UNDP Jobs - 53324- Consultant: UNDP-UNV Cross-regional Youth Programm

Consultant: UNDP-UNV Cross-regional Youth Programme Development Expert

Location :

Home based, travel for missions required

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

06-Feb-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Estimated 20 February - 30 April 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Approximately 45 working days, out of which approx. 30 days spent on missions

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

In line with the UNDP Youth Strategy 2014-2017: ‘Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future’ (2014-2017) and in line with the UNV Global Youth Programme, a contract will be awarded by the UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS to a highly qualified international consultant to develop a joint programme for UNV and UNDP in Europe and the CIS, which includes innovative youth volunteering initiatives in the Arab States, Europe and Central Asia region that contribute to social inclusion.

Based on the UN Secretary General’s Five-year Action Agenda, the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth and Development (IANYD) has been mandated in mid-2012 to develop a UN System-Wide Action Plan on Youth (SWAP) for the next 3-5 years. To help advance this agenda, the UN system developed an action plan, created a youth volunteer programme under the umbrella of the UN Volunteers, and appointed a Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Youth. Within the scope of SWAP, three sub-working groups have been put in place to develop action plans: (1) Employment and Entrepreneurship; (2) Education including education on sexual and reproductive health, and (3) Participation including political inclusion, citizenship, and protection of rights. UNDP has been co-chairing the sub-working group on Participation.

The UNDP Youth Strategy 2014-2017 “Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future” is designed to complement and reinforce the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017 by deepening the youth focus across all areas of work. The Strategy offers key entry points for systematic and coordinated action to support youth within an increasingly complex development context for their social, economic and political development. The Strategy recommends engaging a broad range of partners, including youth, and identifies strategic entry points for engagement. Four approaches stand out as effective ways to support countries in achieving these outcomes, namely: 1) Supporting capacity development of young people and youth organizations; 2) Engaging through outreach, advocacy and mainstreaming of youth issues in all spheres of development planning; 3) Developing and exercising spheres of influence through leadership and empowerment; and 4) Sustaining progress through support to national youth policy development and implementation. It also supports, among others, the implementation of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-SWAP), the work of the United Nations Special Envoy on Youth and United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD).

The United Nations General Assembly specifically mandated UNV to promote and advance the role of youth in development through volunteerism (UNGA 31/131, 1976). The 2012 Five-Year Action Agenda of the UN Secretary-General gave a further boost to UNV’s youth mandate, through its identification of youth and volunteering as priority, and its explicit call for the “creation of a UN youth volunteers programme under the umbrella of UN Volunteers.” Through UNV’s active support to involvement of youth in the formal consultations in the Post-2015 process as well as its own broad-based consultations to analyze advances and best practices in the field of youth volunteering UNV has developed a UNV Youth Volunteering Strategy, the UNV Global Youth Programme, the new UNV Youth Volunteer Modality, and a Youth Volunteer Trust Fund. These set the stage for UNV’s future engagement in youth, volunteering and development for the next four-year period, addressing key areas such as social exclusion, lack of empowerment, unemployment and lack of evidence-based research and knowledge on the impact of youth volunteerism on peace and sustainable development.

Cross-regional UNDP-UNV initiative

The development of UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014-2017) and UNV’s Strategic Framework for the same period, as well as the parallel development of the respective Youth Strategies provided an entry point for systematic discussions between the organizations on areas of collaboration and synergy. After extensive consultations, UNDP’s Operational Performance Group endorsed (December 2013) key priority areas for cooperation during the programme period, especially that of Youth Leadership and Engagement in Development – focusing on social, economic and political inclusion, civic engagement and rights; and entrepreneurship and employment.

Specific consultations between UNV and UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS have further helped articulate specific areas of synergy. Complementing the findings from the Mid-term evaluation of UNV’s Arab Youth project, UNV and UNDP have agreed to partner in a joint inter-regional initiative address youth volunteering and innovation in development. This innovation angle would also explore a proposition that volunteers are designing new generation of services that are addressing a variety of socio-economic development issues that they identify themselves.

Building on the focus of innovation and volunteering, as well as the shared priority of youth programming, UNV and UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS are actively exploring systematic and structured joint-programmatic interventions. The cross regional (Armenia, Egypt, Georgia) initiative called Spot the Future (http://europeandcis.undp.org/blog/tag/futurespotters/) is a potential entry point for the joint work.
In order to inform the development of this opportunity, UNV and UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS are seeking to conduct a feasibility study for a joint programme that reflects and strengthens the contribution of youth volunteering and innovation to development in the Arab states, Europe and the CIS region.
The Consultant will be contracted to carry out tasks specified below and will report to the Senior Programme Coordinator.

Overall objective of the assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to inform a substantive collaboration between UNV and UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS through the development of a joint UNDP-UNV programme, which includes identification, piloting and scaling up innovative youth volunteering initiatives in 2 countries from the Arab States region (Egypt and Morocco) and 4 countries from the Europe and the CIS region (Belarus,

Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine) that contribute to social inclusion through:

Skills development and employability;
User-generated social services;
Data collection and usage for accountability.

Through the joint programme, UNV and UNDP want to ensure mechanism to support knowledge building, sharing and networking across regions with the active involvement of the UNDP RBEC regional team, UNV team and 6 selected UNDP country offices within the allocated timeframe.

Location

Home-based (including 6 missions to Egypt, Morocco, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine for average 4-5 working days per country and 2 missions to Istanbul).

