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Chemonics International Inc.

USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity

Scope of Work Summary:

USAID SMEA requires the services of an STTA to identify, design and support implementation of relevant trainings for Textile MSMEs. The resource would be required to conduct secondary research, comprehensive training need assessment, networking with stakeholders, mobilization of MSMEs, finalizing scope of trainings and content finalization. The purpose of this effort is to support growth of Textile MSMEs by imparting knowledge and practices under new technologies, management practices, quality assurance, compliance, and production techniques.

1.     Position Title and Department:

Competitiveness Enhancement Component:

  • Textiles – Technical consultant

 

2.     General Summary:

Chemonics International is implementing USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), which is an economic growth project aimed at improvement of financial and operating performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Pakistan in selected high-performing industrial, manufacturing and services sectors. SMEA’s development hypothesis is that MSME-led economic growth will result in poverty reduction, job creation, and entrepreneurship development contributing to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The project has to date supported more than 2000 MSMEs across the country through provision of Business Development Services, grants and technical capacity building trainings. The trainings have been imparted through technical consultants who design and deliver the trainings through physical or online training events. SMEA is now looking to launch technical trainings for the Textile Sector. The said consultant will assist the textile sector team to identify, design and support implementation of the technical trainings on various topics to 150 MSMEs in Textile sector across Pakistan.

 

Textile Sector

Pakistan’s textile and clothing sector plays a vital role in the economic development of the country and contributes 8.5% in the GDP and 60 – 65% in the total exports of Pakistan. It also provides employment to 38% of the manufacturing labor force.  Despite contributing so much to the economy, this sector has not been able to realize its full potential as more than 3/4th of the sector is composed of MSMEs. Pakistan’s textile sector has two fragments, one is formal sector which involves spinning units and the other is informal sector where weaving, knitting, finishing, stitching and towel manufacturing primarily takes the shape of MSMEs.[1]( Though Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world with strong spinning and weaving infrastructure, however, the value added sector has a small share in exports. One of the reasons for this is the shortage of skilled workforce and training facilities which can enhance skills and produce skilled middle managers and workers having in-depth knowledge of production processes. In the garments sector specifically, Pakistan’s productivity is estimated to be only 37% of the benchmark established by China. Even India features better than Pakistan at 46%. It is estimated that if Pakistan is able to increase its productivity in textiles and clothing by 60%, this would translate into a gain of over US$1billion per year.[2]  

Things are even worse for Micro and SME enterprises (MSMEs) within this sector as the unavailability of skilled labor directly translates into constraints on their quality assurance and production systems thus proving to be a big spanner in their works. The MSMEs in the textile and clothing sector suffer from high wastages in fabric and trims, stitch defects, and low per operator productivity, resulting in high cost of production and often late deliveries to the buyers and sometimes charge backs too due to poor quality. Due to these constraints, Pakistan is losing a lot of orders because the factories are not able to meet the target price as well as expected quality by the customers.

A few factors that have always featured on top of this chronic scarcity of a productive, sufficiently trained labor force for the sector are as follows.

  • Most MSMEs tend to be stuck in a low-wage/low-productivity equilibrium, because they are not prioritizing worker productivity and production systems. The necessity is to train and aware the people at the helm to make them realize the relationship between higher profits, better productivity and better training, incentives for the labor force.
  • Most of the workforce in this sector is on contract basis. Independent contractors are also not inclined to train labor as MSME’s look for quick fixes to immediate labor requirements and neither demand nor pay better for trained labor. Training is deemed an expensive proposition that will increase production costs.
  • Although institutions like National Textile University Faisalabad and Textile Institute of Pakistan, Karachi provide training on all aspects of the textile sector value chain, yet they are unable to cater to the huge industry demand. Moreover, the disconnect between the industry and academia adds insult to injury as neither the industry takes academia on board for their training requirements nor the academia has an outreach to make these MSMEs aware of their training programs.

Based on the above constraints in the sector, SMEA is planning to execute a set of demand-driven trainings that impart functional knowledge on various important topics e.g. quality assurance, compliance, material resource planning, production planning, marketing in COVID times and social media marketing for MSMEs in this sector. The trainings topics can be further discussed with the relevant stakeholders to finalize the training plan. These trainings would be conducted with MSMEs from the sub-sectors of bed wear, towel, weaving and garments manufacturing units, boutiques from within the Textile sector but can potentially include other sub-sectors as well, based on demand.

 

3.     Objective of the Consultancy:

USAID SMEA is planning to engage the services of STTA to assist technical team to identify, design and support implementation of trainings for MSMEs in textile sector on various topics and subjects to have the following impact:

 

Textile Sector

The consultant will carry out outreach to different associations and chambers to conduct a training need assessment exercise and to promote up-coming series of technical trainings under textiles at different locations. During the assignment, the consultant will be responsible to conduct and conclude TNA exercise to identify appropriate short training courses, assist technical team to develop SOWs of trainers, assist technical team to finalize the training content, mobilization and meetings with sector associations, influential clubs and academia to enhance the number of MSMEs in training programs

In terms of SMEA’s objectives, these efforts will enable the MSMEs in adapting to the new management practices that are required as per the highly changing and competitive environment in Textile sector. The new management practices and changes in the existing business processes will require the MSME to invest more capital leading to an increase in private sector investment.

