Consultant for the Assessment of the National Employment Policy Implementation in Cambodia for International Labour Organisation

Scope of the assessment

The following areas are recommended to be part of the assessment:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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:
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.