UNDP Jobs - 59409- Individual Consultant -Youth Development Speciali

Individual Consultant -Youth Development Specialist-Gender Justice and Equality - Indian Nationals Only

Location :

New Delhi, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

14-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

13-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Four Months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Four Months

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

The United Nations General Assembly defines volunteerism as an activity undertaken out of free will, for the general public good, and where monetary reward is not the principal motivating factor. It is expressed through a wide range of activities, including traditional forms of mutual aid and self-help, formal service delivery, campaigning and advocacy, as well as other forms of civic participation.

Volunteering represents an important form and manifestation of youth participation across the globe. It is increasingly recognized that young people’s approaches to participation are changing and becoming more diverse, especially as a result of globalization processes. According to the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2015, “Young people volunteer their time and skills for a wide variety of reasons, such as idealism, hope for a better world, wanting to gain skills for future employment, to keep busy and to contribute to their own society”.

A growing body of research and studies, including the United Nations Volunteers’ (UNV’s) own lessons learned, points to the benefits volunteerism accrues to a youth’s own development and to societies at large.

Firstly, volunteerism can support young people to become active leaders and citizens and serves as an important tool for engagement in society;
Secondly, youth volunteerism strengthens the bond between young people and their communities;
And finally, volunteerism helps young people improve their employment prospects through practical experiences which enhance both hard and soft job-related skills.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS) has been running schemes such as the National Service Scheme (NSS), 1969 and Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYKS), 1972 through programmes with schools and universities for promotion of volunteerism amongst the youth. NYKS has more than 8 million youth volunteers while NSS has more than 3.4 million volunteers on the ground engaged in various community engagement activities.

The National Youth Policy (2014) of India proposes to initiate affirmative and positive action to ensure that national values are regularly fostered in all young people, especially among members of the large youth volunteer force working under the aegis of leading youth development agencies of the country. As such the policy proposes to engage with Youth clubs and the large volunteer force available within youth development agencies to play a pivotal role in developing appropriate initiatives for young people.

Taking cognisance of the major recommendations of the National Youth Policy (2014) and past collaboration on recognition and promotion of volunteerism the UNV, UNDP and MoYAS have signed a project on “Strengthening NYKS and NSS”.

Overall aim of the project is to provide catalytic support to the Youth Volunteer Schemes of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS) to facilitate youth participation and voice in peace and sustainable development programmes, towards realization of their full social, economic and human potential. It is expected that the project will help young people to gain a strong sense of civic engagement to bring about positive transformation in their communities.

To foster increased recognition of the contribution of youth volunteering, the project will prepare an Action Plan for roll-out of National Youth Policy 2014 on selected themes. A Youth Development specialist – Gender Justice and Equality will be recruited to support the preparation of the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with specific focus on gender justice and equality.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the National Project Director/Joint Secretary, Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, and in liaison with the Programme Officer, UNV/UNDP, the Youth Development Specialist – Gender Justice and Equality will prepare the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with special focus on Gender Justice and Equality.

The indicative list of functions of the Youth Development Specialist – Gender Justice and Equality will include:

Review the National Youth Policy 2014 and identify the areas of interventions related to Gender Justice and Equality;
Review of government structure, policies and institutions for enhancing government effectiveness to implement National Youth Policy 2014 which are gender responsive and address specific needs of women youth;
Review of and make specific recommendations for increasing engagement of line ministries for integrating women youth priorities into ministry plans and budgets by adoption of normative requirements for gender mainstreaming;
Review and suggest mechanism to strengthen the monitoring of implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports;
Make a comprehensive analysis of women youth’s political participation, and identify the key challenges and opportunities to promote women youth’s political participation and leadership;
Review of tools, mechanisms and frameworks for awareness raising and advocacy, and make specific strategy and recommendations that would introduce positive changes in social perceptions, attitudes and behaviors for promoting zero tolerance, and advocate for a genuine women youth’s participation in development processes;
Make an assessment of the youth development programmes to identify key partners including volunteers and civil society in the delivery of gender equality and women youth’s empowerment;
Suggest measures to engage youth volunteers of NSS and NYKS in implementation of National Youth Policy with special emphasis on gender justice and equality;
Submit the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy with special focus on gender justice and equality.

Deliverables:

Literature Review with work plan;
Draft Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on gender justice and equality;
Final Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on gender justice and equality.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Develop effective Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with special focus on Gender Justice and Equality;
Demonstrates good understanding on youth development and volunteering;
Strong analytical capacities and strong ability to communicate and summarize this analysis in writing;
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills with proven ability in report writing;
Generate information and documentation;
Network effectively with stakeholders to develop effective implementation plan.

Core Competencies:

Promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity;
Demonstrate political acumen;
Ability to manage relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and incorporate diverse points of view.
Support creativity and innovation;
Help create an enabling environment for open communication;
Share knowledge and support a culture of learning;
Demonstrate fairness and transparency.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters’ degree in gender studies, social science, development and Human Rights, and political science;
Demonstrated knowledge (education, publications, etc.) of youth development is desirable.

Experience:

10 years of relevant experience in programmes / policies related to gender justice and equality. The consultant should be a specialist in gender equality and women’s empowerment with strong knowledge in the area of policy support, gender and governance, and human rights and access to justice;
Experience and knowledge on institutional strengthening of strategic partners for gender integration and capacity development strategies;
Experience on policy development and capacity development;
Demonstrated capacity to write clear and well-constructed reports, training manuals, process documents;
Excellent communication, interpersonal and liaison skills with government, inter-governmental agencies, UN system and international and regional development partners, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and other relevant institutions.

Language:

Written and oral proficiency in English is required.

Duty Station:

New Delhi, India

The Consultant is required to report regularly to the project authorities – the office of National Project Director/Joint Secretary, Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Programme Officer, UNV/UNDP;
Relocation expenses, if any would be borne by the successful Consultant.

Documents to be submitted:

Curriculum Vitae including experience in similar projects, and Names/Contact Details of 3 referees;

A Technical proposal:

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
A brief (not more than 3 pages) technical proposal that includes a write up on the gender justice and equality in youth development. The documents should be referenced appropriately and a select bibliography provided with the proposal;
A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
A Financial proposal indicating all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs. The consultant will be based in Delhi. Preapproved official travel will be reimbursed as per the procedures of UNDP.

Payment Schedule:

Submission of detailed Literature Review with work plan and satisfactory acceptance by Project authorities (20%);
Submission of Draft Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on gender justice and equality and satisfactory acceptance by Project authorities (40%);
Submission of Final Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on gender justice and equality and satisfactory acceptance by Project authorities (40%).

Cumulative analysis

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

Responsive;
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 (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria weight - 70%;
Financial Criteria weight - 30%.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

Relevance of Education – Max 10 points;
Relevance of experience, particularly programme/strategy formulation relating to gender – Max 35 points;
Description of approach/methodology – Max 25 Points.

Inquiries:

For inquiries please write to manikandan.srinivasan@undp.org specifying subject of ToR in the email.

Note:

Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone etc. would not be reimbursed;
Individuals working with institutions may also apply, contract would be issued in the name of institution for the specific services of individual;
Please note proposals without financial proposal will not be considered;
CV, technical proposal and financial proposal can be clubbed in one file for uploading;
The consultants must bring his/her own computing equipment.