Technical officer- Enterprise Development - P3

Introduction

“Promoting Gender-Responsive Enterprise and Skills Development Systems (ProGRESS): Feminising Bangladesh’s Skills and Enterprise Systems and Labour Market’ is a new partnership between the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the ILO in Bangladesh for the next five years (2021-2026). The project aims to contribute to achieving gender parity in the labour force by 2041 by addressing the constraints affecting women’s participation in the labour force by working on the policies, systems, and operational level.  
The project builds on over a decade of ILO’s support to the core policy and governance systems of Bangladesh’s TVET system, which played an instrumental role in establishing a market-oriented, competency-based skills system coordinated through a collaborative peak body. The current project is a continuation of the initiatives and focuses on promoting women’s access to TVET systems in Bangladesh, including through gender-based budgeting for skills training and entrepreneurship development. The project uses gender equality as a central theme to driving for improvements in public policy, skills, and business service provision to empower Bangladeshi women. The project is aligned to GoB’s 8th Five-year plan and prosperity vision, where the country seeks to achieve gender parity in the labour force by 2041. 
The project combines capacity building and policy support with practical demonstration to achieve sustainable change. It focuses on economically underdeveloped regions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and other lagging behind areas for piloting the innovations.

The Technical Officer-Enterprise Development will have overall responsibility for enterprise and value chains development initiatives of the project. The position will mainly be responsible for the value chain and market systems development, entrepreneurship promotion, green enterprises promotion, and strengthening business associations and value Business Development Services (BDS) providers for effective service delivery for women entrepreneurs. 

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The position will be responsible for liaising closely with the Ministry of industry. During the inception phase, the technical officer will establish appropriate working relations with the various institutions, including Bangladesh small and Cottage Industry Corporation (BSCIC), the SME Foundation, respective business associations and value chain actors, etc. Initial stakeholders mapping for the potential partnership development forms other key responsibility for the position
Apart from the stakeholders mapping, during the inception phase, the technical officer will coordinate COVID impact analysis, a simplified environmental assessment, and gender analysis. The person will support developing a robust Monitoring and Results Measurement system following the ILO policies, GAC guidelines and upholding the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) standard. 

Reporting lines: 

The Technical Officer will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager.. The position will be technically backstopped by the SME specialist of the ILO country office Bangladesh and the enterprise specialist from the Decent Work Support Team for South Asia based at the ILO Delhi office. 

S/he will also oversee the work of national officers and any international and local consultants hired during the course of the project.

Description of Duties

The Technical Officer will have overall responsibility for the strategic and day-to-day management of the enterprise development component of the project, including line managing a national project officer and one project assistant and management of consultants and ILO Specialists in prioritised decent work deficits and the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach with a focus on the women economic empowerment. She/he will ensure a good understanding among project staff of the ILO’s value chain and MSD approach, enterprise development tools and methodologies and their application throughout the project cycle, and thorough and meaningful Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM). She/he will lead the development of relevant partnerships and relations with players in the public and private sectors.

Project component management:

1.    Ensure effective coordination and planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Enterprise development activities of the project, in conformity with ILO policies and project strategies, and in accordance with ILO programming guidelines and the country’s Decent Work Programme, and administrative and financial procedures, in consultation with the responsible units/field offices. 

2.    Plan and manage the inputs of consultants and Specialists in the areas of value chain and market system development, decent work and International Labour Standards/labour law, occupational safety and health, strengthening of social partners, social dialogue, and the MSD approach. All with a focus on the informal economy targeting women and youth.

3.    Guide and support the establishment of an MRM system that following the ILO’s policies and following the DCED guidelines for monitoring and result measurement. 

4.    By the end of the start-up phase, lead in revising the respective component of the project logical framework.

5.    Develop a learning culture in the project team. 

6.    Prepare periodic and ad hoc reports and case studies on the status of the programme and its results, including for international forums.

7.    Effectively manage performance and staff capacity development.

Technical leadership and advice:

8.    Support development of the project staff’s capacity to apply the ILO’s approach to value chain and market system development, women entrepreneurship promotion and other enterprise development tools and practices through training and continuous coaching. 

