Assignment Name: Follow-Up Tracer Study on the RAISE Apprenticeship Program.

Assignment Start Date: June 2026

Assignment End Date: November 2026

Country: Bangladesh

Client Name: Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)

Project Description:

The Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment (RAISE) Project is a major employment and enterprise-development initiative implemented by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) with financing support from the World Bank. It aims to improve the employability, income security, economic opportunities, and resilience of low-income youth and microentrepreneurs operating in Bangladesh’s informal sector.

The RAISE Apprenticeship Program builds on the traditional Ustad–Shagred model by placing disadvantaged youth in actual workplaces under experienced Master Craftspersons. Workplace-based technical training is complemented by life skills, workplace readiness, financial literacy, and basic business and entrepreneurship development support. The programme promotes pathways to wage employment, self-employment, enterprise development, and more productive work, with particular emphasis on women, youth from poor and vulnerable households, and participants in non-traditional trades.

The programme and the study covers 22 occupational trades: Aluminium Fabrication; Baking and Pastry Preparation; Beauty Care/Beautification; Carpentry; Consumer Electronics; Digital Marketing; Driving-cum-Auto Mechanics; Electrical Installation and Maintenance; Fashion Garments/Dress Making and Tailoring; Graphic Design and Multimedia; Housekeeping and Food and Beverage Servicing; IT Support Technician; Masonry and Rod Binding; Mobile Phone Servicing; Motorcycle Servicing; Plumbing and Pipe Fitting; Refrigeration and Air Conditioning; Settling and Assembling of Leather Goods; Small Engineering and Metal Works; Tiles and Marble Fittings; Web Design and Development; and Welding and Fabrication.

Building on the first tracer study, PKSF has engaged DM WATCH LIMITED to conduct the Follow-Up Tracer Study on the RAISE Apprenticeship Program. The assignment will generate longitudinal evidence by tracking and re-interviewing the original cohort of apprentices and comparing their current socioeconomic and labour-market outcomes with those recorded during the first tracer round. It will assess whether initial gains have been sustained, strengthened, or reversed as apprentices transition through wage employment, self-employment, unemployment, underemployment, and enterprise-development pathways.

The overall objective is to evaluate the intermediate socioeconomic outcomes and emerging impacts of the Apprenticeship Program. Specifically, the study will:

• Evaluate intermediate socioeconomic outcome: Reassess the employment status, income progression, skill utilization, financial independence, and degree of social acceptance of the original cohort of apprentices.
• Analyze program intermediate outcomes across demographics and geography: Identify sustained impacts of the apprenticeship program by gender, trade, and location, and assess patterns such as labour mobility, job stability, and sectoral shifts.
• Conduct comparative and trend analysis: Match and analyze first phase and second phase survey datasets to uncover trends, skill relevance, and economic mobility, while documenting attrition and changes in circumstances.

Particular attention will be given to gender-specific employment trajectories, disadvantaged groups, and apprentices who remain unemployed or underemployed. Perspectives from employers and Master Craftspersons will also be examined to assess apprentice performance, productivity, skills relevance, job retention, workplace learning, and evolving labour-market demand.

The study will apply a longitudinal mixed-methods design combining quantitative tracer surveys, employer interviews, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, In-Depth Interviews, and case studies. The original panel of 2,529 apprentices will constitute the principal follow-up sample, while approximately 410 employers will be re-interviewed or, where permitted, replaced by comparable employers from the same trade and locality. Around 60 qualitative interviews, discussions, and case studies will be conducted with PKSF, the World Bank, Partner Organizations, employers, Master Craftspersons, apprentices, family and community representatives, disadvantaged groups, and unemployed graduates.

Methodological continuity with the first tracer study will be maintained while incorporating additional modules on job transitions, labour mobility, enterprise development, skills gaps, economic shocks, post-training learning, and social empowerment. Phase-1 and Phase-2 records will be linked through unique respondent identifiers to support comparative and trend analysis, panel-data analysis, attrition diagnostics, and disaggregated assessment of changes over time.

The assignment will also develop a user-friendly, adaptable, and replicable Tracer Study Framework comprising standardized indicators, survey modules, respondent-tracking and attrition-management protocols, analytical parameters, and reporting templates. This will strengthen PKSF’s capacity to undertake future tracer rounds and apply longitudinal outcome-monitoring approaches across apprenticeship, skills-development, employment, and livelihood programmes.

The findings will provide PKSF and the World Bank with robust evidence for programme accountability, adaptive management, apprenticeship-model refinement, employer engagement, post-training support, future scale-up, and national policy dialogue on youth employment, vocational skills development, and informal-sector workforce transitions in Bangladesh.

DM WATCH LIMITED will conduct the follow-up tracer study using a longitudinal mixed-methods approach covering study design, respondent tracking, nationwide data collection, data management, comparative analysis, reporting, and dissemination. Key services will include:

Inception and Study Design

• Conduct inception consultations with PKSF and the World Bank and review RAISE project documents, the first tracer study instruments, datasets, reports, and relevant policies.
• Refine the longitudinal research design, analytical framework, sampling and tracking strategy, attrition-management plan, Research Planning Matrix, quality-assurance protocols, and implementation schedule.
• Prepare an Inception Report outlining the methodology, work plan, field strategy, analytical approach, risk-management measures, and draft instruments.

