Consultancy: Assess capacity of law enforcement agencies related to child labour

RATIONALE FOR PROPOSED ACTIVITY

Legislation alone cannot eradicate child labour. However, it is equally impossible to tackle child labour without adequate legislation. A solid legislative framework contributes to efforts against child labour; it translates the aims and principles of international standards into national law; offers a clear definition of child labour to be abolished; sets the principles; objectives and priorities for national action to combat child labour; and especially its worst forms; establishes the machinery for carrying out that action; sets forth specific rights and responsibilities; provides sanctions for violators; provides legal redress for victims; articulates and formalizes the State’s duty to protect its children; creates a common understanding among all the actors involved; provides a yardstick for gathering statistics and evaluating performance; and provides a basis and procedure for complaints and investigations. However, legislation may be relatively meaningless if it is not enforced[3].

Primarily, the responsibility of elimination of child labour lies with Government i.e., Provincial Departments of Labour and Human Resource Development, Provincial Police and their training institutes, Anti-trafficking units, District Vigilance Committees. However, many organizations are organically involved in this subject for their roles related to provision of justice, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration. These among others include Child Protection Units, National Commission for the Rights of Child (NCRC), Federal Ombudsman and Commissioners, judiciary and international organizations. Amongst numerous factors responsible for child labour is the low capacity of law enforcement officials to understand and address the phenomenon of child labour, whereas they need to play a pivotal role in strengthening the justice system of any country. Law enforcement agencies are at the frontline of the criminal justice system. They are often called upon to intervene when an act of any kind of violence is in progress or shortly after it has occurred. They work with survivors, offenders, witnesses, and service providers and deal with various forms of evidence. Their attitude, role, and response have a huge impact towards the resolution of the cases which will in turn contribute to the protection of women and girls and further prevention of violent acts.

Law enforcement agencies provide different forms of protection to children, who experience violence/abuse/injustice at workplace through their response and protection mechanisms. Specialized, dedicated, trained and child responsive teams representing law enforcement agencies are necessary to play their role in criminal justice system. It is possible to enhance the attitude and practices of law enforcement agencies by building their capacities and understanding around elimination of child labour, its impacts, remedies, and response mechanisms, which will ultimately ensure greater access to services such as shelters, counselling and legal assistance, improved presentation of evidence at trial and application of effective measures to protect victims and witness.

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

With this context, the ILO’s ARC Project has planned capacity building of relevant law enforcement agencies responsible for elimination of child labour. In order to make the capacity building initiative responsive and meaningful to combat child labour in Pakistan, it is imperative to begin with assessment of primary capacities, including but not limited to:

• legal and policy capacity: an enabling and coherent legal and policy framework is needed. They can only implement if there is a clear law to enforce
• Systemic capacity: even if the law is clear, if the task is not mentioned in their mandates/job descriptions, then they cannot enforce laws
• Knowledge and skills: certain level of relevant knowledge and set of skills are essential for effective law enforcement
• Information capacity: timely and relevant information is important to act
• Motivational and attitudinal capacity: There should be a way to recognize and reward the efforts, work and achievements to motivate relevant officials
• Financial and physical resource capacity: Adequate budget and physical infrastructure are essential for service delivery

There are other secondary capacities as well that contribute to proper law enforcement. The current Terms of Reference therefore seek the technical services to:

OBJECTIVES

• The capacity gaps identified, feeding into design and execution of program, which are aligned with and effectively respond to the identified needs/gaps

SCOPE OF THE PROPOSAL AND REPORTING LINES

The ILO is seeking services of individual consultant to assess the capacity of law enforcement agencies related to child labour in Pakistan. The consultant will be fully responsible for adequate and timely implementation of the proposed assignment including desk review, mapping and coordinating with relevant organizations, primary data collection, data processing, analysis and report writing. The implementation strategy should consider making the best use of existing knowledge and materials. The implementation strategy will be finalized in close consultation with the ARC-National Project Coordinator for Pakistan, with technical backstopping of Chief Technical Advisor and relevant ILO Specialists (as appropriate).

WORK DAYS

Kindly mention total workdays, required to complete the assignment.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND MAJOR ACTIVITIES

The consultant will undertake the following activities:

• Develop and share with ILO-ARC Pakistan detailed work plan and implementation methodology for approval
• Undertake desk research and analyse all the necessary documents to fully understand the ground situation
• Consult/interview the most relevant senior managers at the front line law enforcement positions in Government Agencies including provincial Labour and Human Resource Departments, Provincial Labour Inspectors, Provincial and Regional Police Departments and their respective training institutes e.g., national and provincial police academies and National Bureau of Police, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and provincial anti-trafficking Unit, Labour Courts, District Vigilance Committees, Child Protection Units (CPU); Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) among others, to understand the roles and responsibilities of key players and institutions and identify capacity issues, impeding the delivery of effective services related to CL
• Produce and share for review and approval a well-written and comprehensive Capacity Assessment Report based on the interviews, meetings, desk review, and gap analysis related to above mentioned capacity areas;
• Manage all programme and administrative arrangements including coordination, confirmations, travel, boarding and lodging among others. Costs incurred for travel and lodging boarding will be reimbursed on actual basis in line with ILO Rules and Regulations. The maximum costs related to travel and lodging/boarding should not be exceed than PKR 350,000/- on actual basis.

DELIVERABLES/EXPECTED OUTPUTS

• Work plan including proposed implementation methodology
• Draft Capacity Assessment Report
• Final Report

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

The successful applicant should have the following minimum qualifications and skills:

• PhD, Master’s degree in the relevant subject i.e., Development Studies, Labour laws, Economics, Sociology, Human Rights etc
• Demonstrated understanding/familiarity with human rights. The knowledge and experience on child rights, child labour and among others will be added advantage
• At least three years of work experience in the relevant area/subject including labour issues, human rights, child rights, child labour etc
• Demonstrated capacity to mobilize and meaningfully engage/work with relevant target groups i.e., provincial and local government bodies
• Proven track record of undertaking similar successful assignments
• A demonstrated good track record in serving international development organizations in Pakistan is an advantage
• Ability to guarantee the timely delivery of quality products and services
• Willingness to accommodate the ILO’s inputs to deliverables
• Fluency in Urdu and English

SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

The interested candidates need to carefully read the TORs and submit the following:

• Expression of interest
• Updated and brief profile/CV reflecting relevant qualification and experience
• Budget (in Pak Rupees)- detailing number of work days for the assignment, professional/ fee per day and other variable expenses (budget format is attached as annex-2)

Kindly share your EOI to islamabad@ilo.org cc to malik@ilo.org. Kindly mention RFQ/ILO-ARC/04/2021 “Assessing the capacity of law enforcing agencies related to child labour” in the subject of email/submission.

Deadline for submission: on or before December 28, 2021 by 17:00 hours Pakistan times

Clarifications related to TORs/RFQ: Should the applicant need any clarification, please send email to msultana@ilo.org by December 15, 2021. No calls will be accepted.

APPRAISAL OF PROPOSALS, SELECTION AND AWARD OF CONTRACT

The selection will be based on following criteria:

• Technical capacity, relevant demonstrated experience, indicating sound capacity of working on similar assignment, previous work experience with international organizations/UN agencies
• The budget is cost effective and represents value for money, justified and aligned with proposed assignment
• The project will select an appropriate consultant best meeting the desired competencies and experience to carry out the assignment.