Consultancy Work on Legal and institutional gap analysis on child labour and forced labour in Ethiopia

1. Background and Rationale

The International Labour Organization (ILO), as the United Nations specialized agency mandated to promote social justice and internationally recognized labour standards, supports Member States in advancing decent work through integrated approaches that strengthen enterprise performance, labour market governance, and worker protection. In Ethiopia, the ILO delivers this support through the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) and a coordinated portfolio of interventions, including the One ILO Siraye Programme. This programme consolidates multiple projects and partnerships under a common results framework, with a focus on productivity, decent working conditions, effective social dialogue, and national labour market governance and labour market data systems.

Within this framework, the ILO is implementing the European Union‑funded project “Advancing Decent Work in Ethiopian Coffee and Horticulture Value Chains” (2025–2029). The project applies a systems-based, area-focused approach to address structural risks and adverse labour impacts in two priority export value chains. By intervening at farm, enterprise, , sectoral, and institutional levels, the project aims to improve working conditions, strengthen compliance with national labour law and international labour standards, enhance productivity and quality performance, and reinforce national capacities for labour inspection, social dialogue, and evidence‑based policymaking.

Coffee and horticulture are strategic sectors for Ethiopia’s economy, contributing significantly to export earnings, employment, and rural livelihoods. Coffee remains Ethiopia’s leading export commodity, while horticulture has emerged as a fast‑growing sector with strong employment potential, particularly for women. However, these value chains are characterized by persistent human rights and labour‑related risks, including child labour, forced labour, weak labour management systems, low productivity, skills mismatches, and inadequate occupational safety and health (OSH) practices. These risks undermine competitiveness, sustainability, and inclusive growth, and heighten exposure to adverse human rights impacts within global value chains.

These challenges are increasingly significant in the context of evolving European Union and global market requirements, where sustainability, traceability, responsible business conduct (RBC), and human rights due diligence are becoming essential conditions for market access. The EU-funded project responds by promoting an integrated, system-level approach that links enterprise-level risk identification, prevention, and mitigation measures with sectoral coordination and national legal, policy, and institutional reform.

Children under 15 are estimated to comprise approximately 43 percent of Ethiopia’s population. Ethiopia has ratified 23 International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions and enacted a range of national legal instruments—including the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019, the Criminal Code, the Anti‑Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants Proclamation, and the Overseas Employment Proclamation—aimed at preventing child labour, forced labour, and labour exploitation. Institutional mandates for enforcement and coordination are held by, among others, the Ministry of Labour and Skills (MoLS), the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA), and the Ministry of Justice. Despite this legal and institutional framework, enforcement capacity remains constrained by operational gaps, limited inter‑institutional coordination, and coverage challenges, and recent assessments indicate that Ethiopia is making only moderate progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labour.

Approximately 76 percent of children engaged in labour are employed in the agricultural sector, where exposure to hazardous working conditions is common. An estimated 6.76 million children aged 5–14 are involved in child work, while more than 2.84 million children aged 15–17 are engaged in hazardous work. When children combine work with schooling, they face increased risks to their health, educational attainment, and long‑term development. These risks are more even more likely for children working within agricultural value chains.

In line with ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, Ethiopian Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 establishes the minimum employment age at 15 years. It prohibits hazardous work for persons under 18 years of age. These protections are further elaborated upon in Directive No. 813/2021, which specifies the activities prohibited for young workers. However, the absence of a clear legal definition of “light work” within the national regulatory framework creates legal and enforcement gaps, limiting effective risk prevention and allowing children to remain engaged in potentially unsafe tasks.

The National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour (2021–2025) provides a policy framework that distinguishes between unlawful child labour and acceptable child work and promotes protective measures for children aged 15 and above. While the Action Plan supports coordination, prevention, and awareness-raising efforts, it lacks binding legal force and has limited leverage within enforcement, compliance, and due diligence mechanisms.

Forced labour also remains a concern, particularly in informal agricultural employment and among seasonal and migrant workers. Weak regulatory oversight, informal recruitment practices, limited access to effective grievance and complaint mechanisms, and insufficient labour inspection coverage in remote and rural areas heighten the risk of coercion, debt bondage, excessive overtime, and restrictions on freedom of movement. Strengthening identification, prevention, mitigation, enforcement, sanction, and remediation measures—through labour inspection systems, accessible worker-centered grievance mechanisms, community-based monitoring, and improved inter-institutional coordination—is essential to hold abusive employers accountable for forced labour practices in line with international labour standards and EU human rights due diligence expectations.