9.    Coordinate and support the sector analysis of the key growth sectors in the project areas with a focus on promoting economic opportunities for women and girls. Identify root causes of market constraints on better working conditions for women and youth in particular. Both studies will include gender analysis.

10.    Lead the development, implementation and assessment of pilot interventions to address the identified causes and the scaling up of those interventions that are successful. This will require developing strong partnerships with the private and public sector.

11.    Provide technical support to development of all planned outputs in the areas of value chain and market system development, occupational safety, and health, Entrepreneurship development, enterprise formalisation; this will ensure the use of a facilitative approach in close collaboration with key stakeholders and is likely to include:
⦁    Capacity building of social partners
⦁    Design and undertake research, policy materials, tools and other related activities on women entrepreneurship, formalisation of business and participation of women in the value chain and market systems. 
⦁    Development and implementation in the informal and formal sectors of regulations, standards and guidelines on OSH
12.    Ensure that the goal of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment in the first instance, is mainstreamed throughout the project’s work. 

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Governance, networking, partnership, advocacy:

13.    Support establishment of project governance structures, including a Project Steering Committee.

14.    Foster contacts and relations, and ensure collaboration with all government institutions, workers and employers’/private sector organisations which will be direct beneficiaries of the project, as well as with civil society, associations and cooperatives that organise women and youth in the informal economy, and private sector enterprises, particularly in the construction and retail trade sectors.

15.    Develop and maintain relationships and coordinate with donors and projects with similar mandates and objectives, including with a view to promote ILO values and the objectives and approach of the project, and identify opportunities for scaling-up of the project’s achievements.

16.    Support development and implementation of an effective communication and knowledge sharing strategy and plan for relevant national and international audiences.

17.    Represent the Office at project meetings, seminars and evaluations, as required. 

18.    Promote ILO policies and values in technical areas related to the project in collaboration with specialists.

Any other duties requested by the responsible chief.
 

Required qualifications

Education

• Advanced university degree with relevant experience in economics, management, social science or a related field with demonstrated knowledge in market systems development and approaches to enhance Decent Work.
   

Experience

⦁    At least five years’ relevant professional experience in project management, including three years at the international level, preferably in value chain and market system development projects. 
⦁    Proven project management experience, with sound knowledge and experience in all aspects of project cycle, i.e. design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 
⦁    Proven experience in partnership building and networking. 
⦁    Experience in promoting Decent Work in the informal economy.
⦁    Experience in managing multi-stakeholder activities with the public and private sector.
⦁    Familiarity with ILO policies and procedures particularly of technical cooperation projects would be an advantage.
 

Languages

⦁    Excellent command of English.
⦁    Good working knowledge of Bangla is desirable. 

Competencies

⦁    Proven ability to take ownership of all responsibilities, to act with integrity and transparency by maintaining social, ethical and organisational norms, and to meet all commitments within the prescribed time, cost and quality standard.
⦁    Ability to develop clear strategies and interventions consistent with the project’s objectives.
⦁    Excellent leadership skills, ability to work effectively in a team and excellent interpersonal skills.
⦁    Ability to support the development of manuals and training materials and conduct training. 
⦁    Ability to promote knowledge sharing and learning culture in the project, and to focus and guide others to meet objectives at individual and group level.
⦁    Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write accurate reports and to build networks to obtain cooperation with partners.
⦁    Ability to adapt/change project activities as needed in order to best reach the project’s overall objective most effectively.
⦁    Openness to and ability to make changes to accommodate culture and gender differences in order to interact effectively with individuals.
⦁    Ability to plan and support the development of individual’s skills and abilities for a more effective fulfilment of current or future job/role responsibilities.
⦁    Develop self-awareness and show empathy by demonstrating the qualities, traits, or attributes that contribute to the ability to effectively relate to and identify with others.
⦁    Ability to maintain effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or environment, and to adjust effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements, or cultures.
⦁    Drive to seek or encourage others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to organisation problems and opportunities for improvement.
⦁    Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviours and attitudes.