On July 19, 2016, Jordan and the European Union signed a trade agreement that simplified the rules of origin (RoO) requirements stated in the existing EU-Jordan Association Agreement. The simplified RoO initiative for Jordan was a component of the EU’s broader response to the ongoing Syria crisis and support to Jordan. The trade agreement expected to facilitate Jordanian companies’ access to the EU market, thereby diversifying exports, boosting investment and generating decent work opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians. Under Outcome 2 of the “EU-ILO Collaboration in the Monitoring of Labour Aspects in the Implementation of the EU’s Rules of Origin Initiative for Jordan – Phase II”, Better Work Jordan (BWJ) will monitor and promote decent work in enterprises authorised to benefit from the EU’s relaxed Rules of Origin (RoO). The intervention directly contributes to the EU’s Trade-for-Development Measures to Support Inclusive Economic Growth in Jordan. Activities include building the capacity of the Ministry of Labour (MoL), monitoring compliance with decent work, and facilitating job matching through employment hubs.
Enterprise/establishments assessments using compliance tools are conducted annually and form the basis of a comprehensive improvement plan for each factory. The detailed findings of these enterprise-level assessments are shared with the enterprise owner, who may also allow Better Work to share the assessment reports with the factory’s/establishment’s international buyers. Better Work also produces national compliance synthesis reports, which include aggregate data from enterprise assessments on non-compliance findings and compliance effort.
The Better Work programme does not assess whether national law conforms to ILO conventions, which is the responsibility of the ILO supervisory bodies. In some countries where Better Work operates, national law is not in line with core international labour standards. In such circumstances, participating enterprises are assessed on their compliance with the international labour standards as set out in the ILO Core Conventions. In Jordan, provisions under Labour Law (No.8) do not largely apply to agriculture workers; thus, the Agricultural Workers Regulation No.19 of 2021 constitute an important legal instrument to regulate the operations of the workforce sector, preserve workers’ rights without discrimination, and ensure their coverage under the social insurance per the Social Security Law in place and contributes to better working conditions to agriculture workers.
Tested Better Work tools are made available to assist labour inspectorates – including through the newly established Better Work Unit in the Ministry to monitor and assess working conditions, in line with labour legislation and decent work principles. Beyond Garment sector, inspection tools (compliance assessment tools) have been customized for three non-garment sectors: chemicals, engineering and plastics sectors. As the implementing partner ILO will support MoL in customizing the inspection tool in one additional sector, which is the Agri-business sector.
With support from the European Union, the ILO/Better Work will develop a compliance model for the agribusiness sector to monitor and gradually improve the quality of working conditions. It will draw on national labour legislation and international labour standards and link improved regulatory frameworks to operations at the farm level.
The main objective of this consultancy is to identify qualified service provider to develop Compliance Assessment Tool (CAT)/checklist for the Agribusiness sector in Jordan. Better Work’s CAT is used by Better Work assessment team to assess compliance with core international labour standards and national labour law.
The CAT covers the following areas:
Core International Labour Standards: These standards cover the fundamental principles and rights at work and are drawn from the eight core ILO conventions. They are largely consistent across the country programmes, however, for some issues, such as minimum legal working age, national law specifies requirements for a convention’s application. The fundamental principles and rights at work cover: Child Labor, Discrimination, Forced Labor, Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining.
Working Conditions: Standards are drawn from each country’s national labour law. Where national law either fails to address or lacks clarity around a relevant issue regarding conditions at work, Better Work establishes a benchmark based on international standards and good practices. Areas assessed include: Compensation, Contract and Workplace Relations, Occupational Safety and Heath, Working Time. Including conditions for worker’s housing and accommodation.
The structure of the CAT has three levels:
A sample of editable version of CAT is annexed along this ToR. See this LINK as an example of Better Work Jordan’s CAT.
The service provider will provide the following deliverables for review and acceptance by the ILO/BWJ:
| # | Deliverables/ Outputs |
| 1 | Develop and share Timeline of delivery for this assignment |
| 2 | Desk research on governing national laws and ILS standards in agribusiness sector; including detailed analysis of the ISIC Code Mapping in relation to Agribusiness sector in Jordan[1]. |
| 3 | Customize CAT for Agribusiness in English and Arabic based on standardized English and Arabic CAT to be shared by BWJ and conduct presentation thereof[2] |
| 4 | Finalize Agribusiness CAT in English and Arabic in editable format and submit with all supporting documentation, regulations and reports |
Service providers interested to apply to this assignment must send an email to JORDAN@BETTERWORK.ORG entitled “EU-ILO Outcome2- CAT Agribusiness”. The email shall include:
Full Terms of Reference can be found from here
The deadline to submit your application is 05th October 2022, 5:00 PM (Jordan time).
Only selected applicants will be contacted for an interview.