Terms of Reference
International Team for the Project ‘Support to the Analytical Study-Enhancing Productive Capacity of the Poor in the COMCEC Member Countries through Improving Human Capital’
1- Background:
The Ministry of Development of the Republic of Turkey has been serving as the Secretariat of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). COMCEC has been working to enhance trade and economic cooperation among the Member States for 28 years. COMCEC’s Strategy (adopted in 2012) identifies six main areas of cooperation: trade, transport and communications, tourism, agriculture, poverty alleviation, and finance. To realize its objectives in these areas, COMCEC will also introduce new operational instruments, namely working groups and a project cycle management, with an identified financial mechanism in order to ensure effective implementation of the Strategy.
In this connection, COMCEC Coordination Office (the Ministry of Development) requested UNDP Turkey to conduct a study entitled “Enhancing Productive Capacity of the Poor in the COMCEC Member Countries through Improving Human Capital” which will be submitted to the Working Group Meeting on Poverty Alleviation. This study will serve as a resource document within the ‘poverty alleviation’ area covering the 57 OIC member countries, and will be linked to capacity development initiatives and programming support by COMCEC.
Poverty alleviation is a key concern relating to the economic and social development in many of the COMCEC member countries. Although most of the developing countries experienced significant progress on poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs, poverty levels are still high for a considerable number of countries. Particularly countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia account for almost half of the total poor in developing countries. The recent global financial and food crisis have worsened situation, strengthening the need for efficient poverty reduction policies.
This review will focus on key lessons in poverty reduction, particularly from the perspective of improvements in human capital—with a special focus on income generation for poor households, vocational education, social enterprises, and active labour market policies addressing the poor. With respect to the definition of human capital and the broader definition of poverty from a multi-dimensional perspective and welfare, other areas such as health policies that strengthen poor households’ welfare will also be relevant. Similarly, any programme on education sector (formal and informal education) that improves the employability of the poor will also be relevant.
2- Objective and Scope of Work:
The objective of this work is to prepare a comparative analytical study focusing on the experiences of 57 OIC member countries in investing on human capital for strengthened productivity/employability of the poor. This comparative assessment will be used as a reference material during the Working Group Meeting of COMCEC on Poverty Alleviation. As such this study will serve for:
1. Drawing attention to the importance of investments on productive capacity of the poor for poverty alleviation through presenting real experiences of the member countries and sharing lessons learned on this topic.
2. To investigate the latest trends and policies on improving human capital for enhanced productive capacity of the poor, using the data from member countries and global information that could be relevant for the member countries, with recommendations for planning and implementation of such policies in COMCEC countries in general.
In this connection, this support will contribute to the COMCEC Strategy (http://www.comcec.org/UserFiles/File/28.isedak/Tum%20dokumanlar/Strategy/STRATEJI%20RAPORU-finallll%207%20kas%EF%BF%BDm.pdf) that aims at increasing the cooperation of member countries. The Strategy is based on three core principles. These principles are:
- Enhancing Mobility
- Strengthening Solidarity
- Improving Governance
As such, the findings and recommendations of this study will also link with the above principles to the extent possible.
In addition to explicitly linking with the above core principles, the study will also give due consideration to the topics such as inclusive growth, reducing inequalities, sustainable growth and continued prosperity for all, while selecting successful practices and developing recommendations.
3- Methodology and Approach
3.1. Team Composition
For this assignment, UNDP Turkey will recruit external consultants and will also engage Country offices in OIC member countries, Regional Bureaus and Bureau for Development Policy to the extent possible to ensure quality control and coherence. UNDP Turkey will coordinate the conduct of this study, with its mandate for strengthening Turkey’s role in international platforms.
The comparative study will be prepared by the team composed of the experts below, under the overall coordination and supervision of UNDP-Turkey:
· Team leader, who will be responsible for preparing the methodology including the questionnaire, overall coordination of the inputs received, and preparation of the final document. S/he will also present the report at the Working Group Meeting on Poverty Alleviation which will be launched in June 2013.
· Poverty expert (Central Asia and Western Balkans), who will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will have detailed knowledge and experience in these countries, as well as a working knowledge of Russian. S/he will cover the following eight countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
· Poverty expert (Arab states), who will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will have detailed knowledge of and experience with the Arab poverty reduction experience, and a working knowledge of Arabic. S/he will cover the following 22 countries in the Arab Region: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
· Poverty expert (Africa), who will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will have detailed knowledge of the African poverty context, a working language of French, and preferably good command of other African languages. S/he will cover the following 17 countries in the Africa Region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda
· Poverty expert (Asia-Pacific region), who will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will have detailed knowledge of the Asia-Pacific poverty reduction experience, and working knowledge of the languages of the region. S/he will cover the following 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Guyana, and Suriname.
3.2. Approach
The literature suggests that human capital is one of the foremost determinants of welfare, which is the direct determinant of poverty. Hence, a major part of the poverty alleviation strategies include the activities on human capital improvement. Additionally, UNDP’s Human Development Report 2013: ‘The Rise of the South: Human Progress in A Diverse World’ draws attention to the importance of investing in people’s capabilities-through health, education and other public services as an integral part of growth. The report also suggests that rapid expansion of quality jobs is a critical feature of growth that promotes human development. The same report also states that in equal societies, growth has been much more effective at reducing poverty.