 

4.     Duties and responsibilities:

The STTA will be required to increase the scale of Textile and Clothing training sessions as proposed by the technical team. All the activities performed by the STTA must be in line with the awarded contract and scope of work. The consultant will perform the activity by keeping in view the business protocols/scope and quality parameters defined in the contract as per Chemonics policies. The STTA will also be responsible to produce and submit all deliverables with supporting documents mentioned in deliverable schedule.

 

5.     Specific Tasks of the STTA:

The STTA will be responsible for a series of tasks to ensure the strategizing, planning, and support the execution of the training sessions for the Textile sector value chain. The STTA would be required to carry out the following duties as part of its consultancy under the Competitiveness Enhancement Component:

  1. Carry out secondary research to understand the MSME businesses within Textile sector in terms of their technical skills requirements and the role of initiatives like technical trainings to add value to their productivity and enhance their skills.
  2. The STTA would be required to meet with SMEA team to understand the program objectives and the expected results that the team plans to achieve from their interventions. The STTA would be specifically interested in trainings or any other activities that have already been imparted in the concerned sector and the results that came about and recorded.
  3. The STTA would then arrange online meetings with stakeholders of textile association’s e.g.  PRGMEA, PHMA, APBUMA, PBEA, TMA, APHTMEA, academia and different associations in different segments etc. to determine their understanding and assessment of the training needs of their MSME members. Their inputs would be recorded and form an integral part of the training needs analysis.
  4. The STTA would also approach textile education and design institutions to assess if they have designed specific short courses/trainings for MSMEs and their workforce within the textile sector keeping in mind the evolving requirements of the sector.
  5. The STTA would also meet up with a few selected SMEs/influencers to validate the findings of the training needs assessment with the concerned stakeholders directly. These meetings can be in person or online.
  6. All the inputs from above mentioned stakeholders would be transformed into action plans, training topics with rationale, complete with training schedules, potential trainer profiles and execution details. This would also include the result expectations from such trainings for the textile MSMEs sector in coordination with M&E department.
  7. The STTA will also increase the outreach of the training program by creating awareness among MSMEs through associations and various other related platforms.
  8. The STTA with the help of SMEA team will draft SOW for specific technical trainers to be hired for execution of trainings or identify ongoing short courses that can be contracted to conduct sectoral trainings.
  9. The STTA may participate in the training programs, if required or instructed by technical team  
  10. The STTA will facilitate SMEA team to mobilize/train 150 MSMEs from different verticals under textile sector across Pakistan through different planned trainings. To start this activity, the STTA have to finalize 02 training topics (at least) prior to start training sessions for interested MSMEs.


6.     Duty Station:

Consultant should be available to work with the USAID SMEA team out of either one of SMEA’s offices in Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi. In the case of travel and lodging, the cost will be paid according to the standard Chemonics’ policy.

 

7.     Reporting:

The STTA will report to the respective CE Specialist under the CE Component Lead or any other designated staff and will work closely with other members of the CE team.

 

8.     Duration of the Assignment:

This assignment is planned to take place from June 2021 for up to a total of 55 days Level of Effort (LOE).

 

9.     Deliverables:

Following are the key deliverables and their associated deadlines, and these will be discussed and agreed with the technical team and the STTA:   

No.

Activities / Deliverables

LOE Required

1

Meeting to discuss expectations, training delivery plan, points of contact, and reporting requirements with the SMEA team

02 Days

2

Secondary research on Textile trainings areas and emerging topics that can help improve sales and exports

3 Days

3

Submission of Mobilization Plan (including secondary research note) to USAID SMEA

1 Day

4

Meeting with PRGMEA, PHMA, APBUMA, TMA to analyze training need requirements and any other based in major hubs etc. Lahore, Faisalabad, Karachi and Sialkot

08 Days

5

Meeting with MSME influencers to analyze training requirements

05 Days

6

Meetings with TIP, AIFD, PBDTI, PRGTII and other training institutes  to find out if they are offering any trainings for MSMEs as per the TNA conducted at associations

05 Days

7

Identifying trainers or available ongoing short courses, drafting scopes of work or concept notes (in the case of ongoing short courses) and training schedule. Finalized and approved SOWs or Concept Notes would be required as an output for this.

15 Days

8

Finalization of content with the trainers

05 Days

9

Creating Awareness of training program and increasing outreach

07 Days

10

Final Report with findings and potential new areas of trainings to be implemented

4 Days

Total

55

 

12.  Training Schedule:

Considering the innovative service with little skilled resource availability, we anticipate a reasonable uptake for the training in multiple geographies focusing on the less represented areas as well.

The trainings/ Sessions will be conducted during the 2nd and 3rd quarter as per following table:

 

District/City – Textiles

Target Dates

TBD in consultation with STTA

July, 2021

August, 202

September, 2021

October, 2021

 

13.  Job Qualifications

Consultant

Person Specifications

 

Level of Effort

Consultant (Textiles)

  • Minimum sixteen years of education in Textile related field, business management, or relevant field (preferably Masters)
  • Minimum five years of relevant professional experience working closely with MSMEs from the Textile sector strongly preferred
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are a must.
  • Self-motivated and responsible individual who can work independently and deliver results within assigned timelines.
  • Female applicants are encouraged to apply.
  • Experience working with the donor agencies, certification bodies, corporate entities and academia will be an added advantage.
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills.
  • Should have strong networking among sector associations, academia and pool of technical experts/trainers nationally and internationally.

55 days