Economic Empowerment Programme Component
Contracting Authority SPARK
Component Title Economic Empowerment Programme
Area of Implementation Gaziantep, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş, Mersin, Urfa and Hatay
Objective of the Component 1. Increased entrepreneurship capacity of SPARK graduates
- Internship and job placement opportunities created for SPARK graduates in SMEs
Target Details mentioned in the main activities
Duration For work-package 1: 20 months (Start in Sep 2020)
For work-package 2: 24 months (start in October 2020)
- Background
SPARK is responding to the higher education crisis for Syrian refugees and vulnerable youth residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq/KRG. A lack of opportunities can lead young adults into poverty, radicalisation or to take the dangerous journey to Europe.
Our Programme vision is unlocking a new generation of marginalized youth to become educated, professionally skilled and inspirational leaders of the future who can guide their families and communities toward cohesion and prosperity by building a cadre of educated and trained leaders who are civic-minded, intellectually able, and professionally skilled.
The programme, which targets Syrians under temporary protection (SuTP) and vulnerable youth in Turkey offers scholarship packages and vocational training. Moreover, the Programme also offers another component to be implemented by local partners in Turkey which is Economic Empowerment.
- Criteria for Submitting a Bid
2.1 Eligible applicants operating in the public or the private sector on a profit-making or non-profit making basis are welcome to submit a bid.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Be legally registered and have actual operations in Turkey;
- Be directly responsible for the preparation/ management/implementation of the project, i.e. not act as an intermediary;
- Be experienced and able to show that they have the capacity needed to manage the activities on the scale of the project in question;
- Be financially sound and financial continuity throughout the project.
Experience in EU funded projects and working with students is an advantage
2.2 Applicants must submit a bid on their own being the mere implementing body.
- Description of the Component
The objective of this component is creating better jobs for young people. In Turkey, SPARK works to increase the opportunities of SuTP (Syrians under Temporary Protection) and disadvantaged youth from host communities on the labour market and improve their employability by providing them with Entrepreneurship and Job Skills training, Internships/Job Placements as well as specialized technical certification programmes. Selection of the institutes and training programmes is directly related to the labour market needs and capacity, as well as the needs of the target group.
Work-Package 1: Entrepreneurship training and seed funding
Entrepreneurship and Business Skills Training
Extracurricular training on entrepreneurship is offered to all scholarship students and graduates. The existing SPARK’s vocational entrepreneurship curriculum is contextualized and offered as an extracurricular training opportunity to the scholarship holders. Annually a large business plan competition will be organized amongst the scholarship holders.
Lessons learnt through several similar entrepreneurship programmes have been adapted. For example, the training needs to be practical rather than theoretical. It should be simple and helps entrepreneurs generate and shape their business ideas. A tailor-made entrepreneurship curriculum has been designed that tackles all main elements of starting and running a business.
Activities are designed to help young entrepreneurs to orientate themselves in entrepreneurship, generating a business idea, developing a prototype and writing their business plan. The best plan will receive further support in terms of professional coaching and mentoring from practitioners and will be financed.
Financial Support/seed funding
A competition will be held amongst the scholars who participated in the training and developed their own ideas into business plans so that a group of entrepreneurs will be financed through SPARK to start their own businesses. The selected partner will assist with the procedure of purchasing and documenting the assets of the young entrepreneurs’ start-ups in coordination with SPARK by following the SOP agreed on by SPARK.
Work-Package 2: Internships / Employment Opportunities
The work package of internship and job placement is a very important segment of SPARK’s work to strengthen the skills of SPARK’s students/graduates and prepare them for the labour market. Towards the end of their scholarships, traineeship and job placement services will be offered to SPARK’s students/graduates.
The selected partner will map potential internship and job opportunities for the students/graduates, based on their academic knowledge and the market needs. The next very important phase is to match the students with companies as well as the follow-up of their employment contract signature and work permits process. SPARK expects all internships and job placements to be formal.
After the matching process and prior to starting the internship or job in the company, students/graduates are offered training. The training offers soft skills that include: time management, performance management, how to overcome difficulties in a working place, business environment and culture, communication skills, job interview skills and how to write a CV etc. The training program needs to be tailored-made according to the beneficiaries’ needs, within the scope of soft skills. The main objective of these pieces of training is to provide students/graduates with interpersonal skills that would enable them to adapt to the labour environment. Proposals should include training methodology and the timeline of the training in details.
- Timeline
The expected overall timeline is as follows:
| Work Package 1: Entrepreneurship training & seed funding | ||||||
| Activity | Location | Target | Months | |||
| 9 – 10 2020 | 11/2020 – 3/2021 | 4/2021 – 4/2022 | ||||
| Business ideas Selection | Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Mersin | 150 | ||||
| Entrepreneurship training | 75 | |||||
| Seed funding follow up | 10 |
| Work Package 2: Internships and Employment Opportunities | |||||||||
| Activity | Location | Target | Months | ||||||
| 10/2020 | 12/2020 | 01/2021 | 06/2021 | 07/2022 | 09/2022 | ||||
| Outreach to beneficiaries and companies | Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Mersin | ||||||||
| Application and selection process | |||||||||
| Professional development and soft skills training | |||||||||
| Matching interns with companies and contract signature process | |||||||||
| Internship and job activity | 100 students /graduates | ||||||||
- Application Details
We are looking for partners who:
- Have a reasonable experience in the fields of refugees and economic empowerment in general and employment/internship or entrepreneurship/start-ups in specific.
2. Are well-connected with the employment and/or start-up ecosystem;
3. Have added-value and advantage over competitors;
4. Are competitive budget-wise and can contribute to the success of the activities.
5. Ensure visibility and branding for the activities, students, and partners.
Please note that due to the current situation of taking precautionary measures against the COVID-19, applicants should have the ability to offer required services through an online modality.
Required documents:
- Narrative description of the offer in 4 A4 pages Max written in English. (The template will be provided by SPARK)
- Budget breakdown in TLe. covering activities, communications efforts and staff hours. (The template will be provided by SPARK)
- Activity time frame. (The template will be provided by SPARK)
- A portfolio of the applicant in the field of Economic Empowerment (especially related work package).
- A sample of nominated trainers CVs (2 or 3 trainers)
- Due diligence documents (details will be provided when requested)
- Registration information
Interested applicants may contact SPARK to receive the templates. Please note that shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit due diligence documents in 24 hours.
Applications should be made for one work package only. Please provide the reference code of the work-package applied for in the subject-header as mentioned below:
Entrepreneurship Work-package Reference Code: RFQ-EEP02-WP1-2020-SPARK
Internships Work-package Reference Code: RFQ-EEP02-WP2-2020 SPARK
Finalizing the selection might take around 6 weeks.
Application Closing Date: 18 August 2020
- If you have any questions and/or to submit your letter of interest, please contact SPARK, via email: [email protected]
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