Background

In response to this year’s expiration of the current National Youth Strategy developed for 2005-2015, the Government through the Agency of Youth and Sport has emphasized the need for opening up the consultative process for development of a new National Youth Strategy for the period 2016-2025 that will address a number of youth-related issues. 

The main objective of this process is to develop a new National Youth Strategy for the next 10 years, with a primary focus on the first 5 years and a looking forward approach for the next 5. The process will focus also on increasing the active engagement of young people in national and local governance and ensuring the voice of youth is part of the decision making process, especially in relation to youth policy. 

On the basis of the conducted analysis by the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research the following areas of interest have been detected as relevant to youth and will serve as an initial guide for the new National Youth Strategy: education, employment and support prior employment, youth participation, local youth work, youth informing, quality of life, sport, culture, health and prevention.

With direct support of government bodies, international organizations, the youth sector and other interested stakeholders, transparent mechanisms will be established to ensure greater youth participation in the process of development of the new National Youth Strategy. These mechanisms will be elaborated in a highly participatory process through a series of workshops and working sessions with all relevant stakeholders. 

The National Youth Strategy will be based on the following principles: 

•  Participation - Young men and women should have a voice in decision-making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.
•  Rule of law - Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially.
•  Transparency - Transparency is built on free flow of information. Processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to youth, and enough information is provided to understand and monitor them.
•  Responsiveness - Institutions and processes try to serve youth.
•  Consensus orientation - Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests for youth and, where possible, on policies and procedures.
•  Equity - All young men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.
•  Effectiveness and efficiency - Processes and institutions produce results that meet needs of young people, while making the best use of resources.
•  Accountability - Decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil society organizations are accountable to the public, in this case young people as a focus, as well as to institutional stakeholders.
•  Strategic vision - Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development, specifically, related to youth. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.

 Objectives

Objective of the assignment is to develop a Draft Document of the new National Youth Strategy by a team of senior and junior facilitators that will lead thematic workshops for the purposes of ensuring an inclusive and youth led process. The facilitators will be divided among thematic workshops and each will be in charge of drafting the text input for the policy document of the National Youth Strategy based on a summary of inputs from all stakeholders during the workshops and the online/web based platform.

By the end of the process it is anticipated that the new National Youth Strategy will help provide:

•  a better understanding of the challenges faced by youth 
•  a higher level of engagement amongst youth, including a stronger voice and greater participation in decision making, social partnerships and social service delivery
•  greater engagement and participation and a stronger voice for young people in overall youth policy related government planning 
•  Increased use of  social services by youth, including people at-risk services
•  Create greater cohesion among various sectoral policies that affect the young people
• Recognition of the value of youth as a principal human potential of our society conducive to its cultural, economic and political development;
• Recognition and understanding of the needs of young people and targeting of societal resources to meet them; 
• Integration of young people at the center of the political, social, economic and cultural life and their recognition as a vital element for the future of society;
• Affirmation of youth as a positive force in the recovery and development of society
• Assist the youth in overcoming the inevitable difficulties in adolescence;
• Strengthening the moral and spiritual values of youth;
• Respect the rights and freedoms of young people as an integral part of the body of human rights and freedoms, as a fundamental value of our society;
• Key pillars of youth policy should be equal and free access for all, transparency and participation

Duties and Responsibilities

Based on the above – described objective of the assignment, the following tasks should be performed:

•  Development of working plan for all workshops foreseen for gathering inputs for preparation of the National Youth Strategy
•  Support and facilitate thematic discussions on the online/web platform of the National Youth Strategy
•  Prepare inputs gathered from each workshop and incorporate into selected areas of interest of the National Youth Strategy.
•  Support the development of a Draft Document of the National Youth Strategy, which incorporates all inputs from participants and other stakeholders from the delivered workshops, consultation meetings and information presented on the online web platform of the National Youth Strategy.

The junior facilitators are expected to work under the overall guidance of the Governance Unit at UNDP and in close cooperation with the representatives of the Agency of Youth and Sport.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

•  Integrity: Demonstrates commitment to the mission, vision and values of UNDP and the Agency of Youth and Sport.
•  Respect of diversity:  Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Technical Competencies:

The minimum key expertise and qualifications of the Junior National Facilitators shall cover the following:

•     Good analytical skills, with experience in facilitation.
•     Proven ability to deliver high-quality work efficiently and on-time;
•     Proven ability to work in a complex environment and co-operate with different national and international experts and stakeholders;
•     Ability to conduct detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis (direct and indirect) according to international standards and procedures;
•     Excellent public speaking and presentation skills
•     Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
•     A pro-active approach to problem-solving;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

•  High School Diploma. University Degree in relevant areas (law, political sciences, social sciences, management, economics or similar) is considered an asset. 

Experience: 

•  Knowledge/familiarity with web content management and moderating of online discussions 
•  Between 2 and 5 years of work experience in the areas of youth, policy, research and analyses with excellent knowledge of national and international policies relating to youth.
•  Up to 5 years of experience in designing and/or implementing national or local youth strategies, as well as other national strategic documents;
•  Proven experience in technical report writing.

Language requirements:

•  Fluency in English and language of the duty station.

 Duration of assignment

The assignment should be completed in the period from 22 January 2015 to 20 October 2015. The overall duration of the tasks covered by this ToR have been estimated not to exceed 45 days for each facilitator including related home/desk-work review, regular online communication, meetings of the group of facilitators, development of draft text of the strategy and final reporting by each facilitator on the process of development of the National Youth Strategy document.  

 Financial Proposal

The financial proposal should specify a lump sum amount which must be all-inclusive (e.g., professional fees, living allowances, etc.). The lump sum amount should be related to the tasks outlined in the ToR and should be expressed in local currency (MKD). The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Travel costs are not to be calculated at this point. 

Remuneration/Payment schedule:

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner. 

 Application Procedure: 

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications and interest:

•  Completed P11 form including past experiences;
•  Cover letter titled: “Junior Facilitator – National Youth Strategy” explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment, while also referencing at least three successfully completed assignments in relation to youth policy (Cover letter is to be submitted in Macedonian language,but do NOT type in cyrillic)
•  Financial proposal (to be expressed in local currency -MKD).

Interested individuals must submit their applications online through UNDP Online Recruitment System. Applicants are encouraged to fill and sign a P11 Form and submit it on the online application, although regular CVs are also acceptable. The P11 Form can be obtained at http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc. However, P11 Forms must be filled in before signing a contract with UNDP.

 Application evaluation process

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant(s) whose offer will be evaluated and determined as:

•  Responsive/compliant/acceptable (the ToRs requirements are fully met); and
•  Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: 70 %

Financial Criteria weight:  30 %

Only applicants obtaining a minimum of 70% weight score of the total obtainable points in the technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 Points):

Technical (based on CV and submitted cover letter)

•  Educational background and work experience (CV) - 20 Points;
•  Understanding of scope of work and relevance of completed assignments (from cover letter) - 25 Points;
•  Applicant competencies (including examples of previous work of similar nature- from CV and cover letter) - 25 Points.

Finalcial Evaluation Criteria (Total 30 Points):

All technically qualified proposals will be scored out of 30 based on the formula as provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals will receive 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

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.