Background

As a trusted multilateral partner serving 177 countries and territories around the world, UNDP is uniquely positioned to help advocate for change, connect countries to the knowledge and resources they need to develop and to coordinate the efforts of the United Nations at the country level. In order to fulfil UNDP’s mandate and advance youth empowerment, UNDP launched in 2014 its Youth Strategy 2014-2017, aligned with UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2014-2017 and meant to deepen the organization’s youth focus across three key areas of work: economic empowerment of youth; youth civic engagement and participation in decision making and political processes and institutions; and youth resilience-building.

UNDP’s Youth Global Programme for Sustainable Development and Peace (“Youth-GPS,” 2016-2020) is UNDP’s first global programmatic offer for youth empowerment (launched in July 2016). Its aim is to further boost UNDP’s response to the challenges facing young people both across UNDP’s thematic areas of work and around emerging issues. Its goal is to improve their lives and support their role as proactive agents for sustainable development and peace. Youth-GPS technical expertise extends across three complementary areas of youth development identified in UNDP’s Youth Strategy, and which are also now part of the 2030 Agenda: youth participation in civic and political life, young people’s economic development and their role in peacebuilding/resilience-building. Youth-GPS’s expertise on youth development covers issues ranging from designing effective national youth policies to engaging youth in PVE and conflict prevention; from youth-led innovation and skills development to strengthening national youth mechanisms. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work, Responsibilities and Description of the Proposed Analytical Work 

The consultant will directly report to the UNDP Youth Specialist and Youth-GPS Manager, and will produce essential deliverables to maintain and enhance UNDP’s positioning on youth globally and strengthen UNDP’s policy and programme support at all levels in the context of the SDGs. The consultant will also work closely with the team member in charge of communications and advocacy to ensure synergies and coordination between all the different tracks of work and a good visibility of UNDP’s youth portfolio.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

Provision of cutting-edge global policy and programming guidance on youth empowerment for sustainable development and peace by: 

• Supporting the development and dissemination of cutting-edge policy and programmatic guidance on youth empowerment – youth mainstreaming in development planning, youth-sensitive budgeting, youth throughout the project/programme cycles; and other emerging issues; 
• Supporting youth policy and programming on youth political participation, youth economic empowerment, youth in resilience building (youth, peace and security and youth and the prevention of violent extremism, youth in early warning/crisis response, etc.), youth in the 2030 Agenda;
• Developing trainings, policy briefs, guidance, lessons learned and toolkits for development partners, policy makers and youth themselves, in order to enhance the role of young people as partners in development and youth in the implementation of and monitoring/reporting/accountability on the SDGs;
• Support the development of training modules and policy and programming guidance for UN country teams on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security (2015);
• Develop concept notes and funding proposals and resource mobilization strategies.
• Support the development and coordination of new UNDP youth initiatives under Youth-GPS. 

Support global inter-agency and multi-stakeholder partnerships for youth by: 

• Supporting UNDP’s role in the Inter-agency network on youth development (IANYD), including in the IANYD working groups, and flagship inter-agency initiatives, including the organization of the ECOSOC Youth Forum and events during the HLPF, the General Assembly ministerial week and other key processes and segments; 
• Developing and supporting partnerships between UNDP and youth organizations, youth-focused CSOs, UN entities, international/multilateral organizations on youth, with a focus on advancing the empowerment of marginalized youth; 
• Supporting the convening of UNDP global network of practitioners on youth empowerment for sustainable development and peace; 
• Organizing and supporting global donors’/partners’ meetings on youth; 
• Presenting and promoting UNDP’s global development approach, results and innovations on youth at global/multilateral events and experts’ meetings.

Support the development and dissemination of innovative research, new evidence and advocacy initiatives on the role of youth as positive agents of change by:  

• Supporting the development and coordination of research initiatives and progress reports to generate new evidence to address gaps in knowledge on issues of youth empowerment on areas of interest such as: the role of youth in the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs; the role of youth in the prevention of violent extremism, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, state building, resilience building; the development of national youth-focused indicators for the SDGs; methodologies to develop, implement and evaluate national youth policies; the role of youth in social audits and accountability at the national level; the impact of youth-led social movements on governance; the interlinkages between political empowerment and economic empowerment; youth and anti-corruption; youth-sensitive budgeting and financing for youth; youth in urban settings; intergenerational policy dialogues; the role of youth in promoting green and decent jobs; the empowerment of displaced young refugees; youth-led social innovations; young women’s participation in public service and at the frontline of service delivery; the role of youth as advocates for human rights; 
• Developing and supporting cutting-edge research on innovative issues: e.g. youth-led innovations; youth contribution to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration processes as well as peace processes; the role of youth in the response to migration and refugee crises; financing gaps and mechanisms for youth; linkages between economic and political empowerment; youth participation in decision-making; 
• Developing/drafting lessons learned, mapping and stocktaking exercises on UNDP’s support to youth, in order to share innovative approaches drawing on lessons learned from various program experiences with other stakeholders; 
• Collecting/codifying cross-regional and South-South and triangular expertise and knowledge, in recognition of the need to ensure targeted interventions which are sustainable and appropriate to the context; 
• Supporting youth mainstreaming in UNDP flagship publications, such as the human development reports, as well as methodologies consultations for and dissemination of standalone human development reports on youth; 
• Further positioning youth challenges and solutions in the global agenda, supporting the presentation and dissemination of UNDP’s results in youth, development, peacebuilding events and trainings, and in the media – traditional and social media; 
• Organise brownbag meetings, webinars and side events and prepare summary reports.

