Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Documentation of Best Practices and Lessons Learnt under The Green skill for sustainable employment opportunities Intervention in Baidoa Somalia.
Project: DANIDA SPA LOT-DEV (2022–2025)
Location: Baidoa, Southwest State, Somalia
Position Type: Consultant/Firm
Implementing Partner: GREDO (in partnership with Save the Children)
Funding Partner: Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)
Assignment Type: Request for consultancy service
Expected Assignment Starting Date: 5th November 2025
Application Deadline: 2nd November 2025
Gargaar Relief and Development Organization (GREDO) is a Somali based national NGO established in 1992 by a group of Somali intellectuals and well-wishers to respond to emergencies and bridge partnership gaps. GREDO is a local non-profit, non-governmental, humanitarian and development organization with its headquarters in Baidoa, another sub office in Mogadishu. The organization also has field offices and operational programs across south central Somalia in 18 districts. GREDO envisions achieving a prosperous, healthy, and happy society where peace presides and people live with dignity.
GREDO has in depth experience operating in Somalia fragile context and first-hand experience working with local communities delivering a range of humanitarian, recovery, resilience and development interventions with a focus on addressing Food Security, Livelihoods, Nutrition, Health, WASH services, Education, protection, Peacebuilding, governance and advocacy funded by a wide range of donors and partners. Within this framework, GREDO is implementing the DANIDA SPA LOT-DEV project in partnership with Save the Children, focusing on youth empowerment through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in green and circular economy.
Under DANIDA SPA LOT-DEV Project (2022–2025), GREDO has received top up funding through SCI Somalia piloting green skills for climate adaption for 12 months. The objective is to support vulnerable youth in Baidoa to have improved employability and economic resilience through increased access to quality, market-relevant, and inclusive green skills and entrepreneurship. The project targets youth among IDPs and host community facing challenges of unemployment (formal or informal) which is major contributor to poverty and instability in Somalia. The project focuses on building socio-economic resilience among youth for a sustainable future by addressing high youth unemployment rates in urban areas like Baidoa. It aims to increase access to quality, affordable TVET while strengthening the job market to create opportunities in green skills and small businesses within the green sector to create pathways to decent employment for the youth. The project started on 1st January 2025 and will end 31st December 2025.
The project covers two main intervention areas:
Under the above overreaching objective, the project is designed to achieve two Outcomes (Outcome 1 Improved business enabling environment and access to green skills of youth with and without disabilities to create successful businesses and employment opportunities in green and circular economy) while Outcome 2 Improved access to financial services for business startups and growth in green and circular economy).
Training in green/climate friendly skills- The project has supported 100 youths and among these 100 youths (38% female) have been enrolled in IBTVET and EBTVET institutions and undergoing various course for 6 months such as Climate Smart Farming (agribusiness), Beekeeping and Honey Production, Installation of solar energy system, Digital Media (Graphic Design), Nursery Management and Aluminum Fabrication. Wheel necessary Youths have been learning by using three demonstration sites (climate smart Agriculture, Tree nurseries, and beekeeping sites) operated by the TVET institutions.
Supporting small scale youth enterprises: The project also supported 32 youth owned (60% female) existing climate adaptive small-scale enterprises/business and were provided with expansion grants in the form of asset provision(in-kind) to improve and expand their business delivering socially, economic benefits and beneficial climate adaptive products.
Upon completion of the course trained youth, GREDO and TVET institutions in collaboration with government will facilitate business idea competition in green and circular economy among green skills graduates and provide startup grants for 20 promising climate friendly ventures in addressing challenges posed by climate change and improving community resilience.
The project has integrated entrepreneurship training and facilitated formation of 4 savings groups (VSLA) among youth attending green skills (each group has 25 members). By establishing savings groups for the green graduates, it will provide access to grants through their pool fund to enable them to start their own climate-friendly initiatives for self-employment, hence contributing to sustainability and self-reliance.
Partnerships with private sector:
GREDO has also established partnerships with the following Institutions (EBVET and IBTVET) to deliver skills training for young people.
