PROGRAMME BACKGROUND

BRIDGES is a job creation programme funded by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented by First Consult PLC. It envisages supporting the creation of close to 600,000 jobs for the youth (80% women) and 15,000 MSMEs, with 300,000 unemployed youth trained through supporting IP job creation initiative and market linkage between IPs and MSMEs.

The BRIDGES Programme will address two fundamental, immediate and complementary challenges to unlock the potential for job creation within IPs and their surrounding ecosystem. (1) Making the industrial workforce markets work (2) Making the IP business linkages (MSME) markets work to enhance domestic manufacturing value-added (MVA) for every given dollar of export. This will be done by substituting the currently-heavy import-dependent operations – itself a constraint on the factories - via local suppliers (MSMEs) in a number of ways.

Labour market: BRIDGES will scale-up proven and successful worker recruitment and retention interventions to additional industrial parks (to be selected in consultation with GoE and other development partners) increasing the total number of IPs that BRIDGES works with to ten. The worker recruitment intervention helps provide platform for factories and workers to create smoother linkage which will help address the quantitative and information mismatch problems in workers recruitment. Once in employment, factories will be supported to provide soft skills training as a key element of induction and managing job expectations. The training modules will use a standardized soft skills curriculum aimed at addressing the “Soft” elements of the transition that stems from workers moving from a village-based, family/community-based and agrarian life to an alien environment in the industrial, individualistic living of an urban setting.

MSMEs market: BRIDGES will work with MSMEs to enable them tap into major market opportunities around 10 major IPs and Anchor Enterprises outside IPs. The work will involve a major information, coordination, capacity development and access to finance initiatives to be undertaken in partnership with key IP, AE and MSME stakeholders at various levels including Demand (IP markets), Supply (MSMEs), Linkage (information, transaction and payment platforms) and Ecosystem (macro and other meso level actors).

The key departure from prior MSME development efforts will be to leverage the demand side to be more than just a passive or reactive customer at the end of the process and to facilitate the linkage at the beginning in a demand-driven way. BRIDGES’ facilitation will enable to bring the AEs, MSMEs and necessary public and private stakeholders together and de-risking the initial rounds of technical assistance and business linkage transactions. In order to ensure the marketability of the various types of BDS delivery as well as outreach, BRIDGES is proposing to create a win-win Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Access to finance: The Access to Finance BRIDGE targets both direct workers within industrial parks as well as Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by facilitating initiatives through MSME finance programmes, credit guarantee, leasing, supply chain financing, de-risking credit losses, fintech solutions and others.

A2F mainly focuses in bridging the supply and demand side gaps by facilitating linkages, bringing innovative means, building the capacities of both the demand and supply sides and working in policy and rule changes to narrow the financing gap. A2F envisions to increased access to finance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the improved capacity of financial institutions meeting the needs of the MSMEs market in outreach, products and innovative solutions, resulting in an increased access to finance and creation of dignified and fulfilling jobs for Ethiopian youth.

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

As it has been reflected in the country’s Home-Grown Economic Reform (HGER) and 10-Year Development Plan (2021 -2030), the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has been designing and implementing integrated national policies and strategies that encourage investment, export, job creation in agriculture, and manufacturing industry sector. These policies and strategies have brought significant changes in the lives of the Ethiopian people and built a progressive image of the country as a whole. However, driven by a high rate of population growth, the current status of Ethiopian handloom industries with the existence of untapped resources, and enabling socio-political context of the nation, it is deemed necessary to design and implement a national handloom strategy aimed at making Ethiopia one of the leading producers of handmade woven fabric and supplier to the niche high-end market.

Ethiopia has a rich heritage of handloom weaving, with the ancient craft nurtured through generations of weaving traditions and underpinned by the availability of cotton yarn. Apart from weaving cotton yarn, usage of other natural fibres such as silk and wool separately or mixed with cotton is currently also done by a small number of weaving enterprises. Handloom weaving remains one of the most important non-agricultural forms of income for Ethiopians with livelihoods dependent on weaving estimated to be between 200,000 and 600,000 households, which include SMEs and micro-enterprises operating with one or two looms. Despite this fact, over the years, handloom usage has declined owing to the following main reasons (1) Preference for modern attire and fashion trends (2) Cheap imports from China of poly/acrylic fabric, imitating hand-loomed materials (3) Lack of support to weavers in upgrading their skills (4) Upgrading of loom and accessories not undertaken (5) Dwindling income for weavers and draw of alternative urban and industrial jobs (6) Absence of policy framework and support mechanism for the sector. In addition, there is no credible data on the number of looms and weavers engaged in the sector with widely differing estimates.

The Ministry of Industry (MoI) is mandated with promoting the textile and handloom industry overall. However, as handloom weaving is mostly carried out by Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and given its link to handicraft, a number of other government agencies or sub-agencies of MoI including Federal Small & Medium Manufacturing Industry Promotion Authority (FSMIPA) and Ethiopian Industry Input Development Enterprise (EIIDE) as well as Ministry of Culture and Sport (MoCS) have some responsibility in promoting the sector. Even though Ethiopia has these indigenous cultural resources and traditional industry to potentially serve high-end European and American fashion markets. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive handloom strategy or handloom promotion program by the Government of Ethiopia yet.

