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 – Environment and Disaster Management will be recruited to support the preparation of the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with specific focus on Environment and Disaster Management.

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 – Social Entrepreneurship will prepare the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with special focus on Social Entrepreneurship.

The indicative list of functions of the Youth Development Specialist – Environment and Disaster Management will include:

  • Review the National Youth Policy 2014 and identify the areas of interventions related to Social Entrepreneurship;
  • Review of government structure, policies and institutions for enhancing government effectiveness to implement National Youth Policy 2014 which special focus on social entrepreneurship;
  • 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 youth volunteers’ participation and contribution to social entrepreneurship, and identify the key challenges and opportunities;
  • Review of tools, mechanisms and frameworks for awareness raising and advocacy, and make specific strategy and recommendations that would advocate for a genuine youth’s participation for social entrepreneurship;
  • Make an assessment of the youth development programmes to identify key partnerships that can be developed with different entities working on livelihood and skill development, such as microfinance institutions, NGO’s, corporate sector and government institutes;
  • Suggest measures to engage youth volunteers of NSS and NYKS in implementation of National Youth Policy with special focus on social entrepreneurship;
  • Submit the Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy with special focus on social entrepreneurship.

Deliverables:

  • Literature Review with work plan;
  • Draft Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on social entrepreneurship;
  • Final Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on social entrepreneurship.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Develop effective Action Plan for implementation of National Youth Policy 2014 with special focus on Social Entrepreneurship;
  • 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 public policy, social science, management or other related development studies;
  • Demonstrated knowledge (education, publications, etc.) of social entrepreneurship is desirable.

Experience:

  • 10 years of relevant experience in programmes / policies related to social entrepreneurship. The consultant should be a specialist in social entrepreneurship / skill building with strong knowledge in the area of policy support and youth development;
  • Experience and knowledge on institutional strengthening of strategic partners for social entrepreneurship;
  • 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 social entrepreneurship 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 social entrepreneurship and satisfactory acceptance by Project authorities (40%);
  • Submission of Final Action Plan for Implementation of National Youth Policy (2014) with focus on social entrepreneurship and satisfactory acceptance by Project authorities (40%).

Note: Payments will be made only on satisfactory completion of the above and acceptance by project authorities.

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 social entrepreneurship – 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.

Notes:

  • 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.