Zamzam University –Climate-Smart Food production.
Towfiiq Bee Farming Center – Beekeeping and Honey Production
Better Hope Community Development – Solar Installation
Hubaal Digital Media – Graphic Design
SOMIB Technical Center and Al-Madina Institute – Aluminum Fabrication
GREDO Technical Center – Tree Seedling and Nursery Management
Outcome description
Outcome description
Activity description
Achievement
Status
OUTCOME 1:
Improved business enabling environment and access to green skills of youth with and without disabilities to create successful business and employment opportunities in green and circular economy.
Support vulnerable female and male youth (minimum 38 % women and 10 % PwD) in accessing marketable green skills through scholarships for green skill training courses.
A total of 100 youths (both 38 female and 62 males) are currently attending green skills and climate-adaptive enterprise TVET programs.
Ongoing – On track toward completion by November 2025.
Support inclusion of entrepreneurship and soft skill training into standard short term and long term TVET green skills delivered at EBTVET.
100 youth enrolled in the Green TVET skills program have been provided with this training.
Completed
Strengthen existing incubation centers/ one-stop job service centers/demonstration farms focusing on green and circular economy to enable hands-on practice to facilitate youth transitioning into employment.
Three demonstration sites were established in Zamzam and Towfiq for beekeeping, where the youth carried out hands-on practical sessions
Establishment has been completed, and the youth’s practical sessions are ongoing.
Analysis and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices in TVET green skills development with GREDO and other partners, focusing on increasing employment for young women and men in the green sector, to guide replication and scaling in national and regional TVET initiatives.
This is the activity for which we are currently seeking consultant
OUTCOME 2:
Improved access to financial service for business startup and growth in green and circular economy.
Support youth-owned micro and small enterprises in green and circular economies to improve and expand their business by delivering socially beneficial and climate smart products (e.g. solar powered coke stove, drip irrigation technology, solar powered irrigation and cooling systems, modern beehive etc.) through expansion
A total of 32 youth-owned micro and small enterprises (17 female and 15 male) operating within the green and circular economy framework were successfully supported to improve and expand their businesses.
The distribution of asset transfer is ongoing and is expected to be completed on 31 oct 2025.
Facilitate the establishment of savings groups among youth attending green skill training.
100 youth enrolled in the Green TVET skills program have been provided with this training.
Completed
EBTVET centers facilitate business idea competition in green and circular economy among their graduates and provide startup grants for promising ventures in addressing challenges posed by climate change and improving community resilience.
The competition is an ongoing process. A total of 100 TVET-enrolled youth participated and developed their business ideas. Based on these ideas, 19 of them will be provided with startup grants.
Ongoing – On track toward completion by first week in Nov 2025.
As the project is coming to an end, it’s very important to document and capture lessons learned and the best practices and ensure effective documentation, and how these lessons can be replicated and scaled in future projects.
The purpose of this consultancy is to analyze, document, and develop products such as lessons learned, success stories, and good practices about the DANIDA SPA LOT-DEV green skills development component implemented by GREDO in Baidoa. The findings will inform evidence-based programming, policy advocacy, and future scaling of youth-focused green skills development initiatives for GREDO and SCI.
The consultancy seeks to achieve the following specific objectives:
Review and reflect on the effectiveness, relevance, and viability of promoting green skills in enhancing youth employment and self-reliance, focusing on key achievements, implementation experiences, and outcomes
Identify, document, and analyze key lessons, success factors, and innovations from training centers, demonstration sites, and youth enterprises.
Capture and produce at least two detailed case studies highlighting transformative youth stories across selected skill areas.
Develop user-friendly knowledge products (1 policy brief, two case studies, 1 lesson learned brief, PowerPoint presentation, video documentary and summary or final assignment report) for TVET institutions, local authorities, and development partners.
Assess and document value added by the green skills partnerships, what are we learning together, what are the opportunities, what are the challenges and recommendations from IBTVET and EBTVET perspectives.
Assess and determines youth prospects, increased knowledge and awareness, how supported climate adaptive green skills and enterprises will impact on the market chain in terms of employment creation, mitigation of climate impacts, food system etc.
