting key results and policy implications), introduction, clear outline of methodology applied, findings, recommendations and conclusions, annotated bibliography and annexes (if any). It should include the following thematic sections:

(1) Demographic and socio-economic profiles of returned international migrant workers in Viet Nam;

(2) Analysis of impacts of COVID-19 on migrant workers employed in various sectors, including recruitment experience, employment and contract extension and termination, access to repatriation and reintegration support upon return, including access to support package and Covid-19 vaccinations;

(3) The vulnerabilities, gender-specific, challenges and needs of returned international migrant workers, identified in the context of Covid-19 pandemic;

(4) Policy and programme recommendations for relevant public and private sector stakeholders to strengthen response, recovery efforts to better protect international migrant workers.

(5) Service provider should also develop 4-5 page research brief, summarizing key findings, conclusions, and policy recommendations.

4. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

The Consultant Firm/Service Provider will propose a research methodology, which will be further updated in discussion with IOM after the selection process is completed. In general, it is expected that the applicant proposes an integrated approach with a combination of data collection and analysis tools to capture both the quantitative and qualitative aspects and generate evidence to substantiate all findings.

It is expected that the proposed methodology includes, but not limited to the following elements:

Data collection

1) Literature review/mapping of available Covid-19 impact assessment research and data in Viet Nam, specific to migrant workers;

2) In‐depth interviews with key informants (Key Informant Interview (KII)) such as government authorities, recruitment agencies, civil society organizations (CSOs) and migrant leaders;

3) Focus group discussions (FGD) with returned migrant workers and members of their families;

6) Return migrant workers survey with sample and sampling frame—when proposing this, please include the estimated sample size and its rationale, characteristics; sample selection criteria; recommended process for selecting the sample; and the extent to which the sample is representative of the target population of returned migrant workers.

*For instance, targeting the top three to five provinces of origin for international migrant workers, the recommended sample size will be between 1,500-2,000 return migrant workers.

Data analysis

Suggested analysis method (both quantitative and qualitative) and tools that the Service Provider proposes to use. Include expected limitations of the proposed method.

The research should ensure that gender and disability considerations are mainstreamed into research design and implementation.

The results of this impact assessment will further contribute to a regional comparative report leading to tailored recommendations for all relevant stakeholder groups, including policymakers and business, in rebuilding safe and fair labour migration processes.

5. DURATION & TIMELINE

The selected service provider will be responsible for planning and conducting necessary research as well as drafting the report, policy recommendations and research brief. Close consultation with IOM at every step is required. The development and implementation of the impact assessment is expected to commence in January 2022 and successfully complete all the tasks by the end of July 2022 with proposed following timeline:

6. DELIVERABLES & PAYMENT

Payment to the selected service provider will be tied to deliverables submitted to and approved by IOM as follows:

MANAGEMENT, REPORTING, AND IOM SUPPORT

• The selected service provider will be under over supervision by IOM CREST Project Manager while working closely and report directly to IOM Labour Migration National Programme Officer

Performance indicators for evaluation results

• Satisfactory completion of tasks specified in the ToR based on supervisors’ performance evaluation
• Planning, organization, and timeliness for managing and delivering outputs
• Quality of research instruments and strategies developed, data and information collected and analyzed, and report and brief produced
• Satisfactory organization of consultation and validation meetings
   

7. REQUIRED QUALIFICATION and EXPERIENCE

Qualifications of the service provider

The service provider is expected to have the following qualifications:

• Demonstrated organizational experience in carrying out similar research, with at least three research studies on labour migration or human trafficking or Covid-19 socio-economic impact within an ASEAN country; additional relevant studies will be considered an asset; experience doing studies in Vietnam will be a strong advantage;
• Presence in Viet Nam or established partnership with local consultant/firms for field data collection;
• Demonstrated capacity to secure necessary administrative permissions and reach out to respondents for the field-based data collection; experience in organising consultations with government agencies in Viet Nam including the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and key stakeholders will be considered an asset; A team leader with at least 5 years of research experience; experience conducting nationwide study and/or surveys in rural and provincial areas in the region is strong advantage.
• A research team with at least 1 lead researcher/specialist with relevant expertise (labour migration, human trafficking, development, human rights, gender); additional specialists with relevant expertise, including survey implementation and data analysis will be considered an asset
• Proficiency in Vietnamese of one or more research team members is an advantage as some data and information may not be available in English.