SCOPE OF THE SERVICE

The scope should mainly focus on the export-oriented handloom products manufacturers and directing ways to improve export performance by reducing strategic and operational constraints across the upstream and downstream supply chain. It also should focus on increasing productivity, investment, job creation as well as ensuring the welfare of weavers.

Expected Deliverables

A consultancy firm will provide technical assistance to Ministry of Industry (MoI), in the designing of its handloom strategy and development of the implementation framework that governs all internal and external stockholders’ activities. In this regard, the consultant provides support to the Ministry of Industry (MoI) in assessing the key challenges of the sector linked with the existing industry policy and regulations and key bottlenecks to the development and competitiveness of the sector. The service provider shall aim to provide a well-designed, clear, and practicable national handloom strategy document with specific objectives and resource requirements for the 5 years implementation program that will help to penetrate the dynamic market demand in the international market and increase the standard of living of whole stakeholder across the value chain. The strategy document shall be compatible with the Home-Grown Economic Reform (HGER) and use of indigenous local knowledge aiming preservation of cultural heritage. And also needs to clearly identify whole stakeholders across the supply chain or business environment of this indigenous sector, incentive packages with eligibility criteria, legal issues including gender equity, and intellectual property right in the sector. In the strategy development process, the consultant shall consider internal (government structure), external (local/international market and beneficiaries), and work system of the handloom sector.

Following the development of strategy and 5-years medium-term operational plan, strategy enforcement methods, monitoring, and follow-up mechanisms need to be clearly stipulated based on local experience and international best practices. Furthermore, strategic government intervention and inter and intra-sectoral linkage with stakeholders aiming to increase investment, job creation, productivity and thereby enhance For-Ex generation and welfare of handloom weavers.

Role of MoI

In order to deliver the service within the above scops, the Ministry of Industry (MoI) will provide overall administrative support and advice on technical and all organizational matters related to the Handloom sector. In addition, MoI will form a technical team/committee that regularly reviews the strategy document throughout the development process and secure and mobilize resources for the implementation of the handloom strategy. This team may consist ministers, state ministers of key partner agencies, and other senior officials of the ministries, relevant agencies, industrial development institutes, and regions. It comprises Ministry of Industry (MOI), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Ministry of Labour and Skill (MoLS), representatives of relevant other ministries, and regional government bureaus.

MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF THE SERVICE OF THE CONSULTANT

The selected service provider in cooperation with MoI (Textile Directorate), Manufacturing Industry Development Institute, and BRIDGES Programme shall assist in coordinating and consulting with the relevant stakeholders, potential partners and undertake and/or cooperate on the execution of the following tasks under four phases:

 Phase-I

Inception report - The service provider will provide an inception report within one month of duty assumption, which is a green paper setting out clearly how it is going to address the tasks as stipulated in the TOR, emerging findings and issues for discussion at the national level in view of the assignment.

Phase-II

Conduct a diagnostic study

Conduct pilot survey, focus group meetings, review related document to develop handloom strategy and provide regular feedback to MoI;

Provide evidence on the overall situation of the handloom sector to-date by estimating and analysing the structure, performance, and growth trends and also input and output market orientations of the sector, assessing binding constraints and their root causes across cross-cutting issues linked to the sector using appropriate binding constraint and value-chain analysis methodologies;

Assess current and potential performance of the sector in real economic terms through scientific estimation of For-Ex generation, employment, and tax revenue.

Assess how incentive packages provide to the sector and their implementations across value chain stakeholders and document lessons from international exemplars and synthesize best practices;

Based on all these, but not limited to, draw policy implications addressing constraints and identify growth opportunities in the face of the prevailing domestic and global conditions.

Phase III

Development of handloom strategy document: On the basis of the findings of the diagnostic study, a handloom strategy document is to be developed with the aim of laying out the vision and mission statements, overall objectives, and policy directions that govern how the sector becomes productive and competitive, grows faster in substituting imports, promoting exports and creating job opportunities through assessing the current situation and resource endowment of the countries. Considering the sector related issues on the basis of lessons learned from own and other best-practicing countries’ experiences, in the areas of raw materials, skilled human resources, financing modalities, entrepreneurship, infrastructure service provision (energy, water, transport, and other associated logistic services, customs administration) and other related factors; incentive and governance mechanisms that need to be in place to address possible distortions to date. For each issue that requires policy direction, there is a need to provide justifications, success factors, possible threats, and actions mapped with implementing actors.

 The first draft report is expected to be submitted to the Technical Team and the Ministry of Industry no later than 4 months after the official beginning of the project. The final document and/or presentation including handloom strategy statement and implementation matrix need to within two months of the first draft submission. It should be noted that the final document needs to be submitted both in Amharic and English language.

