REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department

Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

E-mail : [email protected]

RECRUITMENT OF A PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION UNIT FOR THE CODING FOR EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM IN SENEGAL AND PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

  1. Africa’s youth population is expected to rise to over 830 million by 2050. However, these youth are confronted with high levels of unemployment and underemployment. At the same time, the new wave of global technological advancement is rapidly changing the continent and bringing about innovation in all sectors from digital financial inclusion of the previously unbanked to agriculture and healthcare provision. African youth are increasingly applying their creativity and energy to develop new avenues and breakthroughs to solve complex problems in their societies using technology. If nurtured, African youth can become major contributors to the global digital innovation movement and the key to Africa’s transformation and social-economic development. To prepare African youth to be leaders in the 4th industrial revolution and constitute a competitive and talented workforce equipped for the future of work, countries must take more deliberate actions to address the growing skills gap especially in digital skills and the resulting lack of job prospects ;
  2. The African Development Bank recognizes this challenge and is at the forefront of investing in digital skills for African youth, through the Coding for Employment (CFE) flagship program. This program aims to nurture the next generation of digitally enabled African youth and create 9 million direct and indirect jobs. The Bank is placing youth at the core of its technology and digital investments and betting on them to unlock Africa’s untapped potential. To build this vision hand in hand with African youth, the Bank’s Coding for Employment program will be scaling up digital skills through a project implementing unit (PIU). The program will work with the PIU to strengthen the quality and reach of existing initiatives in universities (and non-governmental social impact organizations) which aim to drive the democratization of digital skills and digital innovation in Africa. The program will be particularly piloted in institutions in Senegal but also accommodate a select number of innovative institutions across Africa ;
  3. The African Development Bank therefore invites consulting firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment : PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION UNIT FOR THE CODING FOR EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM IN SENEGAL AND PARTNER INSTITUTIONS ;
  4. The assignment will address the following objectives :
  • Equipping African Youth with Relevant Skills for the 4th Industrial Revolution: The programme will equip African Youth with core ICT skills required to be productive in the current industrial revolution, by democratizing digital skills training, across the continent ;
  • Positioning African youth to become Global Solution Providers: Through the program, African youth will build the foundation required to develop complex and advanced digital skills that are needed, to create innovative technology solutions in response to the world’s most challenging problems;
  • Linking trained youth to potential employment opportunities: The program will work with selected institutions and groups to orient trained youth and provide advice and links to job services, entrepreneurship or further training in ICT. 
  1. The scope of the assignment will include :
  • Working with the Coding for Employment team to perform the mapping/scanning and assessment of the candidate institutions leveraging prior feasibility study reports from the Bank and other market insights to inform the needs assessment in Senegal and other competitive markets ;
  • Developing a robust monitoring and evaluation plan and quality assurance framework that will assess the activities, results and impact of candidate institutions’ training with a focus on identifying gaps, areas of improvement and opportunities for scaling ;
  • Providing technical assistance targeting identified gaps to strengthen the quality and scale of outputs and training provided by partner institutions and their impact of digital skills development for the youth. This component will include strong emphasis on women and vulnerable youth ;
  • Creating an active virtual network of supported institutions to foster peer-to-peer learning and a vibrant community of practice nationally and across countries. This network will spur collaboration and recognize institutions that achieve great results in line with monitoring and evaluation outcomes ;
  • Organizing hackathons and a digital social entrepreneurship challenge targeted at solving social challenges, prioritizing digital inclusion and tackling youth unemployment.
  1. The Human Capital and Skills Development Department (AHHD) invites consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable Assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.) ;
  2. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedure for the Use of Consultants under projects financed by the Bank Group, May 2008 Edition, revised on July 2012 available on the Bank Website at http://www.afdb.org. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consulting Firm does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include it in the shortlist ;
  3. The estimated duration of services is 12 MONTHS and the estimated starting date is October 2020 ;
  4. Interested firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours (Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm GMT).

Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than August 19th 2020, at 11:59 PM GMT and specifically mentioning “Expression of Interest for a project implementation unit for the Coding for Employment program in Senegal and partner institutions”.

For the attention of :

Mrs. Uyoyo Edosio

Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department

African Development Bank

CCIA, Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387

Abidjan

Ivory Coast

E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]