Duties and Responsibilities

The Programme Development Expert will work under the overall guidance and coordination of the UNDP IRH Senior Programme Coordinator and in close cooperation with UNV Chief, Programme Coordinator.

The Expert will be expected to perform following tasks:

Conduct desk review to familiarize him/herself with:

UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014-2017) and UNV’s Strategic Framework (2014-2017);
UNDP Youth Strategy 2014-2017 “Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future”;
UNV Youth Volunteering Strategy, the UNV Global Youth Programme, and the new UNV Youth Volunteer Modality;
UNV Arab Youth Volunteering for a Better Future regional project;
The cross regional (Armenia, Egypt, Georgia and Belarus) initiative called Spot the Future;
UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 “The future we want: rights and empowerment”;
Existing National youth strategies and programmes;
Any other UNDP and UNV youth-related strategic documentation.

Systematically identify and analyze existing critical gaps and opportunities, also paying particular attention to the gender-disaggregated data, specifically related to the needs of youth in the specified countries in the areas of:

Skills development and employability;
User-generated social services;
Data collection and usage for accountability.

Identify communities of youth change-makers in the five countries specifically focusing on those working on the novel approaches in the three categories listed above:

Identify communities that are effective at mobilizing volunteers toward development activities with demonstrated high impact (this should include an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of each community);
Recommend at least two communities in each country for further work and investment in, focusing on prototyping and scaling their existing activities in an effort to have a higher impact;
Anchor the findings to specific program areas and linking the proposed activities to priority areas at the regional as well as the national level;
Explore possibility for interventions at regional level that will bring value and build on the interventions at national level;
Explore how volunteerism in general and more specifically how UNV’s volunteer modalities can be leveraged to support the programmatic interventions (online volunteers, on site volunteers etc.);
Present findings of the analysis with recommendations jointly to UNDP and UNV for decision on the potential development initiatives to be included in the joint programme;
Explore and map potential partners and sources of funding for the programme, beyond the commitment of seed resources from UNDP and UNV;
Draft first and subsequent drafts of the programme document that meets UNDP corporate requirements including on gender-mainstreaming;
Solicit comments/recommendations and ensure the sound feedback mechanism to address all comments from the selected UNDP Country Offices and UNV Field Units in a proper trail while finalizing the final draft.

Main deliverables
Consultancy inception report including design, methodology, timeline, etc.
Report of the findings and recommendations for development interventions to UNDP and UNV.

Final draft project document (including complete Results and Resources Framework with established baselines, indicators and annualized targets, as well as other sections as per UNDP corporate template) including:

Draft Annual Workplan with the proposed budget for the first year;
Resources Mobilization strategy;
Power point presentation based on final report for dissemination.

Duration of the assignment

The Consultant is expected to commit approximately 45 working days over a period of three months (estimated February-April 2015). The first 5 days are envisaged for review of background materials and knowledge resources. Within the assignment, the consultant is also expected to have missions to selected programme countries to meet with the UNDP COs, UNV Field Units and with the national counterparts for approximately 4-5 working days per country. The Consultant is also expected to have 2 missions to Istanbul to discuss and present the findings of the analysis to UNDP and UNV as well as to present the draft programme document.

Timeline for submission of each deliverable will be agreed with the consultant upon signing of the contract.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultancy will be managed by the UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS in close collaboration with UNV. A joint presentation about the findings and recommendation will be organized to jointly discuss the analysis and decide on the main elements for the project document.

Each Country Office will appoint a Focal Point to support and provide inputs as necessary to the consultant.

Payment schedule:

The payment will be made in three installments:

10% upon satisfactory completion of the first deliverable;
30% upon satisfactory completion of the second deliverable;
60% upon satisfactory completion of the third deliverable.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Strategic vision, strong technical and analytical capabilities;
Strong interpersonal skills and communication skills, resourcefulness, initiative and maturity of judgment;
Proven ability to work in a team, develop synergies and establish effective working relations with UNDP and UNV, with persons of different Country Offices, and national counterparts;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Strong analytical aptitude and effective interpersonal, writing, communication and presentation skills;
Strong technical skills in leading formulation and assessment of development programs and projects;
Strong organizational and process management competencies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum requirement: Master’s degree in development economics, social sciences or other fields related to the scope of the assignment.

Experience:

Minimum requirement: 10 years of programme development related experience of which at least five in a developing country, preferably with track record of working with youth;
Experience in the substantive area and knowledge of volunteerism and innovation;
Proven experience in collaborating with various international development organizations in reaching out and engaging with traditionally marginalized groups (e.g. youth, minorities);
Proven experience in working with RBM, applying a variety of foresight methodologies, social network analysis and ethnographic research to policy design process.

Language:

Minimum requirement: Excellent English report writing and communication skills;
Knowledge of another regional language, e.g. Russian, French and/or Arabic is an asset.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11 desk reviews and interviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only those candidates who obtained at least 70% of points in each step of the process technical (P11 desk reviews and interviews) will be considered for financial proposal evaluation.

Technical Criteria – 70% of total evaluation – max 35 points:

Criteria A (Academic background) specified in the announcement – max 5 points;
Criteria B (Proven relevant working experience in developing countries and with international development organizations) – max 5 points;
Criteria C (Proven knowledge and practical experience in RBM, including application of methodologies outlined in the TOR) – max 10 points;
Criteria D (Proven knowledge on innovation and volunteerism and good communications skills assessed through interviews) – max 15 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points

Application procedure

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website.

The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees; please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc
Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, daily rate, and any other possible costs).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal.

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

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
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.