Support capacity development and internal youth accountability mechanisms, by: 

• Support youth mainstreaming in UNDP’s policy and programming, developing and delivering training and induction toolkit/packages on youth political participation, youth in the SDGs, youth in accountability, youth in peacebuilding, for RR/RCs, UN Peace and Development Advisors, UNDP programme and policy officers across all thematic areas; 
• Support analysis and lessons learned from ongoing mapping of UNDP youth projects and analysis and dissemination of youth results in corporate reporting, such as the UNDP results-oriented annual report. 
• Design internal accountability mechanisms and tools (corporate scorecard, budget tracker, reporting systems, etc.); 
• Support new avenues for youth participation in the form of youth partnership platforms and networks; 
• Developing and supporting leadership development programmes.

Competencies

Corporate: 

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values; 
• Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences. 

Functional Competencies: 

• Knowledge and understanding of governance, peacebuilding and youth development issues, including policy frameworks and programmes; 
• Strong familiarity of UN institutional structures and processes related to youth development; 
• Firm understanding of processes and thematic issues related to youth and 2030 agenda, UNSCR 2250 and PVE. 
• Familiarity with UNDP’s work, particularly its work on youth, governance and peacebuilding; 
• Ability to carry out research, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidance materials; 
• Ability to function in a team environment. 

Behavioral Competencies: 

• Performance-oriented and focused on results; 
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize tasks;
• Strong interpersonal skills and flexibility; 
• Openness to change and ability to receive / integrate feedback; 
• Ability to manage heavy workloads and solve complex problems with minimum supervision. 

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Advanced university degree (Master's level) in International Relations, Governance, Development Studies, Youth, or related studies, required.  

Relevant experience:

• Two years of relevant professional experience required in policy work on governance, including experience in promoting youth participation and empowerment, required;   
• Knowledge and relevant experience in producing evidence-informed guidance materials and tools for strengthening of youth engagement in development at all levels, required
• Relevant experience with project design, implementation and review on youth and peacebuilding, governance and the 2030 Agenda from an empowerment approach, required
• Relevant experience in coordinating, designing and conducting research projects using mixed method approaches to provide evidence and capture learning, including case studies on youth development issues is an asset.
• Familiarity and experience with fostering and managing UN-civil society multi-stakeholder partnerships through informal and formal institutional networks, including with youth-led organizations, and at inter-agency level, an asset
• Experience with advocacy on youth development issues at the global level, including in UN fora, including high-level events, an asset
• Familiarity with donor priorities on youth issues and experience with developing partnership offers., an asset.
• Experience working with UNDP on governance, peacebuilding and youth issue is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required; 
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7 hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract. 
• The Consultant will be based in UNDP, New York City. The Consultant may be expected to undertake official travel. The cost of those missions will be borne by UNDP and will be specified in TORs following award of the LTA contract. Please provide the projections only at this stage for the following: expected number of missions, durations, targeted cities/countries/regions. Offers from applicants should not reflect/include estimated costs for these items.
• Payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

• Criteria 1. Minimum Master’s level in International Relations, Governance, Development Studies, Youth, or related studies Weight = 5%; Maximum Points: 50;
• Criteria 2. Relevant professional experience required in policy work on governance, including experience in promoting youth participation and empowerment Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 100; 
• Criteria 3. Relevant experience in coordinating youth-related research and developing guidance materials – Weight 15 %; Maximum Points: 150; and
• Criteria 4. Relevant experience with project design, implementation and review on youth and peacebuilding, governance and the 2030 Agenda from an empowerment approach. Weight: 15% Maximum points: 150
• Criteria 5. Experience working on advocacy and policy with UN, including at inter-agency level, and civil society Weight: 15% Maximum points: 150 points 
• Criteria 6. Familiarity with partners/donors’ priorities on youth issues and experience with partnership building Weight: 10% Maximum Points: 100 points

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for interview. Interview will be scored as Pass/Fail. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (300 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: 

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

• The Consultant will be supervised by and report directly to the UNDP Youth Policy Specialist/Youth-GPS Programme Manager. 
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop. 

Payment modality

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily. 

Framework Agreement 

UNDP plans to enter into the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with one or two TOP ranked successful Individual Contractor/s to assure resources availability at the required timeframe and/or increased demand for services requested. The service of who will be used on an intermittent and repetitive basis when needed and based on the fixed daily rate. Other prospective applicants that are not contracted, at the UNDP discretion, will be placed in the roster of consultants to be used based on call basis for similar services. 

Please note that the LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed, and that such an agreement is non-exclusive. When a specific need arises, the successful Individual Contractor/s will be approached and be provided with a specific TOR and deliverables (and time frame) but still within the scope of the responsibilities stated in the LTA. The successful Individual Contractor/s is expected to provide Confirmation of Interest on the specific services required. Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed. The purchase order will be based on the agreed LTA Daily Rate Consultancy Fee. 

This LTA has a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume. 
The duration of LTA is for 3-year period subject to satisfactory contract performance.  

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.

Important Information: 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.