Ship to Shore Rights SEA
Impact assessment: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the migrant workers in the fishing and seafood sectors in Southeast Asia?
1. Background
Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia (SEA) is a multi-country, multi-year initiative of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). Ship to Shore Rights SEA is implemented by the ILO in collaboration with IOM and UNDP, with the overriding objective of promoting regular and safe labour migration and decent work for all migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in Southeast Asia.
The programme addresses the characteristics of working in the fishing and seafood processing sectors as well as the barriers and risks present in the migration system, which can lead to unsafe migration, decent work deficits, abuse, and trafficking for forced labour. The programme has three specific objectives:
1) Strengthen the legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks related to labour migration and labour standards, focusing on the fishing and seafood processing sectors in SEA.
2) Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all migrant workers from recruitment to post-admissions and end of the contract.
3) Empower migrant workers, their families, organizations, and communities to promote and exercise their rights.
During situations of crisis and fragility such as the COVID-19 pandemic, migrant workers are particularly at risk as they may be compelled to continue to work without adequate personal protective equipment, living conditions are often not conducive to social distancing, are excluded from unemployment insurance and, mostly, income support measure in destination countries, and are vulnerable to retrenchment.
2. Rationale
The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in Southeast Asia. The region is important to the production of fish products. FAO estimates that 79 per cent of the world’s fishers are from Asia, with Indonesia, Viet Nam and Thailand among top ten producers and exporters of fish products. The fishing and seafood processing sectors are pivotal to economic and social national interests in the region. At the same time, migrant workers in Southeast Asia ted to be absorbed in labour-intensive industries including the fishing and seafood processing sectors. Thailand’s fishing sector, for example, depends overwhelmingly on migrant workers from Myanmar and Cambodia.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis that has impacted all aspects of work and life. While Covid-19 does not affect fish, the fishing and seafood processing sectors and workers in them have not been spared the indirect impacts of the pandemic. Changing consumer demands, limits to market access, logistical delays due to travel and transportation restrictions, and other measures taken by governments to contain the rate of infection all have an impact on the complex supply chain in the fishing and seafood processing sectors[1] and the working conditions in them.
Migrant workers are particularly at risk of the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19. They tend to be concentrated in sectors of the economy with high levels of temporary, informal or unprotected work, characterized by low wages and lack of social protection.[2] Migrant workers are often the first to be laid-off but last to gain access to testing or treatment in line with nationals. They are often excluded from national COVID-19 policy responses, such as wage subsidies, unemployment benefits or socials security and social protection measures. Where access to COVID-19 testing or medical treatment is available, they may not come forward due to fear of detention or deportation, especially those with irregular status.
In some cases, travel restrictions have trapped migrant workers countries of destination with few options to return home, and have also prevented migrant workers from taking up employment abroad even when they have contracts and/or have paid high recruitment fees and costs. In the fishing sector, restrictions to port access and other travel restrictions have impacted crew changes and disrupted the delivery of essential supplies to vessels, including medical supplies, food and water, and fuel.[3] Containment measures such as physical distancing between crew members at sea, face masks and others can be difficult to access for fishers or can cause reduction of production.[4]
The rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the fishing and seafood processing sectors in Southeast Asia will be used to shape interventions during the programme. By determining the impacts of the pandemic on the fishing and seafood processing sectors and the migrant workers in them, the programme can identify gaps in policies and practices to be addressed.
3. Assignment
Under the overall supervision of the ILO Chief Technical Advisor and National Project Coordinator, the service provider will assess the impact of COVID-19 on the fishing and seafood processing sectors and their workers in Southeast Asia.
Division of Tasks:
ILO responsibilities:
- Provide background and contextual material to the service provider
- Provide review and timely feedback and guidance throughout the process including on drafts submitted and data collection tools.
- Provide guidelines on research methodology, and any relevant best research practices
- Select three focus countries of assessment
- Organize a validation meeting to present and discuss the preliminary findings with key stakeholders.
Service provider’s responsibility:
- Review the background and contextual material provided by ILO project as well as other relevant studies and resources
- Develop data collection tools in English and relevant local languages consultation with the ILO
- In consultation with ILO, develop a list of data sources (e.g. labour force surveys, trade data, fisheries data) and a bibliography
- Undertake data collection and analysis based on a methodology developed and agreed with the ILO
- Draft a clear and concise research report in English, including an executive summary, research approach (questions, methodology, limitations, etc.), findings, a conclusion and recommendations
- Prepare PowerPoint presentation in English of key findings.
- Present key results at the validation workshop with the project’s stakeholders
4. Research Questions
A detailed set of questions will be developed by the service provider in consultation with ILO. Some sample questions by stakeholder/issue area can be found in the full TOR: https://tinyurl.com/COVID19RapidAssessment
5. Research Methodology
The research methodology proposed by bidders should fully respond to the requirements documented in this TOR. Additional innovative methods will be considered an asset.
Data will be collected using a mixed methodology approach, including the following quantitative and qualitative techniques:
- Desk review of public and grey literature
- Labour, immigration, and trade statistics analysis
- Focus groups/Key Informant Interviews with NGOs and workers’ organizations, employers’ organizations, and government authorities via virtual platforms.
The programme covers Thailand, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao PDR and the Philippines. It is proposed that the assessment should target three focus countries including Thailand.
6. Gender mainstreaming
Specific measures will be applied throughout the process of research to ensure a gender-responsive approach. The measures proposed by bidders will include a representative sample of women and men for focus group discussion and KII, and disaggregation of data to support gender analysis of the results.
7. Output
- Inception report with a finalized set of data collection tools including a list of stakeholders to be interviewed and a detailed work plan.
- The first draft of the report written in clear and concise English including an executive summary, research approach (questions, methodology, limitations, etc.), findings, a conclusion and recommendations.
- Presentation of methodology, key findings and recommendations at the validation workshop with stakeholders.
- Powerpoint presentation in English and infographics to illustrate the findings of the report.
- The revised final version of the report (no more than 20 pages, excluding Annexes and bibliography) that fully responds to the comments made by ILO and stakeholders.
- If relevant, SPSS file (in English) containing any quantitative data set used in writing the report and a codebook for further analysis.
[1] FAO, How is COVID-19 affecting the fisheries and aquaculture food systems, 10 April 2020
[2] ILO, Policy briefing: Protecting migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, April 2020
[3] Ibid.
[4] FAO, How is COVID-19 affecting the fisheries and aquaculture food systems, 10 April 2020
How to apply:
Interested service providers are requested to submit the following documentation by 19 March 2021 to shiptoshorerights@ilo.org:
Technical proposal
Financial proposal including breakdown of costs
Evidence of experience in similar studies