Background

Cowater International is a global leader in management consulting services specialising in international development. We have managed the implementation of over 2500 projects in more than 95 countries, supporting governments, partner organisations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, economic and environmental impacts. 

Cowater is seeking to recruit a Technical Consultant / Consultancy specialised in vocational training and management to partner with Lao Cai College in building the College’s capacity to develop, text and manage innovative and market-facing tourism and hospitality training offers targeting ethnic minority women working in the tourism and hospitality sector. Individual Consultants / Consultancies or Consortia and welcome to apply.

The role will directly support the work of Cowater’s flagship socio-economic development initiative – The Gender-Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism Phase 2 (GREAT 2) in northwest Vietnam. 

About the program: GREAT is an innovative, market-oriented program funded by the Australian Government and working in Son La and Lao Cai provinces in northwest Vietnam. The program works with innovative and forward-thinking private and public sector partners, to identify and unlock economic opportunities for ethnic minority women producers and entrepreneurs. 

https://equality.aus4vietnam.org/

The objectives of the GREAT 2 Program are that ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai:

Objective 1 – have improved economic benefits.

Objective 2 – have increased confidence and social status, including more balanced workloads and greater decision-making within the home, workplace and community.         

Objective 3 – benefit from more gender-responsive, inclusive, and effective provincial and national policies, plans, strategies, and programs.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity for the right vocational training support Service Provider to strengthen the quality and sustainability of vocational training services targeting ethnic minority women in Lao Cai wishing to engage in the tourism and hospitality sector. This is a sector that is growing rapidly and offers many and diverse opportunities for ethnic communities and women in particular, yet those opportunities remain inaccessible to many due to persistent and significant skills gaps. 

Lao Cai College represents a key service provider in this space and brings many decades of experience in supporting the sector. In meeting the growing skills gap challenge in the sector, Lao Cao College is partnering with GREAT 2 to support and strengthen a number of key areas, including:

• Strengthening understanding of skills gaps and the scope and diversity of skills needs in the tourism and hospitality sectors, including the needs of industry stakeholders and ethnic minority women employees and entrepreneurs;

• Building partnerships with industry stakeholders to ensure the continued relevance and quality of training services targeting ethnic minority women;

• Building the capacity of training staff to develop and deliver high quality training, including improving training standards to based on ASEAN standard requirements;

• Supporting the strengthening of College promotional and marketing strategy and capabilities to better target ethnic minority communities and women in particular; and

• Supporting College management to review and develop effective training delivery and financing models based on good practice to meet increased emphasis on independent funding streams.

The Task

The GREAT program is seeking a Technical Consultant / Consultancy specialised in vocational training and management to support this critical work with Lao Cai College aimed at strengthening the relevance, quality and outreach of its training services. In particular, the Consultant / Consultancy will provide expert technical assistance, mentoring and advisory services in the following three areas:

1. Support to training market research; tourism product and training service development 
2. Support to training standards and technical staff capacity building
3. Support to training business model development and delivery regarding vocational tourism training. 
   • Design support and mentoring to skills gap research and analysis amongst ethnic minority women

TASK AREA 1. Support to training market research; tourism product and training service development 

Working closely with the Lao Cai College team to develop an effective and replicable approach and methodology for training market demand and trend analysis, and strengthened capacity and procedures for developing and updating high quality, accessible training products and materials targeting ethnic minority women employees and entrepreneurs in the tourism and hospitality sector. 

Envisaged scope of project activities:

• Support and guidance to development of practical mechanisms for ongoing industry linkages, skills monitoring and referencing
• Coaching and technical assistance to the identification of addressable skills training content, material and delivery platforms targeting ethnic minority women students/clients
• Support to the development of effective outreach and promotional strategies, campaigns and material targeting ethnic minority women students/clients
• Guidance and mentoring for College staff in piloting, reviewing and refining new/adapted training products targeting ethnic minority women students/clients

TASK AREA 2. Support to training standards and technical staff capacity building

Working closely with the Lao Cai College team, identify key skills areas of relevance to ethnic minority women clients/students in which to develop College training staff capacities at ASEAN standards to ensure the consistency, high quality and relevance of College training services in the hospitality and tourism sector. 

Envisaged scope of project activities:

• Capacity needs assessment of College tourism and hospitality team with reference to emerging priority skills gaps and training opportunities for ethnic minority women students/clients
• Design and development of a programme of capacity building for both technical and management staff to address identified capacity gaps in training design, delivery, quality and management
• Delivery of professional training for College technical staff in accordance with ASEAN standards in selected, high demand skills areas
• Mentoring to College staff on effective monitoring and measurement of training efficacy and learning outcomes, and training adaptation

TASK AREA 3. Support to training business model development and delivery regarding vocational tourism training 

Working closely with the Lao Cai College managers, assess the scope for developing and introducing innovation in training and course delivery and financing based on the principles of international good management practices in the vocational training field and in line with College ambition to strengthen its sources of independent and sustainable income streams. 

