Background

Youth issues are of growing importance for the government in Bangladesh as they represent a growing constituency. Although representing a large section of the population they are however, often marginalised from mainstream political debate and under-represented in parliament and government. Collective youth voices are generally absent from important debates that affect social and economic life. Their interests generally are not high on the political agenda and can be over shadowed by more mainstream issues that affect other influential parts of the population or a deeply rooted patronage system dominated by specific interests. Sections of the youth demographic are also exposed to specific pressures in society that can be ignored by wider parts of the population leaving them feeling isolated from the mainstream and alienated and disaffected. Voter turnout is generally lower in younger age groups, particular sub-cultures can be misunderstood by older generations and a tendency to see youth as rebellious against a society’s structure of feeling can all leave a fissure between generations.

Mainstreaming the priorities of youth groups in the public domain and in policymaking spheres is essential. Not only do youth groups have their own priorities in social and economic life they are also the next generation of politicians, public figures and role models for future generations. As young citizens they are a core and growing constituency in Bangladesh and their mainstreaming in to society is an important source of creativity and continuity for communities. Isolation from social and economic opportunities and a lack of aspirations can exclude these age groups leading to alienation and disenfranchisement from important processes such as voting and community based civic activities where they build social capital. Increased inclusion will require the development of a stronger voice in the public sphere for these groups that can often have disparate interests and be under-represented in public debate despite them representing an estimated 40 percent of the population of 160 million people.

Youth employment is today one of the major challenges globally. The global economic downturn hit youth disproportionately hard, and even today, youth are three times more likely to be out of a job than adults. The Rio+20 Earth Summit has the potential to stimulate vast new investments in the green economy and generate good, green jobs for youth. South Asia is one of the developing regions where numbers of youth looking for work are high – generating green jobs for youth should be a national imperative. Structural change in the world economy and increased global competition means the job market is more competitive than ever before and the number of new jobs are insufficient to meet the rising demands of an increasingly educated young workforce. The lack of access to equal and equitable economic opportunity has become a serious challenge. A growing number of governments are developing policies to react to this challenge and have designed initiatives aimed at more support in job creation, training for youth and preparing these young people for the labour market by developing incentives for employers as well as better equipping potential employees to enter the workforce. As the size of the youth demographic grows so does their importance in policy debate.

The UNDP intends to assist strengthen the role youth have in shaping public policies and provide support to increase their access to opportunities in Bangladesh by developing a programme based on a number of outputs to increase the voice of youth in public life.

These include:

• 1) Enhanced capacity of young people to access jobs and opportunities through support to widening access to resources;
• 2) Enhancing their ability to produce evidence based material to assist youth groups identify and understand the key priorities of their generation to affect change in the public sphere;
• 3) Platforms supported to provide a forum for debate and facilities for youth groups to feed into national public policy debate;
• 4)Accessible lobbying tools created to assist youths form coalitions around key issues and promote a policy agenda in their interest;
• 5) Enhanced access of youth groups to community services and safe spaces. Integrity will be mainstreamed throughout the various outputs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:

The main objective of this assignment is to draft a strategy for public-private partnership and to explore UNDPs role and feasibility in creating a platform for such an initiative in Bangladesh. The consultant will also be responsible for doing a stakeholder analysis of donors and NGOs/CSOs working on youth issues in the country. S/he will also explore public-private partnership from a youth perspective.

In August 2010, the Government of Bangladesh issued the Policy and Strategy for Public Private Partnership (PPP) to facilitate the development of core sector public infrastructure and services vital for the people of Bangladesh. The PPP program is part of the Government's Vision 2021 goal to ensure a more rapid, inclusive growth trajectory, and to better meet the need for enhanced, high quality public services in a fiscally sustainable manner.

Under this new national policy, the PPP Office was established as a separate, autonomous office under the Prime Minister's Office to support sector line ministries to facilitate identification, development and tendering of PPP projects to international standards.

Thus the consultant will speak with relevant government officials, private sector stakeholders and prepare a strategy for UNDPs involvement in PPP.

Specifically the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Consult with relevant stakeholders including government, youth groups, UN agencies, donors and civil society organisations;
• Prepare meeting minutes and reports from the above mentioned consultations;
• Identify and map out key stakeholder groups and partners working in the area of youth issues;
• Conduct research and write a paper on best practices from other countries on PPP;
• Prepare a presentation for CO on the PPP strategy;
• Draft the PPP strategy for UNDPs governance cluster;
• Consolidate feedback received from UNDP colleagues and draft final strategy.

Timeframe:

• The assignment will be for 20 (Twenty) working days over a period of two months.

Deliverables:

• Conduct and lead  a series of consultations with a wide range of stakeholders especially in the private sector;
• Produce a map of donors and NGOs in the youth development area;
• Produce a strategy and scoping document for private sector partnership in Bangladesh.

Selection process:

• The candidate will be selected on the basis of the relevant expertise and most suitable financial offer received.

Reporting:

• The project formulation mission will consult and provide regular updates to the Programme Analyst, UNDP. In addition, overall supervision and guidance will be provided by the Assistant Country Director, UNDP Bangladesh.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Serves and promotes the vision, mission, values, and strategic goals of the UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability plans, prioritizes, and delivers tasks on time.

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements with excellence;
• Demonstrated sound judgment in resolving issues/problems; ability to proactively seek and recommend sound policy initiatives and high-level advice.

Creativity:

• Ability to actively seek to improve or offer new and different options to solve problems/meet client needs, and promote and persuade others to consider new ideas.

Communications:

• Excellent and effective communication (verbal and written) skills, including ability to make recommendations; diplomacy and tact; present information in a concise and accurate manner; ability to convey difficult issues and positions to senior officials.

Teamwork:

• Excellent inter-personal skills with an ability to foster teamwork, work in a multi-cultural, mixed gender environment with sensitivity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced degree in the social sciences, public policy, political science, economics or public administration.

Experience:

• Minimum one year experience in research;
• Demonstrated experience working in the private sector;
• Demonstrated experience working for UN agencies, working with UNDP would be an added advantage;
• Familiarity with the region, and/or the country’s overall governance needs and direction;
• Good understanding of contemporary thinking on development practices and youth issues;
• Excellent writing, analytical and communication skills in English.

Language:

• Fluency in speaking and writing in English.

Evaluation of the Candidates

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method.

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for Financial Evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

• Educational Background - 10 marks;
• Working experience - 20 marks;
• Consultant competencies (including examples of previous work of similar nature) - 40 marks.

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula:   p = y (µ/z),  where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Application Procedure

Applicants should submit the following documents/information:

• A financial proposal (daily consultancy fee, international travel costs if applicable, living allownace etc.);
• Curriculum Vitae indicating relevant experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.