81308795 - Career Guidance and Training Services for Digital Career Pathways in South Africa

Tender Description

The DS4JI II project is looking for a contractor to support the project implementation of Output 1 and Output 3. Output 1 aims to enable final year vocational students and recent graduates from ICT-related training courses at formal TVET Colleges to transition to selected career pathways in an increasingly digitalised economy. The results hypothesis is that providing vocational students with information on digital career pathways and the opportunity to reflect on career interests, motivation and aptitude, will enable them to make better decisions about their professional future. A decision to pursue a digital career pathway based on this improved information enables the targeted selection of continuing training and professional integration measures, leading to better employment prospects (module objective). The results of a field study by the World Bank show that the availability of occupational information and support for career planning for jobseekers significantly increases their chances of finding employment. The assumption is that vocational students will have the resources required to complete the continuing training and internships recommended for their career choice once they have finished vocational education. Output 3 is dedicated to implementation of demand-oriented support services for transitioning to employment or self-employment in selected digital career pathways. Here, the results hypothesis is that provision of support services that are tailored to specific and demonstrable demand for skills in the labour market will improve the employment prospects of young people because it enables jobseekers to gain access to work experience, obtain advice on working as self-employed entrepreneurs or freelancers or are networked with potential employers (module objective). A study by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) demonstrates a positive correlation between the provision of labour market services and employment, on the basis of 35 randomised control trials. A related assumption is that the trend towards outsourcing digital services (via digital labour platforms) to the self-employed will continue.

This tender and subsequent contract is divided into three work packages.

- Work package 1 is concerned with the activities and results in relation to output 1 of the project. It aims at developing, implementing and sustaining career guidance services at selected TVET Colleges.

- Work package 2 of the tender is concerned with activities and results in relation to output 3 of the project. It aims at developing and implementing support services for work readiness and self-employment for youth.

- Work package 3 of the tender is concerned with designing and conducting an international benchmarking study on digital career pathways in South Africa. The study aims to compare the performance, development processes, products, or services of digital skilling and employment in the digital economy against those of other countries. The goal is to identify best practices, areas for improvement, and opportunities for innovation by learning from the experiences of other countries.