Background
Albania’s vocational education and training (VET) and vocational skills development (VSD) system all too often has failed to equip students with the requisite knowledge, competences and skills for a successful transition into the labour market. This has resulted in an unsuitably qualified labour force, skills shortages and soaring youth unemployment. Recognizing the need to systematically address employment by re-orienting the vocational education and training and vocational skills development system towards labour market needs, and modernizing and extending outreach of employment services, the Albanian government adopted the National Employment and Skills Strategy 2014-2020.
UNDP globally and regionally has built a strategic vision that recognizes the importance of creating employment opportunities as a means to addressing both poverty reduction and inequalities and exclusion. Indeed, the first outcome of the recently adopted United Nations Youth System Wide Action Plan focuses on Employment and Entrepreneurship with the intention to ensure greater opportunities for youth to secure decent work and income over the life-cycle, contributing to a virtuous circle of poverty reduction, sustainable development and social inclusion. To support the integration of various youth employment policy objectives through coordinated action, UNDP Albania, in collaboration with other UN agencies has designed and implemented several skills development / employment related interventions.
After six years of experience addressing labor supply interventions, UNDP Albania’s strategic vision is to contribute to building a labour-market focused skills development system that is suited to enhance the employment and entrepreneurship aspects of the unemployed in urban and rural areas, while simultaneously addressing the skills needs of those employed in the formal and informal sectors and emerging entrepreneurs.
The ambition of the Swiss funded Skills Development for Employment (SD4E) Programme is to make a systemic contribution to the modernization of Albania’s VET/VSD system by addressing several key challenges: skills mismatch and unequal access to employment and training services; labour market challenges in rural areas; insufficient governance of funding for employment and training; lack of coordination / collaboration in the system; inadequate labour market information; and insufficient quality and relevance of VET and VSD providers and their programmes. The overall goal of the programme is that “more young women and men in urban and rural areas in Albania are employed or self-employed.” In order to achieve this goal, the programme focuses on four outcomes:
Outcome 1: Improving and diversifying employment promotion measures, and advancing their governance
Outcome 2: Improved environment and regulatory framework for up-scaling work-based learning schemes (elements of dual system)
Outcome 3: Quality assurance and accreditation of VET/VSD providers
Outcome 4: Anticipating skills needs in the short and medium term
In the context of the first outcome of the programme, a self-employment measure has been designed as an alternative way of employment generation for youth. Beneficiaries of the self-employment programme are young people up to the age of 30. The programme contains four key elements, namely a) a training programme on self-employment; b) support to business plan development; c) assistance towards formal registration of businesses, and d) financial grant towards the purchase of equipment and materials.
Duties and Responsibilities
The National Consultant for the self-employment measure will work under the guidance of the Programme Specialist and the direct daily supervision of the Deputy Team Leader. The consultant is expected to contribute to strategic decision making for programme purposes and will support the operational management of tasks described below.
Facilitate the implementation of the self-employment measure of the SD4E Programme;
Support the planning, preparation, reporting and follow-up to the recommendations of the Programme Steering Committee as they relate to the self-employment measure;
Plan and coordinate the implementation of the self-employment measure by ensuring adherence to agreed timetables and timely mobilization of required resources;
Ensure sustainability of the self-employment measure through partnerships established with central and local authorities;
Flag any (potential) risks, bottlenecks, challenges to the implementation of the self-employment measure to the programme team;
Ensure quality and timely documentation of implemented activities planned in the yearly and half yearly operational plan for specific project outcomes and contribute with inputs and relevant information for the financial and narrative reporting to UNDP.
Draft and prepare progress and ad-hoc reports as and when required;
Work closely with the CO team for resolving any implementation issues or sharing information on progress of implementation;
Coordinate research and needs assessment activities in the areas of responsibility, including planning and capacity building activities related to self-employment;
Contribute to the outcome 1 implementation with e.g. research, fact-finding, information sharing etc.;
Assume other duties as and when assigned;
Deliverables
The expected deliverables for this individual consultancy – spread out as support over the period January 27, 2017 – January 26, 2018 will be as follows:
Launch and implementation of 2 rounds of applications for the self-employment measure;
Quarterly monitoring of the beneficiaries of the self-employment measure and documentation of the results achieved;
Monthly updates on the status of implementation of the self-employment measure including the identification of challenges encountered and lessons learned;
Continuous training and mentoring on legal issues for all beneficiaries of the self-employment measure.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
Self-development, initiative-taking;
Act as a team player and facilitate team work;
Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Creating synergies through self-control;
Managing conflict;
Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
- Informed and transparent decision-making.
Functional Competencies:
Strong communication skills (written, spoken, composing, presentation) and ability to share expertise for capacity building;
Political and cultural sensitivity and commitment to UNDP’s development objectives in the country.
Proven ability to establish strong working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including government (central and local), civil society, private sector, media and international organizations;
Substantive knowledge of self-employment concepts and demonstrated experience in successfully delivering training on topics related to self-employment;
Proven experience of managing international and local experts; ability to operate within multi-stakeholder, and multi-cultural teams is highly desirable;
Proven familiarity with the regulatory environment for businesses in Albania, including business registration procedures, taxation, and social insurance / security;
Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications
- Master degree in International Development, Business Administration, Law, Social Sciences or closely related field is required;
Work Experience
Minimum 4 years of professional experience with a focus on entrepreneurship, private sector development;
Prior exposure to development / delivery of self-employment programmes is preferable;
- Previous experience/familiarity with UNDP or other UN agencies is desirable;
Language
Full working knowledge of English and Albanian is essential.
Evaluation Procedure
UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:
- Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
- And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70
Criteria A: Practical familiarity with self-employment programmes and the regulatory environment for businesses in Albania – max points: 40
Criteria B: Educational background– max points: 15
Criteria C: Prior experience in delivery of self-employment programmes – max points: 15
Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30
Application Procedure
Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply by January 11, 2017 midnight.
The application should contain:
Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
- Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form...attached form...
- Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Download here.
- Financial Proposal in ALL* - specifying a total lump sum in Albanian Lek for the tasks specified in this announcement. The attached template may be used - http://www.un.org.al/editor-files/file/Financial%20Offer%20template.doc. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services)
- *Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application.
How to Submit the Application:
To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:
- Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs);
- Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
- Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
- Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
- Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
- You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process
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.