Participatory Digital Diagnostic Activity for Furniture and Apparel Sectors in Kosovo

Introduction

The Fostering Employment and Growth Opportunities (FEGO) project in Kosovo is financed by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and implemented by Swisscontact in Kosovo. The project aims to generate employment and income for women, men, and youth, presently living in poverty and socio-economic marginalization. This is intended to be achieved through sustainable and scalable growth of enterprises, in the apparel, furniture and rural tourism sectors.

FEGO applies a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, specifically focusing on market facilitation through new, innovative business models to ensure large-scale sustainable changes in respective sectors. The project will reach its goal through two main objectives: 1) Fostering the growth and development of micro/small (family) business in the apparel and furniture sectors and facilitating their entrepreneurship growth and 2) supporting local communities operating with rural tourism activities, and their micro and small enterprises towards development of rural tourism. Both outcomes will contribute to more sustainable and inclusive market systems, improving income, productivity and enhancing job creation in the private sector, therefore contributing to address high unemployment and poverty rates in the country, especially amongst youth and women.

Background

The furniture and apparel sectors in Kosovo represent significant potential for value creation, employment generation, and export growth. However, these sectors face key constraints in their ability to integrate digital solutions into everyday business processes. Enterprises often lack awareness, access, and skills to identify and utilize affordable digital tools that could improve productivity and market competitiveness.

Through a Participatory Digital Diagnostic Activity (PDDA), the FEGO Project, seeks to contribute to addressing this gap in a number of enterprises. The PDDA will facilitate a structured, enterprise-level diagnostic process, collective learning and will support participating enterprises in identifying practical and applying and scalable digital solutions.

The activity is designed to be:

• Participatory, with active engagement from the enterprises themselves,
• Tailored, recognizing the operational realities and capacities of Kosovo’s manufacturing enterprises,
• Sustainable, by focusing on accessible and cost-effective digital tools (freemium or low-cost) that enterprises can maintain post-intervention, and
• Solution oriented, by jointly integrating existing digital solutions (e.g. freemium services) into enterprises

This diagnostic approach not only aims to support the direct digital transformation of around 10 enterprises in the furniture and apparel sectors but also to inform broader systemic support through a sector-wide Digital Action Plan. This contributes to FEGO’s systemic change objectives by embedding digitalization as a key enabler of growth in Kosovo’s light manufacturing ecosystem.

Objective of the Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to design and deliver a hands-on, enterprise-focused digital diagnostic process, which will help enterprises to:

• Understand their current level of digital maturity,
• Identify gaps and opportunities for digital integration across operations, sales, design, and management,
• Integrate practical, actionable recommendations on digital tools they can adopt immediately prioritizing those that are freemium, open-source, or low-cost.

In addition, the assignment aims to:

• Foster awareness and demand for digital transformation among manufacturing enterprises,
• Build internal capacities within enterprises for informed decision-making on technology
• Facilitate knowledge exchange among sector actors,
• Contribute to a wider sector-level strategy that identifies cross-cutting digital needs and opportunities.

Ultimately, the assignment will result in tangible value for participating enterprises (in the form of roadmaps and tool adoption) as well as valuable insights for the FEGO Project and relevant stakeholders for scaling digital support mechanisms in the furniture and apparel industries.

To achieve the highest possible impact, FEGO intends to engage interested digital consultants with extensive experience of integration of digital solutions for enterprises and knowledge of furniture and apparel sectors to conduct digital diagnostics, facilitate enterprise level support, integrate digital solutions for selected enterprises, and potentially propose sector-wide Digital Action Plan.

Terms of Reference Swisscontact 2025

Participatory Digital Diagnostic Activity for Furniture and Apparel Sectors in Kosovo

Task and Responsibilities

To achieve the objectives, the digital consultants will be responsible for:

   A.  Digital Diagnostic Delivery

• Enterprises will be selected by engaged consultants with guidance and approval from FEGO and must fall within the category of small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Conduct individual diagnostic sessions with around 10 selected enterprises from furniture and apparel sectors, with flexibility to adjust the number based on the specific needs of the project.
• Assess current digital maturity (operations, tools, gaps).
• Recommend practical freemium or low-cost digital tools (e.g., CRM, inventory, ERP, design, e-commerce, etc.).
• Provide a personalized digital roadmap to each enterprise.
• Support integration of digital tools and solutions together with onboarding and brief training for selected enterprise.

   B.  Reporting & Knowledge Capture

• Prepare and submit a report with the following:
• Summary report of diagnostics.
• Enterprise-level digital transformation roadmaps.
• Digital implementation achievements for selected enterprises.
• Digital Action Plan including trends, recommendations, and follow-up options that could apply and contribute to a sector wide digital strategy.

Deliverables and Timeframe

The key deliverables of this assignment are:

Each consultant is expected to allocate 10 working days per enterprise, structured as follows:

Each consultant will coordinate closely with the FEGO team and provide regular updates throughout the assignment. The overall assignment period is planned to last for around 4 months and expected to start in June 2025.

FEGO plans to engage several digital consultants that could work with individual enterprises. Each digital consultant should work with a maximum of 4 enterprises. The work will involve travel within Kosovo and close coordination with the FEGO team.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Proven experience in digital transformation consulting, ICT for enterprises, or enterprise diagnostics.
• Strong knowledge of freemium/affordable digital tools relevant to manufacturing (ERP, CRM, design, etc.).
• Familiarity with Kosovo’s private sector, particularly furniture and/or apparel sectors.
• Experience in facilitation and multi-stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills in English.
• Ability to deliver under tight timelines and with attention to quality and practical outcomes.
• Ability to travel within Kosovo.

Contact and Submission of Offer

A brief technical and a financial offer based on the terms of reference should be sent by 09.06.2025, CoB with the subject REF.: “Participatory Digital Diagnostic Activity for furniture and apparel sectors in Kosovo” to [email protected]

Applicants must submit:

• Interested digital consultants, whether as individuals or entities, are invited to submit the following: CV(s) of consultant(s) highlighting relevant experience and references,
• Profile of the entity highlighting relevant references (if applying as a consulting entity),
• Technical proposal (max 3 pages) including approach, methodology, and draft work plan Financial offer: for entities, the offer should include VAT. For individual consultants, the offer should be provided as a gross amount. Travel costs should be included in the financial offer.