National Consultant to Review the Constitution of Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies of Kenya (ASMAK) Consultancy NEW

Project Title

Better Regional Migration Management Project (BRMM)

Project Objective

Enhanced measures for labour market integration for potential and returned migrants through improved skills, financial inclusion, MSMEs growth and job creation

Terms of Reference Title

Review the Constitution of Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies of Kenya (ASMAK)

Objectives of the Terms of Reference

To align the ASMAK’s constitution with current national and international labour standards, legal frameworks, and best practices in labour migration governance.

Specific Objectives

This term of reference is developed to select a national consultant to:

• Revise and update the ASMAK constitution to ensure alignment with Kenya’s national policies, including the Labour migration Policy, Kenya draft Migration Management Bill, Kenya Diaspora Policy, as well as international labour standards and fair recruitment guidelines and strategy.
• Enhance governance structures by introducing robust mechanisms for accountability, transparency, and ethical conduct, fair recruitment thereby strengthening checks and balances within the association’s leadership and operations.
• Develop and integrate a resource mobilization strategy aimed at ensuring the financial sustainability and operational efficiency of ASMAK and its members in the long term, while ensuring no recruitment or related recruitment costs are charged to the worker as per the ILO General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs.
• Develop and enforce self-regulation mechanisms among member agencies, ensuring adherence to a standardized Code of Conduct and promoting compliance with both national and international fair recruitment practices and international labour standards.

Locations

Nairobi, Kenya

Timeframe

15 June 2025 – 15 August, 2025

Funding Source

The ILO BRMM project is financed by of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom’s government

1. Background

1.1 Context of Labour Migration Governance

In 2022, according to the ILO Global Estimates[1]international migrants represented 4.3 per cent of the global working-age population (aged 15 and over) and accounted for 4.7 per cent of the global labour force. Women constituted 38.7 per cent of international migrants in the labour force, while 61.3 per cent were men. It is estimated that 155.6 million international migrants, which represented 60.9 per cent of all international migrants of working age, were employed in 2022. Migrants exhibited higher employment-to-population ratios for both sexes, compared to non-migrants, meaning that a larger share of the migrant population aged 15 and over was employed, compared to non-migrants.The proportion of employed international migrants in the population slightly decreased from 62.7 per cent to 59.9 per cent in Africa, and this could be attributed to challenges destination countries.

Over the recent years, migration has been a significant and growing phenomenon in Kenya’s social, economic and political landscape. In 1990, there were approximately 300,000 immigrants and 250,000 emigrants, while in 2020, the figures stood at around 1,000,000 and 500,000 respectively (Mutava, 2023)[2]. This increase in the number of migrants in both directions suggest a shift towards global connectedness. Any disquiet or benefits accruing from migration have thus, been amplified. Growing complexities require a fresh, structured and clear approach to migration.

While some people emphasise the importance of remittances and advocate for open labour markets acrossborders, others focus on the risks associated with migration and its potential to disrupt destination economies. Despite these differing perspectives, it is widely accepted that migration cannot be halted and if managed properly, it will benefit both country of origin and destination. In the case of Kenya, for example, remittances from its citizens living abroad are an important source of foreign exchange, underscoring the value of migration for the country’s economic prosperity, though some may decry the loss of skills and challenges faced by migrants. Similarly, migrant workers make important contributions to the Kenyan economy and society.

The growing numbers of Kenyan migrant workers is an indication of growing mobility, range and scale of countries of destination. It is estimated[3] that there are 210,000 migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, 60,000 in United Arab Emirates and 40,000 in Qatar just to demonstrate the increasing numbers in the GCC countries. Most of these migrant workers job placement is facilitated by the private employment agencies who are licenced and regulated by the National Employment Authority (NEA).

Kenya is making strides in improving labour migration governance. For instance, the National Labour Migration Policy was approved and transformed into a Sessional Paper in 2023. This has set the stage for the enactment of the Labour Migration Management Bill that is undergoing approval process to allow it to be tabled into the National Assembly. The Bill provides the requisite safeguards for the Kenyan migrant workers while setting the stage for establishment of Kenya Migrant Workers Welfare Fund. Guided by the human rights principles and international labour standards, the bill emphasizes Kenya’s commitment to fair recruitment principles and guidelines. Besides the Bill, Kenya is also a member of the FRI Advisory Committeeglobally and has negotiated and signed bilateral labour migration agreements with six countries, namely, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Federal Republic of Germany and Austria. Moreover, the government is currently in negotiation with twenty two countries. Kenya has also ratified C97 and C183 and have shown interest in ratifying C181, C189 and C190.

1.2 About ASMAK

The Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies of Kenya (ASMAK) was established in 2018 as a collective body representing licensed and vetted Private Employment Agencies (PrEAs) operating in Kenya. ASMAK plays a vital role in enhancing the governance, transparency and ethical practices of its member agencies, thereby facilitating the safe and regular migration of skilled labour from Kenya to international labour markets.