Eliminating child labour and forced labour in Ethiopia’s coffee and horticulture value chains is essential for advancing decent work, mitigating adverse human rights impacts, and supporting sustainable and inclusive economic development.

Against this backdrop, the ILO seeks to engage a consulting firm to undertake a comprehensive legal and institutional gap analysis on child labour and forced labour in Ethiopia. The analysis will inform policy dialogue and programme implementation, including measures to strengthen legal frameworks, institutional capacities, enforcement mechanisms, and alignment with EU human rights due diligence and responsible business conduct standards.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The overall objective of the assignment is to map and assess the adequacy, coherence, and effectiveness of Ethiopia’s legal, policy, and institutional framework for the prevention, identification, enforcement, and remediation of child labour and forced labour, with a particular focus on high‑risk agricultural value chains, to inform evidence‑based policy dialogue and programme interventions aligned with international labour standards and EU human rights due diligence expectations.

1. Assess how Ethiopia’s legal and regulatory framework tackles child labor and forced labor, including its alignment with relevant ratified ILO Conventions and international standards.
2. Identify legal gaps, ambiguities, and inconsistencies that limit effective prevention, enforcement (civil and criminal), or remediation of child labour and forced labour, including gaps relevant to due diligence requirements (e.g., prevention, mitigation, remediation).
3. Map and assess the mandates, roles, coordination mechanisms, and operational capacities of relevant institutions responsible for implementation and enforcement.
4. Examine how existing legal and institutional frameworks enable or constrain risk‑based approaches to labour inspection, grievance handling, remediation, and inter‑institutional coordination.
5. Provide practical, actionable recommendations to strengthen legal frameworks, institutional arrangements, and enforcement mechanisms

3. Scope of Work

The consultant/consulting firm will undertake the following tasks:

3.1.Desk Review and Legal Mapping

• Review national laws, regulations, directives, policies, and strategies related to child labour, forced labour, labour inspection, trafficking, migration, and employment, including but not limited to:

  • Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019
  • Directive No. 813/2021
  • Directive No 811/2021
  • National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour (2021–2025); or the latest NAP if any
  • Criminal Code and Anti‑Trafficking legislation
  
  

• Map alignment with ratified ILO Conventions (including Conventions Nos. 29, 105, 138, and 182) and relevant international standards.

  
  
  

• The legal mapping shall cover both civil and criminal enforcement mechanisms and how the two systems interact.

  
  
  

  3.2. Institutional Analysis

  
  
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  Map and analyze the roles, mandates, gaps & overlaps, coordination mechanisms, and capacities of relevant institutions (e.g., MoLS, MoWSA, Ministry of Justice, Bureaus of Labour , law enforcement, and local authorities).

• Assess the effectiveness of inter‑institutional coordination and information‑sharing arrangements.

  
  
  

  3.3. Enforcement and Operational Gaps

• Review enforcement mechanisms related to labour inspection, compliance, and enforcement functions and actions, complaints handling, sanctions, and remedies.

  
  

• Identify operational gaps affecting the identification, prevention, mitigation, prosecution and remediation of child labour and forced labour, particularly in agricultural value chains.

  
  
  

  3.4. Due Diligence and RBC Lens

  
  

• Examine the extent to which the current framework supports risk‑based, preventive, and remedial approaches consistent with EU human rights due diligence and responsible business conduct expectations.

• Identify gaps relevant to enterprise‑level and sector‑level due diligence, including linkages to grievance mechanisms and remediation pathways.

  
  
  

  3.5. Recommendations

• Develop clear, prioritized, and actionable recommendations addressing legal reforms, policy adjustments, institutional strengthening, and coordination mechanisms.

  
  

4. Deliverables

The consultant/consulting firm will be responsible for delivering the following:

1. Inception Report

Methodology, analytical framework, detailed work plan, and stakeholder mapping.

2. Draft Legal and Institutional Gap Analysis Report

Comprehensive analysis of legal, policy, and institutional gaps related to child labour and forced labour, including alignment with international standards and EU due diligence expectations.

3. Validation Presentation / Consultation Summary

Presentation of key findings and preliminary recommendations to ILO and relevant stakeholders, incorporating feedback.

