Antecedentes

UNDP is the development arm of the United Nations system, with offices in 180 countries. Globally, the organization employs 17,000 people and manages a budget of USD 5 billion each year. 

The UNDP office in Skopje employs a team of 65 and currently manages a portfolio of projects in environmental protection, good governance, and inclusive prosperity worth USD 15 million per year.

The project “Strengthening the role of youth in promoting increased mutual understanding, constructive narrative, respect for diversity, and trust in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo” is funded by the United Nations Peace Building Fund (UN PBF). The project started in May 2022 and will last until May 2024. It will be implemented by partner organizations: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women and UNESCO. The national counterpart for this project is the Agency of Youth and Sport. As part of the project activities, UNDP in cooperation with UNFPA and the OSCE Mission to Skopje is supporting the Agency of Youth and Sport in the preparation of the National Youth Strategy.

In 2020 the Macedonian Parliament has adopted a Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies with aim to support youth organization, enhance dialogue on national and local level, enhance youth development and volunteerism and promote youth participation in decision making processes at all levels. The Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies foresees preparation of new five-year National Youth Strategy including Action plans. The National Youth Strategy is created by the Agency for youth and sport through participative, inclusive, and transparent process after consultation with the National consultative body on youth questions and submits it to the Government of Republic of North Macedonia.

In 2022 the Agency of Youth and Sport has started the process of Preparation of the National Youth Strategy for the period 2023-2027 based on the Law on youth participation and youth policies. The process of the preparation of the National youth strategy started with research of the needs and the trends of young people in North Macedonia as well as creation of Methodology for the preparation of the National Youth Strategy.

In this context, UNDP is looking to identify a National expert on Youth entrepreneurship and support to employment for preparation of National Youth Strategy 2023-2027. The national expert is in-charge of a thematic working group in the thematic area of entrepreneurship and support to employment: to lead, facilitate and coordinate the work of the thematic working group within the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027. Moreover, the national expert will support and contribute to the overall development of the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027.

Deberes y responsabilidades

OBJECTIVES    

The national expert will contribute to the UNDP Country Office support to the development of the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027. National Expert is expected to support the Lead Experts Team to prepare and to lead the offline and the online consultation process for the preparation of the National Youth Strategy following an established Methodology.

He/she will collaborate with the UNDP CO team, Agency of Youth and Sports, and the lead experts’ team to facilitate working group and provide inputs in development the National Youth Strategy, in the thematic area entrepreneurship and support to employment. The consultant will also communicate with the National Experts of the remaining working groups, as well as UNFPA and the OSCE Mission to Skopje counterparts.

Throughout the engagement, the National Expert will organize and facilitate work group sessions, organize, lead and participate in working meetings and relevant events and activities in period starting from September 2022 to December 2022, and will provide inputs to the Lead Experts Team in development the National Youth Strategy. The consultant will work closely with the team of the Agency of Youth and Sports, the entire UNFPA team and the relevant counterparts.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITITES 

The National expert is expected to:

-      Lead the Working Group supported by UNDP, in the thematic area entrepreneurship and support to employment of the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027.

-      Develop the layout of the content of the thematic area of responsibility for in-person, online and offline consultation processes.

-      Prepare call for participants / questionnaire for the online consultation process in the thematic area of responsibility.

-      Lead the consultation process in the area of responsibility (Thematic working group on entrepreneurship and support to employment), establish strategic priorities as per the Methodology for preparation of National Youth Strategy (2023-2027);

-      To conduct thematic area sessions with relevant stakeholders, state and non-state, as part of the process of drafting of the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027;

-      To facilitate and moderate at least two focus group discussions in the thematic area of responsibility aiming at receiving input on the National Youth Strategy 2023-2027and share the written inputs with Lead experts, Agency of Youth and Sports, UNDP and project partners (UNFPA and OSCE Mission to Skopje);

-      To draft the thematic area of responsibility of the National Youth Strategy;

-      To participate and be actively involved in regular meetings with the Lead Experts, Agency of Youth and Sport, UNDP and project partners (UNFPA and OSCE Mission to Skopje);

-      Coordinate and communicate with the relevant government representatives involved in the process;

-      Analyze the received information from the online process and prepare written report from the entire development of the Strategy;

-      To regularly coordinate with the UNDP Project manager throughout all stages of the process, as well with project partners and the Agency of Youth and Sport.

To effectively complete the above-described tasks, the consultant should:

• Coordinate and communicate on regular basis with the Lead expert and the Senior expert.   
• Coordinate and communicate on regular basis with the UNDP team and other project partners.

