UNDP Jobs - 38457- Individual Consultant - Development of a Project o

Individual Consultant - Development of a Project on Youth and Women Employment in Lesotho - Open to Lesotho Nationals Only

Location :

Maseru, LESOTHO

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Jul-2013

Application Deadline :

30-Jun-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

15 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

15 Working Days

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 Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), will develop a project to contribute to addressing the increasing unemployment challenge, especially among youth and women. The project, to be called Youth and Women Employment Promotion Project, is aimed at supporting inclusive economic growth by providing employment opportunities and alternatives through skill development, promotion of access to finance and promotion of market linkages and value chains for development for youth and women.

The UNDP therefore invites Local Consultancies to bid for designing a project and developing a project document for funding and implementation.

Close to two-thirds of Lesotho’s 1.8 million people live below the poverty line, and one quarter of the population annually faces food insecurity. Unemployment rate stands at 25%. It is more acute amongst women (51%) and youth (35%) - the youth (age 15-35) who comprise 38.9% of the total population. Employment creation is therefore of paramount importance to Lesotho. The lack of an internally sustainable economic model, a weak private sector, mismatch between skills and needs, an undiversified productive capacity and limited access to entrepreneurial finance, have been identified as major contributors to this situation.

Lesotho’s education system is skewed towards academic qualifications rather than skills acquisition, resulting in low levels of employable skills, further compounded by high dropout rates in the transitions from primary to secondary school as well as from secondary to tertiary schools. This has raised the importance of programmes that will improve decent employment amongst youth and women.

Responding to the challenge of unemployment, Government of Lesotho (GoL) has identified employment generation through micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME) development as a key strategy and a more –private sector led development agenda. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), Vision 2020, the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), the UNDAF and UNDP’s Country Programme Document (CPD) all endorse employment creation as the strategy of choice for combating poverty and attaining an inclusive economic growth.

Duties and Responsibilities

Design and develop a responsive project document for the women and youth employment project:

Support drafting and finalisation of the project document in the format consistent with the UNDP requirements;
Review current and previous related projects to ensure that all lessons are incorporated, as well as addressing all the challenges and gaps for a successful project implementation;
Set up clear implementation strategies/methodologies and structure consistent with the UNDP requirements and policies.

Undertake country wide stakeholders’ consultations to ensure a responsive project proposal that addresses the needs to the defined population segments:

In liaison with SPU officials, identify stakeholders, and develop a stakeholder consultation process;
Host the initial stakeholder workshop on the project, to determine buy-in and areas of engagement;
Develop recommendations for identification of potential implementing partners and stakeholders.

Leverage international best practices and build upon the lessons learned for similar projects:

Working with the SPU officials, identify similar projects in the region and within the UNDP that may be used for lessons and experiential learning;
Promote knowledge sharing and capacity building in the process.

Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework and plan for the project:

Develop monitoring and evaluation indicators consistent with the national policies, (NSDP and Vision 2020), UNDAF and CPD;
Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the project.
Develop a project implementation plan and budget encompassing all the project components and management.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age issues;
An understanding of the concept of human development and human development indicators;
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Functional Competencies:

Have strong interpersonal skills and communication skills;
Have proven ability to work in a team, develop synergies and establish effective working relations with persons of different agencies, government counterparts, donors and NGOs;
Have proven facilitation and training track record
Have ability to work with small multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams to deliver quality products in high stress, short deadline situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s degree in a social sciences, agriculture or management sciences.

Experience:

At least 7 years of proven experience in project management and related assignments;
Proven experience in project design and development, monitoring and management of multi-stakeholder development projects;
Proven practical experience in information gathering, research methodologies and analysis;
Proven practical experience of exposure to the youth and women issues and Lesotho country context;

Language requirements:

Excellent English writing and oral skills.

For full details and detailed Terms of Reference for this advertisement please go to: http://www.undp.org.ls/jobs/default.php