International Consultant on Impact assessment of the Seafood Good Labour Practice programme

Terms of Reference
Impact assessment of the Seafood Good Labour Practice programme

• 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 workers, including 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.
  Ship to Shore SEA builds on the achievements of the EU-funded Ship to Shore Rights Thailand project implemented between 2016 and 2020. One of the recommendations from the final evaluation of Ship to Shore Rights Thailand is to assess the impact of the industry-led Good Labour Practices on employment and working conditions in the seafood processing sector.

• Seafood Good Labour Practices
  Under the previous project, ILO, Thai Frozen Foods Association (TFFA) and the Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA) partnered with the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW), Ministry of Labour, and the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, to jointly develop the Good Labour Practices Guidelines for Thailand’s seafood industry (Seafood GLP). The Seafood GLP revised and expanded a 2012 version of Good Labour Practices which was created to improve the workplace labour standards in the Thai shrimp-peeling industry under the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). The Seafood GLP is a voluntary programme.
  The 2019 revised Seafood GLP programme aims to strengthen the effectiveness of the GLP and expanded to include management guidelines that address labour practices at the factory and along the supply chain, worker engagement in the Welfare Committee, awareness-raising about the GLP, follow up with industry members, and public reporting of progress.
  The Seafood GLP also contains some innovations. One, it responds to the changes in the Thai and global seafood industries, adapts to the new laws and enforcement regimes for work in the fishing and seafood industry, including the changes brought about after the ILO’s Forced Labour Protocol (P. 29) and Work in Fishing Convention (C. 188). Two, it requires that industry associations, and not the ILO, play the leading role for their programmes in the context of effective tripartite oversight.
  The Seafood GLP guidelines include GLP Workplace Standards, principles of industry association, GLP programmes and tools for managers and industry leaders. Industry associations take the led in organizing 12 months cycles of training, advice on remediation, due diligence, and industry accountability among their member companies. A tripartite plus Working Committee was also established to improve the programme’s rigor and credibility, as well as to monitor and provide oversight.

• Assignment objectives, scope and audience
  3.1 Assignment objectives
  The independent assessment of the Seafood GLP will achieve three main objectives:

  1. Assess the impact of Seafood GLP on working conditions in participating member companies, provide information on any tangible benefits to the participating companies and their workers.

  2. Provide technical input to strengthen Seafood GLP to improve the tools and mechanisms developed under the programme, including training curriculum.

  3. Produce recommendations to further strengthen the credibility and rigor of the Seafood GLP, particularly the role of workers and workers’ organization in monitoring implementation.

  4. Produce recommendations on how to continue Seafood GLP, and whether it can be adapted to other countries or sectors (including fishing), during the implementation of Ship to Shore Rights SEA.

  3.2 Scope and audience The assessment will review the Seafood GLP as implemented under the Ship to Shore Rights Thailand (2016-2020). At a minimum, the following will be included:
  (1) Seafood GLP Guidelines; (2) TORs for Working Committee; (3) annual reports; (4) presentations, training materials and other tools developed under Seafood GLP; (5) evaluation reports of the Ship to Shore Rights Thailand; (6) any other documents relevant to the planning and implementation of the Seafood GLP.
  In addition, the assessment should include interviews with key stakeholders including TFFA and TTIA, members of the Working Committee, as well as participating companies and workers.
  The primary end users of the assessment will be the ILO implementation team of Ship to Shore Rights SEA and the participating industry associations TFFA and TTIA. Secondary parties who will make use of the assessment may include tripartite constituents, industry associations and other private sector actors, individuals and organizations interested in corporate practices and private compliance initiatives, as well as upstream buyers and other organizations working on decent work and forced labour in the fishing and seafood supply chain at national, regional, and international levels.