Assess and determine what the opportunities are in green economy, what are the setbacks, challenges, what improvements need to be made.
Identify and propose programmatic recommendations to inform future youth empowerment and climate adaptation.
Specific tasks/responsibilities.
The consultant/firm will undertake the following key tasks:
Conduct a comprehensive desk review of project documents, reports, monitoring data e and literature related to climate, labor market and youth employment etc.
Design data collection tools (questionnaires, FGD, and KII guides) etc. and obtain GREDO’s validation.
Conduct field visits in Baidoa, consulting with GREDO, Save the Children, TVET institutions, trainers, youth beneficiaries (male, female, and PwDs), government officials, and private sector actors.
Analyze collected data to identify achievements, gaps, sustainability prospects, and innovative practices.
Provide demographic and back information of youth participating in the project, IDP and host community proportions, previous occupation or employment status and challenges to decent employment.
Assess how will the green skills graduate transition to self-employment initiatives or what will the participant do after graduation? Explain story of growth among youths, e.g., in terms of knowledge and skills? How will the graduates utilize the skills learned, how GREDO and SCI further help their dreams become successful and grow? What challenges hindering achieving future dreams.
Assess financial practices/literacy of youth for example do they save where, access to loans for setting up or expanding their small business, what are the financial obstacles etc.
Develop two (2) human-interest case studies representing (1)youth enrolled in diverse training sectors comprehensively and (2) youth supported on climate adaptive business enterprises.
Prepare a synthesis report detailing lessons learned, best practices, and actionable recommendations.
Prepare and present dissemination materials (policy brief, case studies, video documentary, PowerPoint deck, and summary brief).
Facilitate a validation meeting/workshop with stakeholders to present findings and incorporate feedback.
The consultant is expected to propose specific methodological approaches, sampling strategies, and analytical frameworks in their technical proposal combining qualitative and quantitative data to ensure comprehensive documentation of lessons learned and best practices. A gender-sensitive and inclusive lens will be required to be applied throughout the assessment to ensure meaningful participation of both women and men, including persons with disabilities.
This will include
Desk and literature reviews: Project documents such as ITT, Workplans proposals, narrative report, Project evaluations if any, NAP and NDC, Labor Market Surveys, country poverty and employment reports, relevant studies on vocational skills development, market systems development, TVET and other relevant published literature particularly on green skills.
Structured Quantitative Survey: A structured questionnaire will be administered to a representative sample of the 132 youth participants (TVET trainees and business grantees) to capture key quantitative data on demographics, skills application, employment status, income changes, savings practices, and perceptions of green skills relevance. This data will provide measurable evidence to complement the qualitative findings and quantify project outcomes.
Focus group discussions: This will be conducted among youth to assess greens viability for youth in these contexts and assess most significant changes in social, economically, youth awareness and contribution to climate adaptation and mitigation. This will be approximately 4 FGDs to cover all green skill courses enrolled for different youths.
Key informant interviews: The consultant shall also interview project teams (SCI and GREDO) government mandated authorities/ministries for youth empowerment, IBTVET and EBTVET institutions, green skills training facilitators and targeted trainees representing youth supported by the project. And
Other assessment methods deemed necessary by the consultant.
Deliverables
Description
Inception Report
Submitting an inception report Outlining the consultant’s understanding of the ToR, methodology, data collection tools (interview questionnaires and KII guide, FGDs etc.) and workplan etc. This to be submitted within 2-5 days of signing contract.
Draft Report
Summary of analysis, findings, and recommendations including dissemination packages.
Dissemination Packages
1 policy brief-
A concise, decision-oriented document that distils the consultancy’s findings into clear, actionable policy recommendations related to youth green skills and employment in Baidoa/SWS. It should translate evidence from:
2 case studies- Documenting their successes and challenges that they have experienced and how the project has supported them towards success in climate adaptive small-scale business.