The consultant is expected to:

•  Maintain confidentiality throughout the creation process of the National Youth Strategy.
• In case of requests from the media for public statements, such statements, limited to the content of his/her assignment, shall be provided upon approval of the UNDP project manager. His/her statements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the UNDP.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES          

The National expert is expected to ensure the following:

1. Get familiarized with the Methodology for the preparation of the National Youth Strategy and relevant legislation/policy documents

• Conduct a desk review of all relevant documentation, namely the Methodology for the preparation of the National Youth Strategy and relevant legislation / policy documents in the thematic area of responsibility.
• Participate in all meetings with the Agency and Youth and Sport, UNDP, UNFPA and OSCE Mission to Skopje, and other relevant stakeholders involved in the process. \

2.Prepare and lead the online and offline consultation processes

• Prepare and lead 1-day kick-off conference, i.e. thematic area of responsibility with all relevant stakeholders and young people.
• Prepare and lead 2-days meeting with all relevant stakeholders as consultation of the draft Strategy. 
• In cooperation with the other thematic national experts, prepare the questionnaire for an online consultation.
• Analyze the received information from the online process and prepare written report.

3. Prepare first draft of the National Youth Strategy based on consolidated inputs from the consultation process

• Consolidate the inputs from the thematic consultation processes into a draft for thematic area of the National Youth Strategy.
• Provide quality control of the prepared documents ensuring adherence to the principles from the Methodology for the preparation of the National Youth Strategy.
• Provide first Draft of the thematic chapter of responsibility for the first draft National Youth Strategy that will be published for consultation.

4. Prepare the thematic area of responsibility chapter for the National Youth Strategy

• Consolidate the inputs from the online and offline consultation process on the draft version of the National Youth Strategy.
• Attend the isolation session with all National experts, Lead experts; UNDP, UNFPA, AYS, and OSCE representatives and prepare the consolidated version of the chapter of thematic area of responsibility.

5.Prepare final report of the assignment

• Prepare final report of the assignment providing all the relevant data for the fulfillment of the duties and recommendations for the process.

Payment schedule

The payment of the Expert in this project will be executed in two instalments. First instalment will be executed after successful submission of the deliverables 1-2-3 and the second instalment will be executed after the submission of deliverables 4-5.   

INSTUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT              

The Expert will work under direct supervision by the Project Manager with general guidance of the Head of Democratic Governance Unit and in close cooperation with the UNDP project team, the Agency for youth and sport and other relevant partners. The Expert will work in close cooperation with the Lead Expert, the Senior Expert and the team of other 7 thematic National experts as well as the relevant national institutions.   

DURATION OF THE ASSIGNEMENT

The assignment should be completed in the period from 20 September 2022 to 15 December 2022. The exact start of the assignment will be agreed with the selected Expert upon finalization of the hiring process. The overall duration of the tasks covered by this ToR has been estimated to not exceed 22 days, including deskwork and field work.

DUTY STATION AND TRAVEL

The duty station of the Expert is Skopje, North Macedonia with several travels within the country. In event of business travel, transportation to the project site will be organized by the project. If that is not possible, the consultant might be as an exception be authorized to use private vehicle to travel on project site. Reimbursement of travel costs (fuel and tolls) need to be pre-approved and will be additionally reimbursed per UNDP standard fee ($0.28 per km, including tolls). The Consultant is required to submit a list of locations visited and kilometres covered together with toll receipts. Potential overnight stay will be reimbursed upon previous approval from UNDP Project manager at UNDP standard fee.

Competencias

• Shows strong analytical and strategic thinking skills.
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates excellent organizational skills and proven ability to deliver consultancy products within deadlines.
• Ability to synthesize research and draw conclusions on the related subject.
• Writes clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• University degree (diploma) in a relevant field (Entrepreneurship, Business, Employment, Social Studies, Economy and other related fields), as a minimum requirement; higher level education will be considered as an advantage.

Experience:

• At least two years of relevant experience in preparation of strategic and policy documents; strategic thinking or similar experience in facilitating multidisciplinary working groups on specific thematic areas.
• At least five years of proven working experience in the field of youth development, entrepreneurship, employment.
• At least two years of relevant experience in the field of youth participation, youth engagement and empowerment.

Languages: Excellent language proficiency in both written and oral Macedonian and English. Knowledge of Albanian and/or other languages spoken in the country will be an asset.

During the assignment and the duration of the contract, the selected Expert should not exercise any other function or be part of a body related to the public institutions in charge of youth questions in North Macedonia.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BEST OFFER

Evaluation of Offers

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the combined scoring methodology. When using this method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated against below criteria and deemed the most favorable:

Technical Evaluation (70% of total evaluation – maximum 70 points):

Only candidates who will obtain at least 49 points and will score at least 70% of the maximum points obtainable for the technical criteria will be considered for financial evaluation.

 Financial Evaluation (30% of total evaluation – maximum 30 points):

For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula:  

Lowest offer

               ------------------- x 30

                Proposed Bid

The contract will be awarded to the candidate that will obtain the highest aggregate score based on the technical and financial evaluation.

1. DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Interested offerors are invited to submit the following documents/information to be considered:

• Offeror’s letter, as per the following form LINK;  
• Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references;
• Financial Proposal: The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum all-inclusive cost.

The submitted documents need to be provided in pdf format.

The financial proposal must consider various expenses, except the travel costs, that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; communications, any other expenses related to this assignment.

1. APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the "Apply now" button

2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box.

3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2

Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and delivered by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Portfolio Manager, no payment will be made even if the consultant has invested man/days to produce and deliver such deliverables.