UNV Jobs

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UNV volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity.

UNV engaged 7,765 UNV volunteers in 2010, on a total of 7,960 assignments. With an average age of 37 years and the requisite professional skills and qualifications of some 5 to 10 years relevant experience, UNV volunteers served in 132 countries in 2010 and came themselves from 158. The majority – 80 per cent – come from developing countries themselves. One third of UNV volunteers served in their own countries, with the others carrying out international assignments. The financial equivalent of programme activities exceeds US$235 million annually.   In addition, as the focal point in the United Nations for the International Year of the Volunteers (IYV2001), UNV is active in the follow-up to the Year, for which the key objectives are the recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteerism. 
The UNV organization

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 150 staff positions – with the majority in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions, and in other Headquarters locations (e.g. New York and Tokyo). The major organizational groups within UNV are:

• the Office of the Executive Coordinator (OEC);
• the Evaluation Unit (EU);
• the Corporate Planning and Performance Unit (CPPU);
• the Volunteer Programming and Management Group (VPMG) comprising the Peace Division (PD) and the Development Division (DD), Volunteer Recruitment Resources Section (VRRS), Quality Assurance Unit (QAU), Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section (VKIS);
• the Partnerships and Communications Division (PCD) comprising the Partnerships Section (PS) and the Communications Section (CS);
• The Management Services Division (MSD) comprising the Information and Communication Technology Section (ICTS), Finance Section (FS), Human Resources Section (HRS), and the Administration Unit (AU). Additionally the Common Services Unit (CSU) provides support to the UN presence in Bonn.
  

Organisational setting

UNV has always been actively engaged in youth and youth volunteer programmes.  In 1976 the UN General Assembly provided a specific mandate through resolution 31/131, which stated inter alia: “……. Considers the United Nations Volunteers programme to be a major operational unit of the United Nations for the execution of youth programmes, especially of pilot projects to increase the participation of youth in development activities and training programmes for youth workers ….” Since then, UNV has developed and implemented several youth related schemes such as UNV Internship, University Volunteers, and Online Volunteering service and has also been providing technical assistance to development partners and governments to develop their national volunteering schemes and programmes. With the launch of UNV Programme Strategy (2011-2013), UNV renewed its focus on youth development through volunteering. The focus on youth, gained renewed urgency when the UN Secretary General called on UNV to develop a youth volunteering modality and scale up its assistance to programme countries as part of his Five-Year Action Agenda.

In response to the SG’s agenda on youth, UNV established a cross-section Youth Action Team led by the Chief of Development Division early in 2012 to initiate preparatory activities for the development of a comprehensive youth volunteering strategy and programme. In May 2012, UNV allocated some fundings from its own resources and approved an Initiation Plan to engage in preparatory activities to develop a UN Youth Volunteer Programme .  The Initiation Plan also approved funding for the recruitment of requisite capacity within UNV to undertake implementation of the new programme on youth. Currently, the Portfolio Manager for West Africa is acting as the programme manager for this IP. The IP is overseen by a project board under which two technical teams are entrusted with the development of a youth strategy and programme document as well as a UNV specific youth volunteering modality. 

Brief Summary of the Initiation Plan:

It is envisaged that the UN Youth Volunteer global strategy and programme will be based on three pillars:  a) global advocacy and partnerships development; b) a UN Youth Volunteers modality; and c) technical assistance to nationally and regionally owned youth schemes:

• Global Advocacy and Partnership:  Position UNV as the leader in youth volunteering within the UN system and with outside partners by engaging with volunteer sending organizations, civil society, governments and other UN agencies to promote active participation of youth as volunteers in the Rio+20, MDGs and post MDGs agenda. 
• UN Youth Volunteer Mobilization:  Design, implement and manage the UN Youth Volunteers modality with UN system and other partners.  The recommendations of the University and UN Volunteers Intern review will be addressed, including enhancing UNV staffing capacity and  youth volunteer recruitment and management skills, developing volunteer living allowance, youth appropriate support and training package and volunteering guidelines, etc.  The modality will be designed to serve UN Member Countries and the UN system. 
• Capacity Development: Strengthen national and regional capacities including policy and legislative frameworks for governments, civil society, and other partners to develop and sustain youth volunteer schemes, through technical assistance, knowledge sharing, and collaborative programming.

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED SERVICES:

The development of a strategy on youth volunteering, a policy note on UN Youth Volunteer modality and its implementation guidelines as well as a full programme document is a complex exercise. It requires assembling a team of two experts with experience and expertise in youth development programmes including youth volunteering who can work together in a complementary fashion to produce the desired deliverables outlined below.   In addition, UNV will also consider applications for this consultancy from consulancy companies, NGOs and academic institutions to undertake this task. It is expected that one designated person will be the Team Leader and assume overall responsibility for the consultancy, in particular, designing the detailed methodology, collecting and analysing the existing information, establishing the terms for division of labour amongst the team members and facilitating team discussions of the report content and finalizing the key deliverables. The lead consultant will be directly responsible for the quality of the final products.

