Cambodia remains a young and growing nation; people under the age of 30 represent two-thirds of its population, which continues to grow at around 1.6% per year. Youth also constitute about 43% of the total working-age population. Moreover, Cambodia is undergoing a rapid demographic transition, with birth rates falling, and the proportion of elderly dependents remaining relatively low. This demographic dividend can be used to further boost economic growth and bring about positive social transformation. Whether the country can realize these benefits in the future, however, is dependent on youth’s access to decent and higher value jobs and their ability to start and sustain their enterprises, as well as to successfully respond to rapid technological change driven by the advent of Industry 4.0.

In joining the country effort to address youth employment issue, the Promoting Decent Youth Employment in Cambodia (YEC) project was designed with the aim to support Cambodia to promote and expand decent employment among youth (15-30 years old) and identify and test avenues for youth to maximize returns on their jobs and income opportunities in the context of Industry 4.0. The project focuses on identifying and testing avenues for Cambodian youth, especially the poor and vulnerable, to prepare for the arrival of Industry 4.0 and to maximize their incomes through skills upgrading, improving linkages between job seekers and employers, and promoting youth entrepreneurship.

In line with the above overarching objective, the project specifically implements the following expected deliverables:  

1. Improvement of sectoral and national policies related to youth skills development and employment through policy-oriented research and advocacy with a specific focus on Industry 4.0 (I4.0)

2. A scalable model of Skills Training and Certification that builds on existing career/job pathways in different economic sectors that offer higher value-added employment in the areas of anticipated growth and comparative advantage for Cambodian youth in the context of the emerging digital economy and Industry 4.0:

3. Youth (and young aspiring entrepreneurs) have the tools needed to start their businesses, particularly in areas responsive to Industry 4.0 and the emerging digital economy, as a result of entrepreneurship training

    

Project brief information

YEC Project was designed in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, and was put in implementation in April 2019.  The project was fully staffed and ready to implement in August 2019, a few months before the Covid 19 Pandemic spread globally and particularly marked the 1st community outbreak in Cambodia. Due to this, the government put in place many measures locally in relation to travel restriction, restriction of events/gathering that involved number of people, and the lockdown of the cities and provinces, etc. This caused challenges to the project both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, due to the need to band events/gathering and closing of institutions including skill-training/academic institutions, distance learning approach was gradually rolled out amid the foreseen challenges namely limited digital infrastructure (Wi-Fi), limited digital literacy of both students and teachers, and high cost in shifting to digital distance learning, etc. Directly, in the context of the Pandemic, many of the project activities and partners’ work plans had to be organized through online formats, project-related travels had to be reduced or cancelled. The fact that the project’s target groups (which include youths, young entrepreneurs, micro enterprises, startups, and job centers) are in provincial areas made it more difficult to effectively reach the same level of expectation while the context imposed the application of digital/distance approach. 

In the face of the Pandemic, the project also refocused part of its resources to support the development of online learning materials and platform for accounting proramme, online platform for National Career Fair and improved online access for youth groups

In implementing the activities plan, the project worked closely with the relevant stakeholders including government partners, local partners, experts in the field, and private service providers. Through the collaboration, the project reached out to intended target groups and youths in the targets city and provinces. For instance, the National Employment Agency and the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cambodia have their provincial offices all over the country. Some partners, such as Government partners and private companies also contributed from their expertise and resources – both financially and intangible advantage such as networking, institutional supports, and other in-kind assistance – to support project implementation.

Amid the challenges and with strong engagement with relevant stakeholders, as of August 2021, the project has executed most of the planned activities and made key progress in relation to the development of the Accounting Qualification Programme, designing and piloting incubation programmes for young entrepreneurs, working with partners to improve entrepreneurship ecosystem, and improving public employment services for youth job seekers. Despite the above progress, the project also faced challenges leading to the drop of some projects planned activities/outputs. For instance, due to the Covid-19, the learning of students in one of skill certification programme (ATQ) was interrupted and the development of skill training programme for SMEs cluster’s workers had to be put off because of the lack of progress of SME cluster development.

Since the project is at the final stage of its implementation, the Terminal Evaluation exercise is commissioned to provide independent assessment on the project’s progress and results, key lessons learned, and potential future initiatives toward increasing employability for young people in Cambodia, considering changes (as threats and opportunities) resulting from the global pandemic.

The direct target audience of this final evaluation are UNDP Management and the representatives from Embassy of Russian Federation in Phnom Penh. The report will also be shared with other relevant entities namely the RBH Youth Co: Lab, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the National Employment Agency, the Department of Technical Vocational Education and Training, National Accounting Council, and Kampuchea Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Auditors. The report will also be shared in public.

Below are the objectives of this exercise:

• To review and assess the overall achievements (outputs, outcomes, and impacts levels) of the YEC Project (in comparison with the latest approved result framework) and its contribution to UNDP’s Country Programme and national priorities,

• To undertake an assessment of indicator progress vis-à-vis the targets for both outputs and outcome, and proposed budget

• To assess the relevance and strategic positioning of the project to respond to the needs and challenges faced by youth in accessing skill development and decent employment.

• To document good practices, key lessons learned, and recommendations for the potential for replicating and scaling up successful models and interventions and for future programming,

• To assess how the YEC project synergizes or complements initiatives being implemented by others (development partners and relevant responsible government ministries (Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports)) to promote skills development and employment opportunities,

• To assess whether and how the project enhanced the application of a rights-based approach, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and participation of other socially vulnerable groups such as youth from provinces or youth with disabilities, and

• To assess the project’s adaptability and resiliency in the context of the Covid-19 in realizing the intended results.

Functional competencies:

• Excellent evaluation skills, including the capacity to produce high quality and constructive reports;

• Demonstrated analytical skills, ability to assess complex situations, to succinctly and distill critical issues, and to draw practical conclusions;

• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with various partners including the government, civil society, private sector, UN, and other development donors and high-quality liaison and representation at local and national levels;

• Experience leading multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams;

• Ability to meet short deadlines;

• Excellent English report writing skills;

• Good facilitation and presentation skills;

• Be client-oriented and open to feedback;

• Excellent interpersonal, coordination, and planning skills. Sense of diplomacy and tact; and

• Ability to carry out related activities and meetings using virtual tools or remote working arrangements; and

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards. 

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Education: 

• Minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent in economics, public policy, development studies, or related field relevant to the position.

Experience:

• At least 7 years experience designing, implementing, and evaluating development projects with UNDP, UN, or other international organizations;

• Strong record of evaluating development projects in the field of youth development, skill development, entrepreneurship, and other similar projects;

• Technical knowledge and experience in applying qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, data collection, analysis, and evaluation report writing;

• Proven knowledge on youth development, skill development, and entrepreneurship especially in Cambodia and other ASEAN countries with similar context;

• Previous evaluation experience for UNDP projects is a strong asset

Language Requirement:

• Excellent written and spoken English required

Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=87393 more detail information about term of references, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

UNDP reserves right to reject any applications that is incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested Offerors are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your online applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an email acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Interested individual offeror must submit  the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal:

a) Letter of explaining why they are most suitable for the work

b) Sample previous evaluation reports to be submitted for assessment

2. Financial proposal (Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP)

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email pheara.lek@undp.org and cc procurement.kh@undp.org . While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC).