The Executive Office (TEO) Communities in Transition (CIT) Employability Programme in the West Belfast CIT Area

Description

The Executive Office (TEO) is seeking to establish a Contract for the provision of an Employability Programme to young people in seeking to address some of the issues / barriers facing them in relation to unemployment in the West Belfast CIT Area (Annex A of the Specification provides maps of the area). This tender is linked to the Communities in Transition (CIT) Project which had been due to end in June 2021, however the Executive made a commitment within ‘New Decade New Approach’ to continue its delivery with a renewed focus and additional funding up to 31 March 2024. The CIT Project is therefore being delivered in two phases, with Phase 1 having been completed by 30 June 2021 and Phase 2 to be completed by 31 March 2024. Phase 1 of the Project provided a firm foundation for continuing to address the issues that allow Paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control to persist within communities. Phase 2 presents an opportunity to further refine the work as we move forward. This Contract falls under Phase 2 and will support the Department in its overall delivery of the CIT Project. For this tender opportunity, the Contractor will design and deliver a programme that seeks to deliver early intervention work with compulsory school aged youth at an early age as well as young people who are eligible for employment in the 16 – 24 years old age range, who are vulnerable and in danger of recruitment from paramilitary organisations. The Contractor’s programme will incorporate and deliver a number of programme activities, described at paragraph 6.5 of the Specification of Requirements Schedule. These activities will include the Contractor recruiting individuals from the CIT Area to participate in the programme. Tenderers will therefore need to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the West Belfast CIT Area (as defined in the Specification) including the issues and needs facing the youth community within it, taking into account the aims of the CIT Project (Action B4), and the overall Executive Action Plan on Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality and Organised Crime. Tenderers must demonstrate what they consider to be the challenges in aligning a programme(s) to the issues. The core purpose of the proposed intervention is multi-fold: • Raise educational attainment, employment and life aspirations • Improve learning outcomes for young people • Build the capacity of the wider community to support the young people to achieve the necessary skills and qualifications to enable them to aspire to a better quality of life. All activities which the Contractor proposes to carry out must clearly link to the objectives listed above and to the Benefits Framework (as listed at paragraph 6.6 of the Specification). The Contractor must not be delivering general youth activities as part of this programme, activities must be clearly linked to addressing the needs of children and young people which have arisen as a result of living in a community with high levels of paramilitary activity, criminality and organised crime. Full details of all the requirements for this Contract are provided for within the Specification of Requirements Schedule. The Contract will commence on 01 March 2023 and run for a period of one year.