Under the overall guidance of the the Executive of the project board and the two Technical Teams and the direct supervision of the Youth Programme Specialist, the consultants will provide services for a maximum of 60 business days to deliver the following specific outputs:

• Building on the above three pillars, A 7-10 pages UNV overall strategy on youth volunteerism which includes:
• A vision and mission statement that can position UNV as the lead UN organization on promoting youth volunteering at global, regional and national levels in the medium to long terms within framework of UNV’s organizational mandate;
• An assessment and analysis of UNV’s capacity, comparative advantage, strengths and gaps as well as opportunities and risk for UNV in the global contexts;
• Objectives and strategic issues to be pursued;
• Key programme activities and interventions needed for the realization of the strategy objectives and SG’s agenda on youth (out of the box solutions);
• Innovative ways identified to mobilize financial resources and potential partners for strategy implementation;
• Other considerations that will emerge from the consultation process.
• A Policy Note for establishing a UN Youth Volunteering Modality which may include:
• Overall goals and objectives;
• An assessment of opportunities and risks in terms of supply and demand for youth volunteers
• An assessment of UNV’s comparative advantage drawing from its past experiences and lessons learned;
• Policy elements and parameters to be considered and which can guide the development of conditions of service for youth volunteers and implementation of the modality. 
• Options for working with a myriad of development partners such as UN agencies, youth organizations, volunteer sending organizations, governments and donors;
• (NB: General elements of the policy note will be identified in the overall strategy document under item 1).
• Conditions of Service for implementation of the youth modality which includes: 
• A complete benefit and entitlement package (conditions of service) within the policy parameters outlined under item 2 above.
• An Action Plan in the form of a project document (using UNDP project document standard format) for the implementation of the broader strategy and youth volunteering modality which will include:
• In addition to other elements of implementation, the project document will also inclue a roll out plan for implementation of the youth volunteering modality with recommendations for piloting in select countries and with partners;
• A communications plan to present the new modality to potential partners, donors, specific stakeholders.
• A concise consultancy report outlining the consultation process, issues requiring UNV’s particular attention to work with youth volunteers,  lessons learned and recommendations

In delivering the above outputs, the team of consultants will undertake the following activities:

• Engage in consultations with concerned staff at UNV HQ in Bonn and UNV Field Units;
• Identify strategies, processes and tools for consulting external stakeholders including UN agencies, youth networks and organizations, donor partners and select governments at the global, regional and national levels to ensure a participatory processe is followed;  
• Conduct a desk review of existing documentations, knowledge products and practices related to youth volunteering within UNV;
• In particular, consult the results of the 2011 review of existing UNV youth volunteer schemes, and build on existing successful experiences;
• Review research materials, studies and good practices on youth undertaken by external partners with the aim of ensuring programme complementarities and synergies as well as coordination and partnership. 
• Ensure inclusion of gender and other cross cutting issues as defined in the UNV programme strategy.
• Consult,
• The youth modality should be coherent , well articulated and part of UNV’s integrated offer of modalities
• Document the assessment in a brief inception report with recommendations leading to the finalization of the above deliverables.
• Proposed timeline for the consultation process and various deliverables:
• Description of outputs/deliverables
• A proposal and workplan containing the approach and methodology for consultation and drafting, timeline and budget for completion of all the outputs. This is to be submitted as part of the application for the consultancy.     Due date: 20 August 2012
•  Initial consultation in Bonn with UNV HQ. Due Date: 3.4 September 2012
• Zero draft of a 7-10 pages strategy on youth volunteerism. Due Date: 21 September 2012
• Revised draft of the strategy on youth volunteerism and zero draft of policy note on youth volunteering modality. Due date: 1 October 2012
• Revised draft of the policy note. Due date: 8 October 2012
• Finalised strategy and policy note presentation to UNV HQ and preliminary discussions on developing strategy action plan/project document and conditions of service for youth volunteering modality.  Due date: 15-16 October 2012
• Zero draft of the project and COS documents including roll out plan. Due date: 23 November 2012
• Presentation of final draft of full project document and revised COS. Due date: 21 December 2012
• Consultancy report submitted. Due date: 31 December 2012

NB: Action Plan and Project Document terms are used interchangely and are one of the same.
The consultancy process may include 2-3 trips of  a minimum of 2 days each to Bonn (Germany) for a briefing, participation in a consultative workshop, presentation of draft zero and reviewed draft

 The payment schedule will be based on the following three key deliverables:

• Strategy and policy note (30%)
• Conditions of Service and Project Document (40%)
• Final report (30%)

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

The assignment will be awarded to a team of  consultants with demonstrated expertise and experience in youth policies and programmes involving volunteerism. At least, one of the consultants is knowledgable in volunteer management issues and is able to design a youth volunteering modality and its related documentations including conditions of service.  The team should have the right mix of the following competencies and qualifications.
competencies:

• At least ten years of professional work in the area of youth development, volunteer programme management/development, youth policy development and/or youth participation;
• Demonstrated success designing youth programmes and implementation plans;
• Demonstrated success designing youth programmes, operational guidelines, and implementation plans;
• A strong connection to the youth sector and/or youth issues and experience working with youth centres and/or community groups. Previous international youth sector and/or field experience would be a distinct advantage;
• Proven communication, partnerships building and interpersonal skills;
• Proven track record of facilitating contributions and exercising sound judgment and diplomacy in a multi-stakeholder environment;
• Excellent drafting and writing skills and fully proficient computer skills;
• Ability to plan own work, manage conflicting priorities, report on work progress and deliver outputs in a punctual manner.
• Highly motivated self-starter who takes direction well, but also works independently;
• Knowledge and experience of volunteerism with its diverse manifestations and cultural settings;
• An understanding of the UN or experience in working with civil society and governmental organizations;
• NB: At least one of the consultant should have the following competencies:
• Volunteer management
• Design of youth volunteering modality and its related documentations including conditions of service