International Labour Organization
Background
International labour migration has increased greatly in the past few decades, becoming an important development issue with the potential to promote positive economic and social change in both origin and destination countries. Recent international accords, including the 2018 Global Compact for Migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognize international migration as a catalyst for development and call on countries to generate comprehensive, timely, and reliable statistics on the topic to support effective policy making. The 20th ICLS Guidelines concerning statistics on international labour migration, endorsed in 2018, recommend countries to develop their national programmes for statistics on international labour migration using different data sources, including a variety of administrative records.
As administrative records have become more available across countries, there is a growing demand to promote their statistical uses as part of the modernization of national statistical systems. The use of administrative sources is known to have many advantages, particularly with respect to cost-efficiency, long-term sustainability, and timeliness. In the case of international labour migration, administrative sources further play a unique role in the production of statistics on flows and can contribute to the regular updating of statistics on stocks of international migrant workers. Yet, while a variety of administrative records are fast becoming a primary source of statistics in upper- and middle-income countries, this is not the case among lower-income countries.
Within the framework of the ILO Project “Better Regional Migration Management” (BRMM) financed by the UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the ILO is documenting how selected countries are setting up key sources of administrative data to enable the production of statistics on international labour migration. The aim is to shed light on the main pre-requirements that need to be established to support the production of statistics on international labour migration, with reference to three main types of administrative sources: population registers, records of arrivals and departures, and work and residence permits.
Given that lower-income countries face important resource challenges and generally have a different migration context and profile (as origin countries) compared with upper income countries, the country case studies will include selected middle- and lower-income countries, with a view to generate good country practice relevant to their situation. The identified pre-requirements and good country practice will be integrated as examples and illustrations in practical guidance and capacity building activities being planned under the ILO’s BRMM II project for countries in the East and Horn of Africa. The case studies will also contribute to ILOs knowledge sharing activities on international labour migration statistics at regional and global levels.
To this end, the ILO is looking for a consultant to carry out the tasks below in close collaboration and consultation with the relevant national agencies responsible for managing the two administrative sources and for producing official statistics based on these sources.
Objective of the assignment
The objective of this assignment is to document how the Philippines has set-up key sources of administrative data to generate statistics on different components of international labour migration. The Philippines is among the top migrant sending countries in Asia, with a long history of promoting international labour migration of its population as part of its economic and development strategies. The Philippines is also among the few lower middle-income countries that regularly submits to the ILO annual statistics on different components of international labour migration, in particular Outflows of nationals for employment and Stocks and Inflows of employed foreign-born and foreign citizens, derived from administrative sources obtained from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Bureau of Immigration, respectively.
Scope of Work
Under the direct supervision of the ILO, the consultant will be expected to carry out the following activities:
(2.1) Conduct research to document how the Register of nationals issued permits to work abroad is (a) set up in the Philippines to generate administrative data on OFW Deployment, (b) how these data are shared, and (c) how the data are used to generate official statistics relating to international labour migration, in particular, flows of citizens working abroad. The documentation should include an overview of the relevance of this source for generating statistics on international labour migration in the national context, a description of the process from the production of administrative data to the production of official statistics at high level, as well as a detailed description covering the below elements, and highlighting key aspects that have been critical to ensure the use of this source to generate official statistics relating to international labour migration.
- Administrative data management
- Relevant institutional arrangements, governance, and legal framework underlying the administrative process with a focus on the production of administrative data
- Set-up and key steps to process the administrative information compiled, including reporting, recording, storing, building registry, data sharing and confidentiality
- Identification of the variables and frequency in the process
- IT system (or paper based as relevant) set-up
- Process to maintain confidentiality, data linking if any, quality checks, cleaning, transformations that are conducted
- Statistical data production
- Legal framework of administrative data acquisition, if applicable
- Responsible agency for statistical data production
- Data unit, frequency and variables included
- Process of data acquisition (if any), linking other administrative data (if any), data standardization or error checking, production and dissemination of statistics
- Population coverage, characteristics, and dissemination level, etc. of the statistics.