• Research questions
  The assessment will include the following key questions. Additional questions or adaptations is encouraged but any significant deviations should only be made in consultation with the ILO.
  • To what extent did the Seafood GLP make a difference to workers in participating member companies? In particular in the following areas:
  o Did participating member companies set up effective dispute resolution mechanisms and resolve workers’ grievances?
  o Were workers able to access grievance mechanisms and what remedies were provided?
  o To what extent did Seafood GLP make a difference to women workers in participating companies through the implementation of gender-responsive measures?
  o Did the Worker Welfare Committees effective represent workers’ interests?
  • To what extent did the Seafood GLP make a difference to participating member companies in terms of corporate practices and behaviour?
  • To what extent did participating member companies allocate specific resources to Seafood GLP implementation including staffing levels and executive commitment?
  • To what extent did the Seafood GLP make a difference to other stakeholders including, for example, upstream suppliers or downstream purchasers?
  • To what extent did the Seafood GLP change purchasing practices or impact production costs?
  • To what extent did participating member companies benefit from Seafood GLP commercially?
  • To what extent did the Seafood GLP result in any unintended impacts?
  • How to make the Seafood GLP credible, robust, and sustainable?
  • How effective were internal assessment and industry factory visits to identify potential labour risks and monitor labour practices?
  • How can Seafood GLP improve the independence and credibility of due diligence processes and transparency of reporting on labour practices?
  • How to enhance the role of workers and workers’ organizations in monitoring Seafood GLP implementation?
  • How to amplify the positive impacts of the Seafood GLP?
  • How to minimize any negative impacts of the Seafood GLP?
  • Can the GLP guidelines work in another sector such as fishing?
  • Will Seafood GLP work elsewhere (other than Thailand) and how can it be effectively scaled up?

• Methodology
  The final methodology will be determined by the consultant in consultation with the ILO. The following are recommended:
  • Desk review of relevant Seafood GLP documents and relevant ILO guidance
  • Key information interviews with Ship to Shore Rights Thailand staff, TTIA, TFFA, Working Committee members, participating member companies, Worker Welfare
  Committee representatives of participating member companies, trade unions and CSOs in Thailand, and other key stakeholders.
  • Focus group discussions with men and women workers employed by the participating member companies (virtually).
  Data collection must be gender-sensitive and take into consideration research ethics, including privacy and confidentiality issues. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that all interviews and other discussions will be conducted virtually.

• Output
  The main expected outputs from the assessment are as follows:

  1. Brief inception report on the proposed approach, with a finalized set of data collection tools including a list of stakeholders to be interviewed and a detailed work plan.

  2. Presentation on preliminary findings for the review of the ILO, TFFA and TTIA and other key stakeholders

  3. 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.

  4. Presentation for the validation workshop, including methodology, key findings and recommendations.

  5. The revised final version of the report (no more than 20 pages, excluding an executive summary, Annexes and bibliography) that fully responds to the comments made by ILO and stakeholders.

• Roles, responsibilities, and work plan
  7.1 Roles and responsibilities
  International consultant: An international consultant who has no conflicts of interest will undertake the assessment and will be responsible for delivering the assignment outputs. The consultant selected will be a research specialist with at least 5 years of relevant experience on forced labour, corporate practices, labour migration or human trafficking. Work experience within the Southeast Asia region is also required. Specific expertise related to the seafood processing sector is considered an asset.
  Ship to Shore Rights SEA: The Chief Technical Advisor will oversee the assessment and technical inputs and reviews will be provided by the ILO team. The National Programme Coordinator (Thailand) will ensure that all relevant documentation is up-to-date and provided to the consultant, and will facilitate communications with relevant stakeholders.
  7.2 Work plan The assessment will take place from May to August 2021. An indicative work plan is provided below and a more detailed schedule will be developed by the consultant as part of the inception report.
  Task

• Preparatory work: initial discussions with ILO on the objectives, scope, expected outcomes, approach by May.

• Desk review of Seafood GLP documents by May.

• Key information interview and focus group June

• Drafting preliminary findings presentation by June.

• Drafting outputs by July.

• Preparations for validation workshop by August.

• Finalizing outputs by August

8. Payment Terms
Contract payment terms will be as follows:
• First payment of US$ upon submission of the inception report (30% of the consultancy fee) to the satisfaction of the ILO.
• Final payment US$ upon submission of the finalized outputs (70% of the consultancy fee) to the satisfaction of the ILO.

How to apply:

Expressions of interest
Interested consultants or service providers are requested to submit the following documentation by 26 May 2021 to shiptoshorerights@ilo.org:

• Technical proposal including proposed methodology and statement of suitability and relevant experience,
• Financial proposal specifying a total lump sum in USD, and a breakdown of costs including daily rates, insurance, tax, etc.
  Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no travel is expected as part of this assignment.

For more information: please visit our website in this link.