Terms of Reference (TOR)

BACKGROUND

Three decades after ASEAN was established, ASEAN leaders recognised that: there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness and contact among the people of ASEAN. It was of this concern that ASEAN leaders established ASEAN Foundation in Jakarta, Indonesia, at ASEAN’s 30th Anniversary Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 15 December 1997.

The ASEAN Foundation is an organisation from and for the people of ASEAN. The Foundation exists because of one vision: to build a cohesive and prosperous ASEAN Community. As an ASEAN body, the Foundation is tasked to support ASEAN mainly in promoting awareness, identity, interaction and development of the people of ASEAN.

To continue ASEAN Foundation’s commitment to ASEAN youth to be able to adapt with the life post COVID-19 recovery, the ASEAN Foundation is going to conduct research on Youth Job Market and Skills Demand for the Future.


RESEARCH OVERVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought severe disruptions to economies and labour markets worldwide. Back in April, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned that the pandemic will threaten the employment of 68 million workers across Asia if the outbreak goes on until end of the year. As for young people who have faced a tough labour market even before the coronavirus crisis began, the pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on their employment prospects.

On the youth sides, the COVID-19 has further exposed the large skills gap among them across the ASEAN region. Skills development is key to fostering the resilience of young people when facing rapid changes in prospects for employment and entrepreneurship in the sectors that are hit hardest by the crisis.  While some sectors will continue to suffer due to COVID-19 for years to come, others will see a spike in recovery and growth (e.g., health, personal care and ICT); there is a timely and tremendous need to identify and match labour market needs with proper skills development to effectively address the skills gap challenge in the post-COVID era.

This research will help ASEAN Foundation to understand about job market and skills demand for the future in ASEAN region especially the life post COVID-19 recovery. The research also will support ASEAN Foundation in designing better vocational training for youth and increase job-matching conversion rates.


OBJECTIVE

The research aims to assess the current state of the labour market in the midst of COVID-19, and job market and skills demand for the future. Research will include data collection and analysis across 10 ASEAN member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.


POSITION SUMMARY

The Field Qualitative Researcher will be posted directly with the Lead Researcher Consultant of the ASEAN Foundation. The post holders will translate the research tools into local language and collect, edit, process, and coordinate research data in support of the research study. He/she also will arrange and conduct field interviews as appropriate to the study, and records research data in accordance with specified protocol and procedures. She/he will be required to travel to various sites within a specified geographical area (within the city), as appropriate to the objectives of the study.


ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Perform focus group discussion and key informant interview with young people, private sector, and government.
• Prepare field notes and transcriptions of focus group discussion and key informant interview.
• Report performance and outputs to Lead Qualitative Researcher.
• Make corrections on field notes of qualitative data based on feedback from Qualitative Research Quality Control Team.
  

DUTY STATION AND DURATION OF ASSIGNMENTS

The second phase of the research will be conducted in several cities in 8 ASEAN Countries. The applicant can apply by selecting one location as preferred, please do note that it is advisable that the applicant resides in the city the applicant has selected. The following are the list of cities that the applicant could select:

1. Brunei Darussalam (Bandar Seri Begawan)
2. Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
3. Lao PDR (Vientiane)
4. Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sabah)
5. Myanmar (Yangon, Mandalay)
6. The Philippines (Manila, Cebu)
7. Singapore
8. Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai)

QUALIFICATIONS & CRITERIA

• Bachelor degree in social sciences
• Possess experience as qualitative researcher 2-3 years (or equivalent to at least 3 research guided by a team of researchers, not individual research such as undergraduate thesis)
• Excellent ability in facilitating a group discussion.
• Ability to work with young people.
• Age of 21 – 30 years old.
• Great command of English.
• Willing to carry out field data collection by complying with the COVID-19 protocols as recommended by the Official COVID-19 Task Force.

APPLICATION PROCESS

All interested applicants submit their application (including CV, Cover Letter and ID Card) to https://bit.ly/AFResearchers.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION

Sunday, 15 August 2021

APPLICATION INQUIRY

All inquiries pertaining to this application is addressed to [email protected] and CC [email protected].