Phase IV

Development of a 5-Years implementation plan: Upon the approval of the strategy document, providing technical support for the development of a 5-year implementation plan for the regeneration of the traditional industry sector and the associated action plans with measurable objectives, goals, targets, and resource requirements as well as overall monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in terms of converting the various elements of the strategy into action.

 MAJOR TASKS OF THE DIAGNOSTIC STUDY ASSIGNMENT

The selected service provider in collaboration with MoI (Textile Directorate), Manufacturing Industry Development Institute, and BRIDGES Programme shall assist in coordinating and consulting with the relevant stakeholders, potential partners and undertake and/or cooperate on the execution of at least the following major tasks:

Baseline work environment analysis: The consultant is expected to study and analyse the current operational gap of the sector through extensive assessments of the handloom environment. As it is traditional industry sector the consultant needs to review operational documents to answer what strategy and plans were used, how effective were they in bringing expected results, what barriers or weaknesses observed and what lessons could be learned from own experience to date, and other best practicing countries in view of current situation and resource endowment of the country. There is also a need to assess the environmental compatibility in view of the global requirement and in the country’s endeavour to build green economy.

 Barriers to the sector: The handloom sector is overwhelmed by many constraints with various degrees of impact. Thus, there is a need to be as comprehensive and yet as systematic as possible to identify and analyse constraints. In addition, there is also a need to identify binding constraints and root causes of the sector and products, which will be determined by MOI in consultation with the consultants using the competitiveness analysis findings. The binding constraint assessment will be guided by a rapid assessment and detailed value-chain analysis. Issues that are to be embraced in the analysis include, not limited to, opportunities and constraints along the value chain from input sourcing to end-users (availability, adequacy and quality of resources, finance, technology, human resource, regulatory and institutional impediments, and observed and potential threat affecting regeneration of the sector, potential and position of handloom sector in comparison with the best practicing countries, etc.).

 Strategy implementation and incentive package: It is to be noted that adequate resource need to be mobilized for the effective implementation of the strategy and incentive packages needs to be provided for investors and small and medium scale artisans. These incentives may include but are not limited to access to credit, input supply scheme, capacity building and training, tax exemptions and reimbursements, marketing and insurance, and other incentive schemes. The manner in which such incentives were set in view of regenerating traditional industries and stimulating the tourism market in Ethiopia. The service provider needs to assess the set of criteria for eligibility to have actual access to incentives if any (result-based, export-orientation, resource-base, import-substitution, size of employment, or any other visible or non-visible conditions). In addition, all these incentives should aim to increase handloom export, ensure the welfare of waver and create job opportunities and sustain income of youth, women, and household-head women as well as improving non-agricultural sources of income for rural Ethiopia.

 OVERALL APPROACH

Document review: The study needs to review past and present operational documents, overall industry strategy, and planning documents in different textile sub-sector as much as they directly or indirectly influence the performance and growth of the handloom sector. There is also a need to review studies conducted by local and expatriate researchers, institutions as much as they are in line with the focuses of the study.

Use of primary and secondary data sources: These data need to address constraints and to have a fresh look at the subject. The most important data source, however, remains to be primary data to be collected from the different stakeholders as per the data requirement of the issues to be addressed. All government agencies, institutes, stakeholders including input suppliers, and trading communities across the value chain are expected to be the main sources of information in generating evidence and new insights observed on the ground and ways of addressing constraints at their roots. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and physical observations of the premises and facilities of some export-oriented handloom manufacturers (to understand their working condition, achievements, and challenges) could be used to generate primary data. In addition to that, the best practicing countries in the sector can be used particularly for inter-country comparisons. 

Use of appropriate methodologies: The consultant needs to employ globally applicable methodologies for this indigenous sector with adequate justifications of their strengths and weaknesses and how their weaknesses are addressed, for instance, through complementing with other relevant approaches. Quantitative and qualitative findings of the study need to be validated with information collected from stakeholders’ engagement through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and workshop presentations.

Job Requirements

REQUIREMENT

• National or international technical experience in the handloom sector, knowledge of Textile Manufacturing Industry
• Proven capability to undertake handloom sector analysis and develop strategy document with implementation plan

Expertise required

• Textile industry related education (MSc or/and textile engineering)
• 12+ years industry experience in textile sector: in-depth technical knowledge of handloom weaving and industry standards
• 5+ years as consultant for government organizations or NGOs: precise understanding of strategy development,
• 3+ years international experience in the development of strategy in the sector, preferable in developing countries e.g., India & Pakistan.
• Ability to provide the required services will be assessed through submission of: Company profile with relevance to required work and references on previous similar assignments

BUDGET

• The total budget in the financial proposal should be put with a detailed breakdown including applicable government taxes. All costs should be stated in ETB.

How to Apply

Applicants should email their proposal (technical and financial) to bids3@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information detailed in technical and financial section of a proposal. For any queries relating to this assignment please contact Kalkidan Alemseged via kalemseged@firstconsultet.com till December 24, 2021.

NB: The subject of the email should say BRIDGES Program - Development of a National Handloom Sector Strategy. Proposals must be received no later than 5 PM on December 29, 2021.