1 lesson learned brief (10-20 pages maximum) with in-depth analysis of the emerging good practices; lessons learnt on youth enrollment in green skills and support provided to youth owned climate adaptive small-scale enterprises grants. The brief should also have recommendations that can inform youth empowerment using climate adaptation green skills for other partners, GREDO and SCI.
1 Video documentary demonstrating how GREDO and SCI piloted green skills and entrepreneurship support for climate adaptive small-scale entrepreneurs for youth (Minimum 5 Minutes high quality video).
PowerPoint
The consultant shall develop and share PowerPoint slides to use for dissemination meetings, summarizing piloting green skills development for to promote employment and climate adaptation in Baidoa.
Final Report
Revised and approved document with all dissemination packages
The assignment is expected to start on the 5th of November 2025, and the consultant is expected to travel to the project location (Baidoa Bay Region Somalia) and collect all relevant materials and content as needed for the assignment.
The consultant will report to the FSL program Manager, and he/she will work very closely and be supported by the project implementation team during the assignment.
Based on the financial proposal, the consultancy fee will be negotiated if necessary and agreed before formal contract and payments will be based on successful completion of agreed deliverables (to be detailed in contract).
The consultant/firm will be responsible for their own security; insurance while in the field and GREDO will not be responsible for any injuries or damages incurred during the assignment. How ever GREDO will provide adequate safety and security support during the field exercise (during participants engagement and field visit to project sites etc.).
Child Protection/Safeguarding:
GREDO holds zero tolerance for safeguarding misconducts, and the consultant will be briefed on GREDO safeguarding protocol and will be responsible to observe GREDOs child protection and safeguarding policy and to protect children and project participants from all forms of abuse, exploitation, harassment, violence and discrimination and report any incident in relation to CP/safeguarding. GREDO is committed to safeguarding the rights of its program beneficiaries, children, girls and women and all GREDO staffs/consultants and contractors have the primary responsibility in protecting those most vulnerable and at risk.
Core Values:
Integrity
Commitment
Respect,
Voluntarism
Neutrality
Assessment team should possess the following experiences and qualifications.
Master or advanced degree in Education, TVET, Development Studies, Statistics climate adaptation, climate financing, Environmental sciences, Business Development, Economics, or related field.
Minimum 7 years of experience in skills development, market systems development, livelihoods, green economy programming and research.
Proven experience in documentation of programme learning, project management, report writing, project monitoring and evaluation in fragile contexts.
Proven experience in documentation of best practices, lessons learned, and knowledge management. Excellent analytical, research writing, and facilitation skills.
Demonstrated understanding of Somalia’s TVET and youth employment context.
Strong analytical writing/documentation of lessons learned/adaptive learning skills with proven experience in producing high quality research, case studies, videos, policy briefs with ability to present complex information in a simple and accessible manner •
Ability to produce high-quality outputs in English (knowledge of Somali language is an asset).
Applications who meet the criteria can submit their applications electronically in PDF format and shall send the following:
Technical proposal outlining their motivation for the application, the methodological approach on how to conduct the assignment and proposed activities schedule/ work plan with a clear time frame etc. (30%)
Financial proposal in USD detailing itemized fees, data collection, logistical and administrative costs etc. (25%)
CV of the lead consultant and all assessment team who will undertake the assignment. (10%)
Track record on similar assignments e.g. 2 reports/contract copies of similar assignment conducted by the applicant/firm. Provide reference for contacting, if necessary, separately. (25%)
Recommendation letter from NGOs, UN, INGOs which the consultant has worked with before. (10%)
To consultants@gredosom.org and indicate (Application for the Documentation of Best Practices and Lessons Learnt under the Green skill for sustainable employment opportunities Intervention in Baidoa Somalia) in the subject line.
The deadline for application and document submission is 2nd November 2025 at 12pm EAT.
Only shortlisted applications will be contacted for the next process.
GREDO is an equal opportunities employer.
GREDO is an indigenous local NGO. Non-profit non-partial, non- political and voluntary organization based in Baidoa. To reach the most affected grass-root communities in Bay and Bakool regions effectively and efficiently, the necessity of local partn... Read More