(2.2) Conduct research to document how the Register of International Migrants is (a) compiled in the Philippines to generate administrative data on Registered Aliens, (b) how these data are shared, and (c) how these data are used to generate official statistics relating to international labour migration, including Stocks and Flows of international migrant workers as relevant. The documentation should include an overview of the relevance of this source for generating statistics on international labour migration in the national context, a description of the process from the production of administrative data to the production of official statistics at high level, as well as a detailed description covering the below elements, and highlighting key aspects that have been critical to ensure the use of this source to generate official statistics relating to international labour migration:
- Administrative data management
- Institution responsible for managing the administrative source,
- Relevant institutional arrangements, governance, and legal framework underlying the administrative process with a focus on the production of administrative data
- Set-up and key steps to process the administrative information compiled, including reporting, recording, storing, building registry, data sharing and confidentiality
- Identification of the variables and frequency in the process
- IT system (or paper based as relevant) set-up
- Process to maintain confidentiality, data linking if any, quality checks, cleaning, transformations that are conducted
- Statistical data production
- Legal framework of administrative data acquisition, if applicable
- Responsible agency for statistical data production
- Data unit, frequency and variables included
- Process of data acquisition (if any), linking other administrative data (if any), data standardization or error checking, production and dissemination of statistics
- Population coverage, characteristics, and dissemination level, etc. of the statistics.
(2.3) Draft a detailed report describing the findings from tasks (2.1) to (2.2), following the sample report outline to be provided by the ILO, and including concrete illustrations, relevant administrative forms, examples of output tables, etc. as well as references consulted.
Deliverables
- Preliminary outline of the report, is submitted by 16 January 2023;
- Draft report, is submitted; by 17 March 2023;
- Final report, is submitted by 27 May 2023.
Timeframe
The work will begin in December 2022 and continue until 27 May 2023. All final reports should be delivered no later than 27 May 2023.
Reporting
The Consultant will work directly under the general and technical supervision of Elisa Benes, ILO Department of Statistics.
All data is to be kept confidential. All information relating to this study, including any copyright or ownership of documents generated during the process, is owned by the ILO and its project partners.
Qualification and Experience
- University degree in statistics, economics, sociology or a related discipline;
- 7-10 years of experience with the use of administrative sources to produce statistics, on international migration, labour or related topics;
- Familiarity with international and/or regional recommendations and guidelines on international migration, international labour migration, or labour statistics;
- Experience working and interacting with government agencies, in particular the national statistical office, ministry of labour, ministry of immigration or interior, as relevant;
- Excellent command of written and spoken English is essential.
Fees and Payment Schedule
The payments will be made in three instalments as detailed below and upon completion of all work to the satisfaction of the ILO.
Payments will be made as follows:
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- 25% of the agreed sum upon submission of the Preliminary outline of the report by 16 January 2023.
- 50% of the agreed sum upon submission of the Draft report by 17 March 2023.
- 25% of the agreed sum upon submission of final report to the satisfaction of the ILO, by 27 May 2023
Evaluation Criteria
The successful candidate will have a mix of expertise and qualifications in the focus areas related to this assignment. Evaluation of the suitability of the Consultant to work on this assignment will be made against the following technical criteria:
Evaluation Criteria
Maximum mark
- Expertise/Qualification
Advanced university degree in in statistics, economics, sociology or a related discipline. 10
7-10 years of experience with the use of administrative sources to produce statistics, on international migration, labour or related topics 10
Experience working and interacting with government agencies, in particular the national statistical office, ministry of labour, ministry of immigration or interior, as relevant. 10
Maximum Points 30
- Proposed approach to deliver the ToR’s scope of work
Applicant demonstrates (via submitted technical proposal) their expertise working on administrative sources. The technical proposal includes a realistic action/work plan. The evaluation to assess the understanding of scope, objectives and completeness of response. 40
Quality of the sample report suggests that the applicant(s) possess the required level of knowledge, analytical skill and ability to undertake the case study. 30
Maximum Points 70
Total for Both Section A (30 Points) and Section B (70 Points) 100
Minimum Acceptable Score for the Proposal to be considered for financial evaluation. 70
Recommended presentation of proposal
Interested consultant must submit the following documents/information:
- Technical Proposal, specifying the understanding of the assignment, methodology, approach, proposed work and management plan, key personnel qualifications and relevant experiences of the lead consultants and team members; Sample(s) of accredited publication(s)/reports of similar work done previously. Personal CV, indicating all experience from similar assignments, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
- Financial proposal, the interested consultant is requested to provide a financial offer that is deliverable based AND includes separately professional fees related to the activity and costs for field mission dates and days, travel cost and daily allowance if needs be.
The ILO promotes equal opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive employment in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
How to apply
All interested individual/consultant can send questions if any to the ILO’s Procurement Unit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ([email protected]) until 30 November 2022. Questions will be answered and shared with the interested organizations by Close of Business on 2 December 2022.
Completed technical and financial proposals are to be submitted to [email protected] by Close of Business on 9 December 2022
Closing date: 9-Dec-22