NATIONAL CONSULTANT TO CARRY OUT COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR ILO CONVENTION NO. 181 ON REGULATION OF PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES IN KENYA

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION TENDER SEPTEMBER 2025 

NATIONAL CONSULTANT TO CARRY OUT COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR ILO CONVENTION NO. 181 ON REGULATION OF PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES IN KENYA

Closing date: 15 Sep 2025

Background and Purpose

The ILO Convention No. 181(1997) calls on countries to ensure adequate protections for workers in a wide range of areas and to allocate responsibilities between service providers (temporary help firms) and user-enterprises (client firms), illustrating the ILO’s acceptance of triangular employment relationships under well-regulated conditions (ILO 1997b).

Kenya boasts of robust labour migration landscape with a total of 1,195 registered PEAs and current 519 actively recruiting PEAs (https://neaims.go.ke/). The regulated PEAs are largely responsible for foreign employment sourcing and negotiating for jobs with their counterparts in the countries of destination. They further go ahead and arrange for travel of selected migrant workers to the countries of destination. Therefore, they play greater role in the labour and employment of Kenyans.

In spite of the important role in the labour migration ecosystem, the PEAs sometimes operate contrary to the ILO fair recruitment principles and act as conduits for irregular migration pathways by smuggling and trafficking in persons of unsuspecting job-seekers. Many Kenyans have been found in dangerous zones in Asia working in mines and cybercrime. For instance, in the month of May 2025, 158 Kenyans were rescued from Myanmar having been smuggled there to work as modern slaves in cybercrime dens (https://diaspora.go.ke/). Locally, cases of exorbitant fees to prospective migrant workers still persist despite the effort to orient the PEAs to the fair recruitment and ethical recruitment principles of ILO and IOM respectively.

In response to the demand from the GoK, the ILO is seeking to engage the service of a national consultant to carry out cost and benefit analysis of ratifying C181. The findings shall help the GoK to make informed decision whether to ratify or not and unravel the socio-economic impact of ratifying the convention to the Kenyan taxpayers. This is also in line with the laid-down ratification roadmap by the GoK.

Scope of work

The CBA shall fully consider quantifiable measures (that can be estimated) and qualitative measures of costs and benefits that are difficult to quantify, but nevertheless essential to consider. To this extent, and putting into account the limited quantitative data available, a qualitative approach shall be adopted in undertaking the CBA for the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 181 of 1997 on Regulating Private Employment Agencies in Kenya.

Implementing a robust cost‑benefit analysis in public policy involves a series of methodical steps ensuring that all relevant factors are considered. In case there shall be no actual data to facilitate the undertaking of this CBA, monetary estimates of both costs and benefits shall be used to derive the results.

Detailed tasks

The following are the steps that shall be undertaken to derive the CBA of C181:

• Hold inception meeting to level expectations and agree on the timelines of the assignment
• Define the policy issue in this case, Ratification of the ILO Convention No. 181 of 1997
• Identify the fiscal impacts of the ratification to Kenya
• Carry out valuation of the impact of ratification to Kenya
• Discount the costs and benefit flows (placing lower value on the costs and benefits, the further away in time they occur). It is motivated by the time value of money or time preference i.e. the desire for benefits to come sooner rather than later. Discounting thus makes costs and benefits comparable regardless of when they occur.
• Apply the Net Present Value (NPV) test: Once the PVs have been calculated, we apply the NPV test to choose whether the policy to ratify the Conventions are efficient in terms of the use of resources.
• Undertake the sensitivity analysis. Using plausible cost assumptions, derive the CBA by generating Cost Benefit Ration (BCR), Break-even analysis and NPV to guide the Government’s decision on whether to ratify or not to ratify the ILO Convention 181.
• Draft the CBA Report for C181 with clear cost centres of and accruing benefits of ratification of C181
• Hold a validation workshop with relevant stakeholders to present the draft CBA Report for C181
• Regularly communicate with designated officials of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and ILO on the progress of the deliverables, any challenges and changes required and unexpected impact on the deliverable.

Expected deliverables

The estimated required number of days-15-20 days with the period of two months.

1. An inception report with detailed workplan including timeline – 1 Week after signing of the contract
2. A draft CBA Report for C181 – 5 Weeks after the signing of the contract
3. Presentation for the Validation workshop – 6 Weeks after the signing of the contract
4. Finalized CBA Report with recommendations to GoK – 6 Weeks after signing the Contract

Reporting arrangements

All activities within the scope of these Terms of Reference will be carried out under the overall supervision of the Labour Commissioner, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Kenya, with the technical support from the Chief Technical Advisor, BRMM Project and Labour Migration Specialist in ILO DWT Pretoria.

Deliverables shall be submitted in line with the requirements explained in these Terms of Reference in a timely manner, in concordance with the planned deadlines between the ILO and the selected consultant. All deliverables of these Terms of Reference are subject to the approval of the ILO.

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