Envisaged scope of project activities:

• Review and synthesis of relevant, prevailing vocational training business models in light of shifting priorities toward diversification and sustainability of institutional income streams
• Review of prevailing Lao Cai College service delivery mechanisms, business models, costings and cost management
• Support to development of actionable and sustainable training delivery models and financing structures (cost recovery, blended financing) associated with new/adapted training offers targeting ethnic minority women students/clients
• Mentoring and coaching for College managers in management and administration of cost-recovery and/or blended financing training models

Expected results

• Identification and selection of a set of priority hospitality and/or tourism skills needs amongst ethnic minority women employees and entrepreneurs
• Establishment of a working mechanisms for ongoing industry consultation and demand trend monitoring
• Design, development, promotion and piloting of a set of new/adapted training products targeting ethnic minority women students/clients
• Enhanced capacity of Lao Cai College staff to provide and monitor learning outcomes of high quality, relevant training for ethnic minority women students/clients and to teach at or beyond ASEAN standard levels where relevant
• Introduction and effective management of innovative and sustainable training service delivery model(s) that enhance the effectiveness and commercial sustainability of College training services

Timeline

The project is expected to commence in December 2024 and be completed by the end of March 2027.

Instructions for Offerers

Those interested parties wishing to present an Offer for these services should develop and submit a brief Proposal as follows: 

1. Cover Letter

The Proposal cover letter summarise the Offerers relevant experience and capabilities in providing the services described above, and be signed by an authorised representative.

1. Proposal
   1. Consultant / Consultancy information (3 pages)

The Proposal must be written in either English or Vietnamese and be a maximum of 11 pages (+ Annexes) to include the following:

• Provide the name, address and Consultant/Consultancy contact
• Summary of Consultant/Consultancy expertise and credentials in the vocational education delivery and management field sector, including current business model and operations. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following expertise:
  • Knowledge and understanding of vocational training sector, with specific reference to the tourism and hospitality skills sector
  • Proven experience and credentials in providing technical assistance and capacity building support/services to vocational training service providers / institutions
  • Experience and credentials in providing training to ASEAN vocational training standards level
  • Experience in a diverse array of vocational training services, formats and approaches including ones targeting rural / remote communities such as ethnic minority women in northwest Vietnam
  • Knowledge and experience of managing Technical Assistance projects and of delivering high quality services and outputs to agreed standards and timelines
  • Experience working with public vocational training institutions in Vietnam 

1. Technical approach (6 pages)

Brief outline of how the Consultant / Consultancy would approach each of the three key Task Areas outlined above, paying particular attention to how you would approach embedding sustained capacity and capabilities within Lao Cai College in the given timeframe:

1. Support to training market research and product development
   • Approach to skills gap research, analysis and capacity building
   • Approach to establishing workable and relevant industry linkages 
   • Approach to product, pedagogy and delivery platform identification and prioritisation 
   • Approach to development of effective marketing and promotional strategies and campaigns 
   • Approach to mentoring College staff in piloting, reviewing and refining new/adapted products 
2. Support to training standards and technical staff capacity building
   • Approach to skills needs/gap assessment and design of a capacity building programme for technical personnel
   • Approach to training in ASEAN standards for tourism and hospitality skills areas
   • Approach to mentoring in effective monitoring and measurement of training efficacy and learning outcomes
3. Support to training business model development and delivery
   • Approach to reviewing and synthesising vocational training deliver models and best practice 
   • Approach to reviewing the training delivery business models(s) and practices of Lao Cai College
   • Approach to distilling and developing recommendations for workable and sustainable delivery model development / adaptation suitable for Lao Cai College
   • Approach to guiding and mentoring College management and decision makers in new/adapted models and/or financing mechanisms
4. Commercial capacity (2 pages)

• Business information: (e.g. relevant accounts or a recent, publicly available audit report) on the overall size, structure and ownership of the Consultancy / firm, including the vocational training and/or hospitality and tourism component of the business

• Financial information: (i) Key personnel, (ii) daily fee rates and (iii) indicative Level of Effort (i.e. number of days for each team member) envisaged in light of the scope of services 

  5. CVs of Key Personnel should be Annexed to the Proposal

Note: A detailed budget will be negotiated with the successful candidate once selected.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested Consultants / Consultancies are invited to send Proposals to recruitment@aus4equalityvn.org no later than 5 pm Hanoi time, 4^th October 2024. Please indicate in the subject “Capacity building for Lao Cai College in vocational training in the hospitality and tourism sector”.

Proposals will be assessed as they are received. We thank all applicants, however, only those making the shortlist will be contacted.

Cowater International is an equal opportunity employer, basing employment on merit and qualifications as they relate to professional experience and position expectations. Cowater does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, disability, age, or any other basis protected by law.