Qualifications of the research lead

• Post-graduate/university degree, preferably in social sciences, with a specialization in (migration, international population studies, statistics) or equivalent training
• Experience in research design and data analysis;
• Proven experience in conducting research on migration, business and human rights topics;
• Thorough understanding of issues pertaining to international migration, human trafficking, forced labour and labour rights, reintegration. In particular, the candidate should demonstrate good knowledge of the international ethical recruitment standards and international migration context of Viet Nam;
• Familiarity with the subject matter regarding international migrant workers in various sectors in Viet Nam and issues they face especially during COVID-19;
• A good command of data collection and interviewing techniques;
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to produce outputs as per agreed deadlines;
• Strong analytical, oral and written communication skills, and report writing skills in English.
   

8. METHOD OF APPLICATION

Interested service provider shall submit the proposal to IOM Viet Nam at email:  HUONGNGUYEN@iom.int with title reference: “COVID-19 Viet Nam Impact Assessment” no later than 09 January 2022. The proposal shall include:

• A cover letter (one page maximum), specifying clearly the qualifications and suitability.
• Detailed curriculum vitae of research team with information on previous assessment and/or research work;
• Samples of or link to copies of previous assessment and/or research reports;
• Technical proposal for the impact assessment.
• Financial proposal

If the file size exceeded 5MB, please upload electronic versions of the documents to an open file exchange service (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.) and send an email before the afore-mentioned deadline with a link to the relevant documents. Applications received after the submission date or that do not specify the name of the call will not be considered.

The Technical proposal (ten pages maximum) shall follow IOM template and include:

• A description of the approach, methodology, software used for data collection and analysis, detailed proposed workplan. The work plan could consider ongoing COVID-19 mobility restrictions for feasible data collection methods, but it should be consistent with the timeline stated above.
• An organizational profile which provides information about the background and mission of the organization and a list of the pertinent research studies it has successfully completed (including the organization contracting the research)
• A copy of the registration certificate for the organization and CVs of the research team leader and key personnel

The Financial proposal shall cover all costs needed to conduct this assessment, including:

• A detailed breakdown of costs per activity
• Personnel costs
• Any other costs relating to the implementation of the tasks outlined under this TOR,  such as interpretation (if ethnic minorities interviewed), venue rental, and transportation (if any), allowance for interviewees (if applicable); translation of the deliverables.
• IOM will bear the cost of the copy-editing and design of the report separately.  

SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TAX OR VAT IF APPLICABLE
 

9. OTHER NOTES

Copyright

The ownership of intellectual products developed under this project will be shared with the government entities partaking in its creation, as well as IOM’s regional office. Government agencies and the cooperating agency must be warranted visibility and recognition, through the use of their logos in every document and any other material that might be a result of these intellectual production.

Data Protection

IOM shall be the owner of data collected under the project. The service provider must adhere to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Data Protection Principles and maintain confidentiality.

Other

The service provider will be responsible to follow IOM writing guidelines and latest glossaries in all given assignments for accurate translation (will be provide by IOM upon signing of the service agreement).

The service provider shall agree to sign IOM’s Standard Agreement for Services Provision

Any attempt for persuasion will be considered as a disqualification
ONLY SHORT-LISTED SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL BE ASSESSED

(*) Party e-magazine on a workshop on "Securing the rights of Vietnamese migrant workers", organized by The Government's Permanent Office for Human Rights, https://dangcongsan.vn/xa-hoi/nam-2021-du-kien-co-90000-nguoi-lao-dong-di-lam-viec-o-nuoc-ngoai-572931.html , accessed in November 3021.

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