Instrument Development, Piloting, and Ethical Clearance

• Harmonize follow-up instruments with the first tracer study to ensure comparability of employment, income, job stability, skills utilization, financial independence, programme satisfaction, and social-acceptance indicators.
• Incorporate modules on job transitions, occupational and sectoral mobility, relocation, enterprise development, skills gaps, post-training learning, economic shocks, and aspirations.
• Develop apprentice and employer questionnaires and KII, FGD, IDI, and case-study guides; translate and back-translate tools between English and Bangla.
• Program quantitative tools in SurveyCTO using XLSForm with skip logic, validation checks, GPS capture, timestamps, and audit features.
• Pilot the instruments with at least 50 respondents across three Partner Organizations, prepare a Piloting Report, finalize tools, and obtain IRB clearance.

Respondent Tracking and Attrition Management

• Track and re-engage the original panel of 2,529 apprentices using Phase-1 records, Partner Organization support, phone calls, workplace and household visits, employer references, and community contacts.
• Document contact outcomes and non-response reasons using standardized codes; apprentices lost to follow-up will not be replaced.
• Re-interview original employers where possible and use documented matched replacements from the same trade and locality where permitted.
• Prepare a Respondent Tracking and Attrition Report covering response rates, non-response patterns, subgroup differences, and attrition-bias mitigation measures.

Field Team Mobilization and Data Collection

• Recruit and train enumerators, qualitative researchers, supervisors, and coordinators on longitudinal interviewing, CAPI, informed consent, ethics, SEA/SH safeguards, respondent tracking, and quality control.
• Re-interview up to 2,529 apprentices from three cohorts and approximately 410 employers across current locations.
• Collect quantitative data on employment, income progression, job stability, labour mobility, sectoral transitions, skills utilization, financial independence, programme satisfaction, social acceptance, confidence, dignity, and aspirations.
• Conduct approximately 18 KIIs, 15 FGDs, 15 IDIs, and 12 case studies with PKSF and World Bank representatives, Partner Organizations, employers, Master Craftspersons, apprentices, families, communities, disadvantaged groups, and unemployed graduates.

Data Quality Assurance and Security

• Monitor fieldwork through SurveyCTO dashboards, GPS verification, daily reviews, sample reconciliation, High-Frequency Checks, accompanied interviews, spot checks, and supervisor reviews.
• Independently back-check approximately 5–10% of completed interviews and implement corrective actions where required.
• Ensure informed consent, confidentiality, anonymization, encryption, controlled access, secure transfer, and protection of personally identifiable information.

Data Processing and Longitudinal Analysis

• Clean, code, validate, and link Phase-1 and Phase-2 datasets using unique identifiers; prepare qualitative transcripts and translations.
• Produce raw and cleaned datasets, a linked longitudinal panel dataset, data dictionaries, codebooks, respondent-disposition files, and reproducible Stata do-files or equivalent scripts.
• Conduct descriptive, inferential, comparative, and employment-transition analyses covering wage employment, self-employment, unemployment, underemployment, enterprise development, occupational change, sectoral shifts, and geographic mobility.
• Disaggregate findings by gender, trade, cohort, age, geography, employment pathway, and inclusion characteristics.
• Apply longitudinal methods including paired comparisons, change-score analysis, regression, fixed/random-effects models, mixed-effects models, and Generalized Estimating Equations.
• Conduct attrition diagnostics and apply weighting, matching, or sensitivity analysis where necessary.
• Undertake thematic analysis and triangulate findings across apprentices, employers, Master Craftspersons, families, communities, Partner Organizations, and institutional stakeholders.

Tracer Study Framework Development

• Develop a user-friendly, adaptable, and replicable Tracer Study Framework for future PKSF apprenticeship, skills-development, employment, and livelihood programmes.
• Include standardized indicators, survey modules, tracking and attrition protocols, data-quality checks, analytical parameters, reporting templates, and guidance for future tracer rounds.

Reporting, Knowledge Products, and Dissemination

• Prepare a Draft Comparative Summary Report presenting longitudinal findings, attrition analysis, subgroup comparisons, qualitative insights, case studies, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Produce the Final Summary Report and a publication-ready final report and manuscript incorporating PKSF and World Bank feedback.
• Develop a policy brief, slide deck, infographics, analytical visualizations, case materials, and audio-visual documentation.
• Organize and facilitate a national dissemination workshop in Dhaka to validate findings and promote programme and policy uptake.

Key deliverables will include:

• Inception Report and Research Planning Matrix.
• Piloting Report based on at least 50 respondents across three Partner Organizations.
• Final survey instruments and IRB clearance.
• Periodic Progress Reports and Respondent Tracking and Attrition Report.
• Raw, cleaned, and linked longitudinal datasets, qualitative transcripts, data dictionaries, and reproducible analysis scripts.
• Draft and Final Comparative Summary Reports.
• Adaptable and replicable Tracer Study Framework.
• Policy brief, slide deck, infographics, case studies, and audio-visual materials.
• National dissemination workshop and workshop documentation.
• Publication-ready final report and manuscript.