4. Final Legal and Institutional Gap Analysis Report

Revised report incorporating stakeholder feedback, with a concise executive summary and a prioritized recommendations matrix.

Recommendations in both the draft and final reports should include an explicit matrix that clearly indicates the responsible institutions and the level of action (legal, policy, institutional, or operational).

All deliverables shall be submitted in English and in formats agreed with the ILO.

5. Duration

The assignment is expected to be completed within 10 weeks from contract signature.

Timeline

• Week 1-3: Desk review; inception discussions; submission of Inception Report
• Week 4-6: Legal mapping and institutional analysis; stakeholder consultations
• Week 7: Draft report preparation and submission
• Week 8: Validation workshop/presentation and feedback
• Week 10: Finalization and submission of final report

6. Required Expertise and Qualifications

The assignment shall be undertaken by a consulting firm or a multidisciplinary team of consultants with demonstrated expertise in labour law, human rights, institutional analysis, and EU human rights due diligence frameworks. The proposed team should include, at a minimum, the following profiles:

1. Team Leader / Senior Labour Law and Policy Expert

The Team Leader will be responsible for overall coordination, quality assurance, and delivery of outputs.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in law, labour law, human rights law, public policy, development studies, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of professional experience in labour law analysis, labour policy, or human rights–based legal reform, preferably in developing country contexts.
• Demonstrated expertise in child labour and forced labour, including application of ILO Conventions (Nos. 29, 105, 138, and 182).
• Strong knowledge of EU responsible business conduct (RBC) and human rights due diligence frameworks, including value‑chain risk analysis and remediation approaches.
• Proven experience leading similar legal and institutional gap analyses, diagnostics, or policy reviews for international organizations, development partners, or governments.
• Excellent analytical, drafting, and presentation skills in English.

2. National Legal and Institutional Expert (Ethiopia)

The National Expert will provide substantive input on the Ethiopian legal system, institutions, and enforcement practice.

3. Institutional and Enforcement Systems Expert (optional but desirable)

Qualifications and Experience:

• University degree in public administration, governance, law, or a related field.
• At least 5–7 years of experience in institutional analysis, labour inspection systems, enforcement mechanisms, or inter‑institutional coordination.
• Experience assessing operational effectiveness of inspection services, complaint mechanisms, and referral systems in labour or social protection contexts.

4. Due Diligence / Responsible Business Conduct Expert

This expert will ensure alignment of the analysis with EU human rights due diligence and value‑chain governance approaches.

5. General Requirements for the Team

• Demonstrated ability to work with international organizations, government institutions, and social partners.
• Strong analytical and report‑writing skills, with the ability to produce concise, policy‑relevant recommendations.
• Proven capacity to deliver high‑quality outputs within tight timelines.
• Commitment to ethical standards, including confidentiality, informed consent, and gender‑sensitive and inclusive approaches.

7. Evaluation Criteria

• Methodology: how the study designed, the proposed data collection methods, and analysis plan (25%).
• Team Composition & Qualifications: Existence of the required expertise, experience, and suitability of the proposed team members (20%).
• Relevant Experience: demonstration of the firm’s track record in conducting similar studies and delivering quality results (15%).
• Understanding of ToR: How well the firm understands the assignment, objectives, and expected deliverables (10%).

The above criteria accounts for 70% of the total evaluation where the competitors need to score a minimum of 60 points to be considered for the next selection process (financial appraisal, which accounts for 30% of the points). The application with the highest point out of 100% will be selected.

8. Institutional Arrangement

The consulting firm will work under the guidance and technical supervision of the ILO’s One ILO Siraye Programme Manager and will collaborate closely with program technical teams and relevant ILO specialists.

The ILO will facilitate access to key documents and stakeholders, as appropriate.

9. Confidentiality and non-disclosure

All data and information received and collected for this assignment are to be treated confidentially and are only to be used in connection with the execution of these Terms of Reference. All intellectual property rights arising from the execution of these Terms of Reference are assigned to ILO. The contents of written materials obtained and used in this assignment may not be disclosed to any third parties without the expressed advance written authorization of ILO.

How to apply

Interested companies are encouraged to send their financial and technical proposal through the ILO email address “addis_procurement@ilo.org” by outlining previous work experience, core team, and methodology on how to approach the work and the timeline for deliverables not later than 24 April 2025; 12:30 PM EAT.

Tagged as: Agriculture, Food Security and Livelihoods