Development of Soft Skill Program for Young Aspirant Migrants and Returnee Migrants

1. Production information

2. Background information

Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental, 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. IOM first began operations in Viet Nam in 1987 and currently operates under a cooperation agreement with the government of Viet Nam. IOM Viet Nam acts with its partners including member states, civil society, and the international community to assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants.

Since 2019, IOM Viet Nam has been implementing a project entitled “Tackling Modern Slavery from Viet Nam: An Interagency Programme for Behaviour Change, Access to Justice and Reintegration Support” funded by the UK Home Office. The project aims to tackle modern slavery from Viet Nam through harnessing the knowledge, networks and resources of IOM, British Council and World Vision International in Viet Nam to conduct a coordinated series of interventions across five source provinces of human trafficking and modern slavery (Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh).

Building on established partnerships and results, the project is entering an additional one-year phase to continue the necessary preventive and protective interventions that will further contribute to tackling modern slavery from Viet Nam. Under the new phase, in addition to the core safe migration messaging, new messages about investing in the future through local vocational and educational opportunities to increase employability and skills for employment opportunities domestically and internationally will be emphasized. The project will then collaborate with Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh to design, develop and promote training programmes for primarily young aspirant migrants through an existing online platform IOM has developed in partnership with MOLISA, Microsoft Corporation and relevant partners. The courses will aim to boost their employability and career pathways to secure employment and livelihood options as alternatives to international migration.

Through a newly established reintegration network, the project will continue to provide sustainable reintegration support to victims of trafficking and migrants in vulnerable situations that includes vocational and up-skill trainings, job placement and grants. These groups will also be provided with opportunities to digital, entrepreneur and soft skills training courses if suggested in their reintegration assistance plan.

3. Objective of this assignment

The assignment involves the development of a self-paced, interactive, and visually appealing e-learning program of soft skills which targets at young vocational students, aspirant migrants, and returnee migrants. The program is developed to achieve the following objectives:

• Help targeted learners to acquire essential soft skills including, but not limited to, critical thinking, adaptability/learnability, cognitive flexibility/logical reasoning, communication & negotiation, and problem-solving as these skills will facilitate and inform their decisions for their personal and professional life’s goals, with a great attention given to make informed migration decision.
• Emphasize the importance of having these essential skills for their well-being and entering the future workforce.
• Help vocational institutions to embed the program into their teaching agenda as to strengthen the effectiveness of their training programs.

4. Scope of work and responsibilities

The e-learning courses of soft skills are expected to be in Vietnamese and embed into the existing online learning platform of IOM Viet Nam. This will be utilized as a MOOC or open education resource for the targeted beneficiaries of this specific project and then whole population if needed who can enjoy free access and self-paced learning process. To facilitate this self-study learning process, the courses must be developed on an easy-to-access and easy-to-understand approach. 

The scope of work will be divided into phase:

Phase 1: Content development

1. Develop the soft skill curriculum and deliver the offline training on this curriculum for relevant stakeholders in three provinces (1 training workshop/ province)

2. Collect feedback from these real training for developing e-learning courses

Phase 2: E-learning course development

3. Develop the e-learning module storyboard and scripts for five soft skills (including critical thinking, adaptability/learnability, cognitive flexibility/logical reasoning, communication & negotiation, and problem-solving);

4. Incorporate relevant IOM materials/inputs available in videos, publications etc into the e-learning modules.

5. Develop guidance (in written and/or videos) for IOM staff and selected stakeholders who will act as instructors for this program.

6. Produce “test the knowledges” tools and exercises where relevant for the learners.

7. Develop training evaluation tools to collect information for monitoring purpose and impact assessment of the program.

8. Design all e-learning contents sensitive and respectful to gender equality, LGBTIQ community, people with disabilities, races, and background, migrants in vulnerable situations including VoTs, consideration for such sensitivities & vulnerabilities (trauma, etc.)

9. Coordinate with IOM team and other related stakeholders to test, collect and incorporate feedbacks and finalize all these e-learning courses in Vietnamese.

10. Coordinate with IOM team or IOM’s vendor for the uploading of all courses on IOM-MS digital learning platform

5. Deliverables and Expected timeline.

6. Eligibility ​

To be qualified for consideration, interested service providers should meet the following criteria:

1. The service provider must establish a team of qualified relevant experts with demonstrated track record in developing high-quality online learning modules of the similar topic.
2. The service provider must have 5-year experience in developing and delivering e-learning modules.
3. The team should have relevant knowledge and expertise in vocational students, migrants (particularly aspirant migrants and returnee migrants and victims of trafficking)
4. The service provider should have strong project management and communication channels.

General requirements

1. The content should be developed to run in both computer and smart phone with limited bandwidth.
2. The e-learning courses must be developed compatible to upload on the existing learning platform of IOM (MCT platform).
3. The design of e-learning courses should ensure dynamics, interaction, functionality, and easy-to-use.
4. IOM will own copyright for all materials developed under this agreement of service. All source materials and editable files for the developed products must be delivered to the IOM upon the completion of the agreement.

7. How to apply

Interested service providers should submit the following documents to the IOM Mission Office in Hanoi at 304 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh district, Ha Noi or submitted electronically to IOM procurement focal point: huongnguyen@iom.int.The application should be titled: Proposal_IOM E-learning entrepreneurship skill courses, and including:

1. Technical Proposal, including proposed approach, detailed timeline for completion of the assignment and all tasks;
2. Financial Proposal, including all cost implications necessary for the performance of tasks under this TOR. The costs should be tabulated in item description, units and quantities, unit amount and total amount in VND.
3. Brief presentation of the team, with CVs/company profile and functional responsibilities of the key people to be engaged in the e-learning production;
4.  Two references (with contact information) from previous clients;
5. Cover Letter (maximum 2 pages) outlining the service provider expertise in the topics with links to examples of previous work relevant to this assignment;
6. Applications that are not complete will not be considered.

8. Reservations, confidentiality, and intellectual property

IOM will make payments upon each deliverable/ a set of deliverables upon IOM’s approval and within the agreed timelines. In the event of the service provider ending the contract prior to delivering all agreed upon products, payment for the incomplete deliverables will be withhold by IOM. The service provider undertakes to maintain confidentiality on all information that is not the public domain and shall not be involved in another assignment that represents a conflict of interest to the prevailing assignment. The service provider shall undertake to refrain from promoting any political or religious beliefs in the e-learning module which is the subject of the contract. All intellectual property and other proprietary rights including, but not limited to, copyrights and ownership of data and content resulting from the performance of the services shall be vested in IOM, including, without any limitation, the rights to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, and distribute any item or part thereof.

9. Posting period: from 22.07.2021 to 06.08.2021