WLF Announcement: Needs Assessment to Support Technical and Vocational Training Centers in Southwest Sumba

WLF is an Indonesian-based philanthropic foundation established in 2009 as an outgrow of the philanthropic legacy of William and Lily Soeryadjaya. As an active grant-making foundation, WLF works closely with implementation partners in three focus areas: education, healthcare and economic empowerment. WLF is committed to impactful and responsible interventions in its efforts to empower underprivileged communities across Indonesia. Although the scope of WLF philanthropic endeavors is countrywide, its current geographical focus centers on eastern Indonesia. The William & Lily Foundation is currently looking for Short Term Consultant(s) to conduct Needs Assessment on Technical and Vocational Training Centers in Sumba Barat Daya

Terms of Reference

Needs Assessment to Support Technical and Vocational Training Centers in 

Southwest Sumba

Background: 

Technical and Vocational Training Centers plays a crucial role in equipping future and current members of the labor force with the appropriate knowledge and skills. Its main purpose is to address the needs of today’s developed and highly diversified economies by its emphasis on creating a specialized workforce. The focus on skills development has made the centers to become an increasingly important sector for various ministries in Indonesia, resulting in a signed MoU in late 2016 by five ministers committing to developing and improving the national vocational education system.

In a report published in 2012, McKinsey estimated that Indonesia could face a deficit of 9 million skilled and semi-skilled workers by 2030. In order to address this issue, Indonesia needs to further facilitate education-to-employment transition, demand deficits and skill mismatch more broadly. To mitigate this issues, the government created pathways through the creation of skilled labor through vocational education, both formal and informal. 

Though formal education are far more desirable since it could provide formal certifications of skills, the high number of formal-education drop-out rates has made informal-education as an alternative for these individuals (OECD/ADB, 2015). The latter provides training and short certificate courses. These courses come in the format of BLKs (Balai Latihan Kerja), which fall under the administration of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration (MOMT). BLKs itself intended as a means to improve skills and competencies, which could lead to increased productivity and quality of a worker (PerMen no 8, 2017)..

Similar to its counterparts, within the informal education sector, there is a big disconnect between what BLKs could provide with the needs of the respective industries. For the most part, much of the curriculum of vocational schools are theory-based, which results in students graduating with severely inadequate practical knowledge and skills that hinder direct entry to the workforce and thereby defeating the whole purpose of vocational schools. Based on this reality, WLF is committed to improving access to quality education, particularly informal vocational education. We believe that informal vocational education is particularly crucial in enabling the youth in marginalized communities to grow into independent and self-sufficient individuals.

 

As an initial step to our commitment to focus on the development of vocational education, WLF will be employing the services of consultants to conduct an assessment on the conditions of informal vocational education in Southwest Sumba (Sumba Barat Daya / SBD), and what actions have been taken by the state and non-state actors to improve the conditions of vocational education in SBD

Objective:

The objective of this study is to have a better understanding on the overall conditions of the BLKs in SBD, as an informal education and technical training center.  Under this study we will be conducting an assessment regarding the national government’s policy towards supporting informal education and training centers, the role of the national government in overseeing the BLKs at the local level, how the BLKs are currently being managed, the quality and competencies of their instructors, the curriculum that the BLKs are utilizing as well as their the practical teaching method that they are employing, and the BLKs’ access to local industries and the labor market.  

Outputs:

The following outputs must be achieved at the completion of the study:

1. An in-depth analysis regarding the national policy and/or regulatory framework and the national and local master-plan pertaining to the development of BLKs generally, and how such policy and regulations have been implemented in Southwest Sumba.  This will specifically focus on whether the BLKs respond to the need of the local industry for productive labor. If such local policy is not available, this study needs to provide recommendation on the policy framework that the national governments need to focus on.

2. Analysis of the national and local governments’ role in ensuring that the BLKs in SBD are managed effectively and efficiently, particularly on government’s commitment in providing continuous financial support and/or budgetary allocation for the operations of the BLKs. 

3. List of BLKs that are currently available in SBD and determine whether the existing BLKs meet the demand of the local industries and the market. 

4. A detailed analysis of how the BLKs are managed in Southwest Sumba, particularly on the costs to run BLKs, the students’ fee structure and its feasibility, how BLKs maintain its operations based on such costs and the strategy the center employs in linking the BLK to the local labor market and local industries.  The study needs to provide recommendations on how such BLKs can be designed to meet the demand for local industries’ needs for adequate labor. 

5. A detailed analysis of the capacity of instructors in providing technical training to the students particularly as it relates to Southwest Sumba’s industry needs.  If the instructors lack such technical and practical capacity, the consultant(s) must provide detailed recommendations on what areas of intervention are required to improve instructor capacity. 

6. A detailed analysis of the teaching methodologies that the BLKs are utilizing, and determine whether the classrooms as well as facilities of the BLKs are adequate to meet the training objectives.  If they are still inadequate, the consultant(s) are required to provide detailed recommendations on improving such facilities.   

Suggested Methodologies: 

1. Desk-review of current policy documents from the national government, instructor manual, school curriculum and other documents related to BLKs in SBD.

2. In-depth interview with key stakeholders from the national government (Bappeda, Kemenaker, Dinas, and etc), instructors, principals, industry players and students.

3. Conducting Focus Group discussions with instructors, industry players, students and other relevant stakeholders.

4. Observation of current BLKs available in SBD.

5. Other relevant industry that contribute to the achievement of the objective and outputs. 

Selection Criteria: 

1.. The consultant(s) must have at least 5 years of experience conducting social research.
2. The consultant(s) must have an educational background in research, public policy, and/or education.
3. The consultant(s) must have general knowledge on the operations of BLKs and the types of challenges that it faces.
4. The consultant(s) must have experience in engaging with a variety of stakeholders, particularly students, industry players, and government officials.
5. The consultant(s) must have prior experience in working in a multicultural setting and must be sensitive to different cultural practices and values.  

6.     A significant criteria pertaining to the selection of the consultant(s) will based on how the candidate consultant are able to provide a reasonable budget for the study. 

Project Duration: 

The research will commence in early January and the consultant(s) will be requested to submit their final findings within 3 months.  

Document Submission requirements*: 

Interested consultant(s) must submit the following documents by December 7, 2018 to support@wlf.or.id:

1. A comprehensive proposal containing the context of the BLKs in Indonesia and Southwest Sumba and detailed research methodology that the consultant(s) will apply.

2. Curriculum Vitae of the consultant(s) which responds to the selection criteria above. 

3. Work plan of the need assessment, which must also contain the submission and presentation of preliminary and final results of the assessment.

4. Comprehensive budget that will fund both the consultant(s) allocated time, and activities to support the assessment.  

5. A writing sample of the consultant(s)’ previous research work

*The submitted documents can be written in English or Indonesian.