ThaiNGO

TERMS OF REFERENCE

DESK REVIEW FOR THE FOSTERING ACCOUNTABILITY IN RECRUITMENT OF FISH WORKERS

1. Project Background

The Intervention: Plan International (Plan) will implement a four year project, Fostering Accountability in Recruitment for Fishery Workers (FAIR Fish) to reduce forced labor and human trafficking (FL/HT) in the recruitment of women and men in the seafood processing sector in Thailand to support the Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of International Labor Affairs’ (ILAB) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT). Plan will work with the Food School to develop and test a responsible recruitment model with a small number of SMEs in the seafood processing sector, while also supporting training, advocacy and communication efforts in this regard.

Pre-Situational Analysis: A Pre-Situational Analysis (PSA) is required by the donor.  The purpose of the pre-situational analysis (PSA) is to provide detailed, in-depth information about recruitment practices that can lead to FL/HT among migrants working in the Thai seafood processing sector. The data collected will help refine the design and content of project interventions that contribute to the ultimate development objective of reducing FL/HT in the recruitment of women and men in the seafood processing sector in Thailand.

Of primary interest will be a description and analysis of the current systems and procedures used to recruit foreign workers entering Thailand, including the MOU system, the pink card system, nationality verification, and informal recruitment practices.     Changes in the MOU system, due to come into effect in November, 2019, are of particular interest as these will affect recruitment, given the additional costs that will be incurred by firms in the form of fees paid to government for permits and payments to recruitment agencies for workers, as are the effects of these costs on SMEs and the implications these changes will have on migrant workers.

The PSA is focused on the following questions: 

1. Who are the recruitment actors, and what are the strategies, hiring procedures, routes, stages and processes of movement and migration of workers from place of origin to worksite?

 

2. What are the gender dimensions in the recruitment of fish processors? How does the treatment of women workers differ from their male counterparts?

 

3. To what extent do current recruitment practices contribute to the exploitation of seafood processors? 
   1. How effective are Thailand’s laws, policies, and mechanisms in reducing abusive recruitment of migrants for work in the fish processing industry?
   2. To what extent are private sector recruitment policies and practices encouraging or discouraging FL/HT and how willing are companies to combat FL/HT within their own businesses and the fish processing industry as a whole?
4. How is the new MOU system expected to affect recruitment of foreign fish processors?  Will the increased fees and regulations related to recruitment reduce labor exploitation or encourage informal recruitment that is more prone to worker abuse?

 

5. What are the promising recruitment practices that can or have reduced FL/HT in fish processing and other similar industries and how could they be adapted to SMEs and integrated into the project strategy?

 

6. What are the factors that have influenced private sector companies to reject exploitive recruitment and labor practices and adopt and implement fair recruitment principles with their migrant fish processing employees?  What are the benefits and costs in adopting fair recruitment practices?

 

7. What are the level of awareness and understanding on FL/HT among seafood processing workers, recruiters, business owners and management staff?

 

 

Since women often are highly vulnerable to exploitation[1], the PSA will strongly focus on the experiences of migrant women and the effects unfair recruitment has on them and their families in their home communities and at the company location.

 

The PSA will use a desk review, key informant Interviews, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions to answer these seven questions. 

 

2.  Objectives of the Desk Review

The objectives of the desk review are to provide contextual information that is of use in refining project design and implementation and to provide a summary of the literature on the subject to the reader of the PSA as it relates to Questions 1-7. 

 

3. Scope, Methodology and Deliverables of the Desk Review

Scope: The desk review will focus on academic, other published, and grey literature in Thailand  and where accessible, literature originating from Cambodia and/or Myanmar and/or other ASEAN countries, on migrant labor recruitment to address the issues embodied in Questions 1-6 above.  While the scope should be narrowed as closely as possible to that which relates to the food/seafood processing sectors and SMEs, where there is no material directly related to this sector or type of firm, this should be noted in the report and brought to Plan’s immediate attention so that a decision can be made as to substitute search parameters.  A general description of FL/HT in the Thai fishing industry is NOT required as this has been adequately documented. 

The desk review will identify the government agencies responsible for migration and work permit enforcement in order to address Q1 and Q4 and, using visuals and building on existing materials, outline the various procedures for worker migration to work legally in Thailand.  The review will thus fully describe the MOU system and linking the related legislation and regulations that is due to take effect in November, 2019, with full compliance expected by March 2020 and any changes to it.  This information will serve as a baseline for how the system impacts SMEs over the life of the project.  The desk reviewer will assess the gaps in the MOU system with respect to recruitment policies, regulations, and fees as they pertain to employment contracts and the retention of workers once placed in jobs at the fish processing businesses.  How, for example, do business owners ensure that workers will stay with the company after recruitment fees have been paid?   This gap analysis will help the project team identify weaknesses within the existing system that can be targeted for strengthening, and pinpoint places where interventions will have the biggest impact.