The agencies under ASMAK have undergone a comprehensive and rigorous vetting process,

resulting in their formal licensing by the National Employment Authority (NEA), which operates under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. This extensive vetting procedure ensures that each agency complies with all applicable legal and regulatory frameworks established by the NEA. By adhering to these stringent requirements, the agencies are authorized to engage in recruitment and staffing activities both domestically and internationally. The licensing process not only confirms the agencies’ compliance with national labour laws but also demonstrates their commitment to fair recruitment practices.

These practices are aligned with both national and international standards, ensuring the protection and welfare of job seekers. Furthermore, the licensing by the NEA serves as a safeguard, offering assurance to both employers and employees that the agencies are legally authorized and meet the necessary standards for operations within the global employment market.

ASMAK is the largest of six recruitment associations representing Kenya’s migrant recruitment and staffing sector. With a membership of approximately 500 agencies, ASMAK accounts for over 80% of recruitment associations in Kenya. Through its members’ agency websites and other information channels, ASMAK serves as a dependable and timely source of accurate data concerning global employment industry practices, services, and developments.

ASMAK functions as the official liaison, ensuring that the contributions of its members are effectively communicated to both the public and government authorities. Furthermore, the Association provides a platform for its members to engage in discussions, approve policies, and advocate for fair recruitment standards and best practices within the industry. ASMAK remains dedicated to establishing standards that optimally benefit job seekers and employers alike.

To ensure its continued relevance and effectiveness, ASMAK recognizes the need for a comprehensive review of its constitution, which was last amended in 2020. The 2020 review,

however, did not incorporate a broad spectrum of stakeholders’ input, nor did it adequately address emerging issues related to governance, operational efficiency, and ethical standards

within the labour migration sector.

1.3. Justification for Constitutional Review

Private employment agencies have emerged as a pivotal player in the recruitment process and job placement of Kenyan migrant workers abroad. Currently, we have about 500 registered and licenced PrEAs.[4] To promote peer regulation, NEA requires that each agency registers with one of the five apex associations like ASMAK. In this regard, PrEAs that recruit skilled manpower is usually associated with ASMAK.

The emerging competition for job orders from limited employers in the GCC has made some PrEAs to engage in unethical practices that compromise the welfare of migrant workers. The absence of a well-defined constitution governing these practices has led to actions that could be considered modern-day slavery, primarily due to non-adherence to requisite protocols and lack of alignment to international standards. Consequently, NEA has deregistered more than 200 PrEAs to root out rogue agencies promoting vices that range from human trafficking, smuggling and fraudulent ventures that strip jobseekers of huge amounts of money.

Kenya is trying to diversify the labour market by negotiating and signing BLMAs with new markets in Europe, Americas and Oceania. The GoK signed a labour mobility partnership with the Federal Republic of Germany in September 2024 and quickly followed by another one with Austria in December 2024. This builds on the earlier one signed with the United Kingdom in 2022 on health workforce. There are pending BLAs with Australia, Poland and Canada just to mention a few. These new developed markets come with high ethical standards that the PrEAs ought to adhere to in order to do business with employers from those countries.

As pointed out above, Kenya is in the process of improving the normative standards and legal framework on labour migration. The upcoming Labour Migration Management Act with accompanying KMWWF shall place a lot of responsibilities and ethical standards on the PrEAs in the country. These coupled with the need to remain competitive and adopt best practices in recruitment pushes ASMAK to review its constitution. To this end, the ILO in partnership with ASMAK is seeking the service of a national consultant to guide a participatory and structured constitutional review process, that engage key stakeholders.

1. Objectives and Expected Results

2.1 Overall objectives

To revise ASMAK’s constitution and align it with current national and international labour standards, guidelines, legal frameworks, and best practices in labour migration governance that ensure fair recruitment processes.

Specifically,

• To comprehensively revise and update the ASMAK constitution to ensure alignment with Kenya’s national policies, including the Kenya labour migration policy, Kenya draft Migration Management Bill, Diaspora Policy, as well as international labour standards and guidelines.
• To enhance governance structures by introducing robust mechanisms for accountability, transparency, and ethical conduct, thereby strengthening checks and balances within the association’s leadership and operations as well as its members and ensure to undertake due diligence regarding their recruitment activities.
• Develop and integrate resource mobilization strategies aimed at ensuring the financial sustainability and operational efficiency of ASMAK and its members in the long term, while ensuring no recruitment or related recruitment costs are charged to the worker as per the ILO General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs.
• Develop, and enforce self-regulation mechanisms among member agencies, ensuring adherence to a standardized Code of Conduct and promoting compliance with both national and international fair recruitment practices and international labour standards.