In light of the above, the study will aim at developing action oriented policy recommendations for the 57 OIC member countries, through sharing of experiences in poverty alleviation through investment in human capital and capabilities. While doing so, experiences on expanding such services to all segments of the society with a view to also reach out to disadvantaged groups will also be searched for.
As per the requirements of the Ministry of Development, the study will address the following issues:
· Conceptual framework: Poverty alleviation policies/strategies and the importance of human capital improvement policies. What are the latest global trends in poverty alleviation strategies enhancing productive capacity of the poor through human capital improvement in the world? What global poverty issues/concerns do the OIC countries have in common? What approaches in general are adopted to address multi-dimensional poverty and to strengthen human capital by the member countries? Linkages with the global trends in poverty alleviation strategies, like the MDGs progress and the Post-2015 agenda, will be identified. Regional and sub-regional, or other forms of narratives/patterns relating to poverty and development. (max. 10-15 pages)
· Comparative Analysis: A comparative assessment of poverty data across member states. A comparative review of the policies and programmes and successful practices that aim at strengthening the human capital (with the above-mentioned focus areas) for enhanced productive capacity and employability of the poor. Presentation of the good practices and lessons learned, also with regional/sub-regional or development level patterns and experiences that can be observed (where applicable). While this section will mainly consolidate the information presented in the country reports section, it may also present other relevant information that are not present in the Country reports. The arguments in this section will be supported with data to the extent possible.
It is also expected that the best practices and lessons learned that emerge from the country reports will also be presented in box format where possible. These examples will be presented in line with the structure in which the findings will be presented (to be suggested/designed by the Team Leader). The findings can be presented in either regional/sub-regional classifications (Regional classifications will be made on the basis of OIC regional classification, i.e. Arab group, Asian group and African group as listed in the above section), or based on development or income levels of member countries (e.g. low HDI, higher HDI, or MIC, upper MIC etc.) The approach for such structure will be proposed by the Team leader with sufficient justification for policy making. (max. 30 pages)
· Recommendations: Based on the good practices and lessons learned derived from the Comparative Analysis section, recommendations targeting the member states for replication and scaling up of the successful practices, as well as overcoming the challenges faced throughout implementation of such programmes. (max. 10 pages)
The country reports will be annexed to the end of the report.
3.3. Methodological Steps
The study will be prepared as a result of a desk review and online consultations, due to the wide range it covers and the time limitations. The tasks expected from each Consultant are as follows:
Team Leader:[1]
1- Have online briefing sessions with relevant Units of UNDP and Ministry of Development to reach an understanding on all topics relating to the Terms of Reference. These briefing sessions will be organized by UNDP Turkey.
2- S/he will be responsible for overall coordination of the team as well as timely completion of the report as per the time-plan presented in this ToR. As such, s/he will be incorporating the inputs received from the Regional poverty experts into an analytical study with key messages, drawing conclusions and recommendations based on the expertise of the whole team.
3- Preparation of the methodology, including the Outline of the Study, approach in the comparative assessment and a questionnaire for country level info sheet (to be inputted to and consequently used by the regional Poverty experts), for submission to the Ministry of Development. This methodology should also include a detailed time-plan that shows the sequence of the actions, for the whole team.
4- Conduct desk review to develop an understanding of the latest literature on poverty reduction through increased productivity with investments in human capital and capability. This includes the latest global and regional trends/developments and different institutional approaches. The references used throughout the process will be presented in the References section of the report.
5- Draft the Conceptual Framework section of the report drafted based on definitions, global trends including Post 2015 and MDGs as well as the common agenda of the OIC member states with reference to the COMCEC Strategy to the extent possible. This section will be revised or refined as per the inputs received from the member countries, as needed.
6- Coordinate the work of the Regional Poverty experts (country reports and regional/sub-regional patterns of poverty reduction work) to lead to a coherent consolidated report and in line with the planned calendar.
7- Contact relevant advisors/focal points within various units of UNDP to receive comments and inputs as planned.
8- Make revisions and incorporate the comments received from UNDP (reflecting the comments of advisory group, Ministry of Development, etc.) to submit the final report in a timely manner in line with the agreed Outline, approach and contents.
9- Participate in the one-day Working Group Meeting of the COMCEC to be held in June, to present the report and provide any inputs requested throughout the meeting.
Poverty expert (Central Asia and Western Balkans)[2]
1- Will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will cover the following eight countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
2- S/he will provide inputs to the questionnaire prepared by the Team Leader to result in the most useful format to receive information on the countries.
3- S/he will conduct desk review on regional experiences as well as individual country experiences on the topic, i.e. poverty reduction experiences through investment in human capital and capabilities. S/he will collect relevant information on the country facts including poverty rates, unemployment rates and other relevant indicators according to official figures, disaggregated to the extent possible for gender, different population groups, etc. as well as the trends (e.g. 5 years) in such statistics. S/he will collect information on the major policies and projects which present a good example for the rest of the OIC member countries as well as lessons learned. In doing so, s/he will mainly use the official publications, web sites and information sources.
4- S/he will use the prepared questionnaire, to collect country information sharing with relevant contacts including UNDP Country offices and other line ministries/government authorities to collect relevant information. In cases where it proves difficult to access such information, he will inform UNDP Turkey to find a solution.
5- Using the eight country reports that provide information on the poverty data of the country as well as the prominent policies and programmes that yield results in terms of enhanced capability of the poor to produce; s/he will identify any common trends and patterns in the region, with policy implications.