 

The desk reviewer will also do a deeper analysis of private sector recruitment practices, both by companies and third party recruiters in order to address Q1, 3, 5 and 6.  The review will include an analysis of the current set of employee regulations and recruitment rules and guidelines, where they exist.  In particular, the desk review will assess how SME business owners independently recruit and hire their own foreign workers, and how they navigate the regulatory recruitment processes.

 

Finally, the desk review will review and analyze good and promising practices related to responsible recruitment that could be applied in the context of SMEs in the seafood processing sector. 

 

Methodology: The consultant must identify and provide a rationale for the types of sources s/he will investigate during the search for relevant literature e.g. Google Scholar, databases, university libraries.  Search terms must be identified and documented for each relevant publication identified.  Simple tools must be developed to track the search process and to compile the details about the publication.  An example is appended. 

 

The desk reviewer will be given assistance in identifying relevant documents by the program staff in Bangkok and will be supplied with the Fair Fish activities mapping document, the Fair Fish proposal, and other relevant project documents; however, the desk reviewer is primarily responsible for finding and obtaining additional documents needed for the review.

 

Deliverables: The expected deliverables are:

 

3.1 Succinct report (1-2 pages) describing the methodology (sources, search strategies) to be adopted by the Desk Review, and accompanying tools for documenting and summarizing the searches, such as the tool in Annex A.  This will be incorporated into the Final Report.

 

3.2 A draft Synthesis Report that distills the information gleaned from the Desk Review into a 20 page report (excluding the bibliography) describing existing recruitment policies, laws and regulations,  promising practices,  identifies gaps in the literature, explains enforcement practices, and assesses and synthesizes data to inform Q1-7 of the PSA.  The material should be organized around the six questions and will include an Executive Summary (1 page); Methodology (1 page); Findings (20 pages); Conclusions (5 pages).  The bibliography should documented according to the Associated Press (AP) citation style and include a brief annotation (1-2 sentences only) describing the nature of the document (e.g. “Journal article based on primary research” or ”Research Report based on secondary statistics”) and how it is relevant to the FAIR Fish project (e.g. “Refers to the small scale food processing industry in ASEAN countries”). This submission should include the completed desk review tool separately.

 

3.3 A final Synthesis Report that incorporates the feedback of Plan International staff.

 

4. Qualifications and Experience of the Consultant

4.1 A University degree, Masters or higher, in any of the fields of the social sciences, social work, human rights, law, business, and development studies.

 

4.2 Documented evidence of a solid understanding of the Thai migrant labor situation, specifically recruitment practices.

 

4.3 Understanding of the fishing, food and/or seafood processing sectors, and SMEs highly desirable.

 

4.4 An appreciation of research methodology and how to assess data quality.

 

4.5 Outstanding ability to synthesize and write reports.

 

The applicant must provide samples of previous work demonstrating superior writing ability in Thai and in English.

 

5. Work Plan for the Desk Review

Thirteen days level of effort has been budgeted for the Desk Review that should be utilized roughly as follows:

Task	Cumulative Time Elapsed	Consultant LOE (billable days)	Days for Plan’s Internal Review
Development of methodology and tools for the Desk Review	T+1	1
Plan’s review of methodology and tools	T+2		1
Literature search and documentation	T+8	6
Submission of draft synthesis report	T+13	5
Plan’s review of draft synthesis report	T+17		4
Submission of final synthesis report	T+18	1
Plan’s review of final synthesis report	T+20		2
TOTAL	20	13	7

 

 

6. Schedule of Deliverables and Payments

Task	Deliverable	Due Date	% Payment
Inception	Methodology and tools report	I day after contract signature	10
Search and Draft	Draft Synthesis Report	12 days after contract signature	30
Finalization	Final Synthesis Report	13 days after contract signature	60
TOTAL			100%

 

 

7. How to apply

 

1. 1. Detailed response to the TOR, which includes brief technical proposal showing how you would carry out the assignment (the proposed methodology)

 

1. 2. In the technical proposal, applicants must address ethics and child safeguarding approaches, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies, particularly the following:

 

Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with Ethical MERL Framew