1. Scope of Work

Employing participatory approaches and guided by the international labour standards and ILO General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs as well as tenets of human rights, the consultant shall:

• Identify Relevant Clauses: Review the ASMAK constitution in relation to other organizational constitutions and relevant Kenyan laws and international labour standards and guideline to establish the clauses that require changes.
• Conduct a Comprehensive Revision: To undertake a thorough revision and updating of the ASMAK constitution to ensure its alignment with Kenya’s national policies and laws, as well as international standards and guidelines.
• Enhance Governance Structures: To strengthen governance mechanisms by introducing robust frameworks for accountability, transparency, and ethical conduct, thereby fortifying checks and balances within the association’s leadership and operations.
• Establish a dedicated Secretariat: To provide for the establishment of a dedicated secretariate
• Entrench Resource Mobilization Strategies: To integrate resource mobilization strategies aimed at ensuring the financial sustainability and operational efficiency of ASMAK in the long term.
• Strengthen Self-Regulation Mechanisms: To develop and enforce self-regulation mechanisms among member agencies, ensuring adherence to a standardized Code of Conduct and promoting compliance with both national and international ethical recruitment practices.
• Present to the Board: To discuss the relevant changes and get approval of the same.

1. Alignment to national policies and international labour standards and guidelines: ASMAK as PrEAs bear responsibility for preventing abusive or unfair recruitment, the constitution has to be revised based on such sentiment. ASMAK and its members should respect human rights when recruiting workers, including through human rights due diligence assessments of recruitment procedures, and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.
2. Technical changes to the constitution: Check likely changes to the constitution which may pave the way for more substantial improvements.
3. Roles and responsibilities: A central feature of positive working relationships is a clear and unambiguous articulation of roles and responsibilities. Look at the constitution alongside ASMAK’s Strategic Plan and alongside any organizational values that might have been articulated to guide positive working relationships. Use these to understand how the constitution can be optimised to support improvement of ASMAK.
4. Decision-making processes: Look at the decision-making process and the way that policies are designed and developed, including the oversight role of the board. Check on the role of the board and members and how the power is exercised.
5. Structure of ASMAK: Look at the limitations of the structure as presented in the constitution. Prescribe a structure that gives ASMAK a competitive advantage over other players in the sector.
6. Emerging Needs: Scan the environment and check the emerging realties such as Artificial Intelligence and technology, resource needs and evolving labour migration landscape to inform the membership drive and members’ capacity building needs.

6. Methodology and Approach

The consultant shall carry out document review, conduct meetings and interviews with ASMAK and its members as well as other relevant stakeholders such as MoL, COTU-K, FKE. Potential migrants, returnees, other PrEAs Association in Kenya & abroad etc. for inclusion of key issues, new developments and best practices into the constitution under review. Key policy and strategy documents will be obtained from ASMAK.

7 Timeline and Payment Schedule

This assignment should be implemented from 15 June 2025 to 15 August 2025. The assignment should be conducted and finalized within 30 consultancy days.

Deliverables

Timelines

Percentage of Payments

Submission of inception report including his/her understanding of the assignment, detailed methodology notes realistic detailed workplan.

25 June 2025

30%

Submission of draft ASMAK constitution after Primary data collection and analysis.

25 July 2025

30%

Final ASMAK constitution after incorporating the input of Validation meeting.

15 August 2025

40%

Total 100%

1. Qualifications and Experience

Qualified individuals who wish to apply for this consultancy should meet the following criteria:

• At least MA/MSC in social sciences, organizational development, Law and related fields.
• Over 7 years of relevant experience in systems, procedures, guidelines, and policies development and review, especially in non-governmental organizations. Experience with Member Associations is advantageous.
• Strong understanding of legal and regulatory requirements.
• Excellent communication and writing skills, strong leadership and analytical skills, and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively as a team.
• Clear understanding of labour migration landscape and dynamics.

u 9. Supervision and logistical arrangements

All activities within the scope of these Terms of Reference will be carried out under the overall supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser of the ILO BRMM project in ILO Country Office Addis Ababa, with the technical support from the 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.

10. Timeline and Payment Schedule

Evaluation Criteria

The submitted offer will be assessed against the following criteria:

Evaluation Criteria

Maximum marks

A minimum of 7 years of professional experience at the national and or international level in policy development, policy analysis and research in corporate governance and organization development. 20

Have a minimum of university degree (Masters degree or equivalent) in law, organization development and social sciences or related discipline 10

Applicant demonstrates via submitted proposal expertise working on labour migration. 10

Applicant demonstrates appropriate approach or methodology to be used to deliver the assignment. The technical proposal includes a realistic work plan for the work. 30

Applicant demonstrates expertise working on organizational constitutions policy manuals or guidelines. 30

Maximum Points 100

Minimum Acceptable Score for the Proposals to be considered for financial evaluation. 70

Weight:

• Technical Evaluation – Qualifications, understanding of the assignment and Experience – 70%
• Financial evaluation – 30%

[1] https://www.ilo.org/publications/major-publications/ilo-global-estimates-international-migrants-labour-force

[2] M. Mutava. (2023). An Analysis of Trends and Patterns of Migration in Africa

[3] Source: NEA

[4] Source: NEA