Background

The purpose of this procurement exercise is to contract an individual consultant who will maintain and enhance UNDP’s global positioning on youth empowerment at all levels in the context of the SDGs and its role in the implementation of the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda, through the provision of advocacy, communications and knowledge management services and the promotion of a culture of collaboration and partnerships. The consultant will work closely with other team members to ensure synergies and coordination between all the different tracks of work of UNDP’s youth portfolio.

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.

A key priority for the project will be to deploy systematic and coordinated action to support the role of young people as active agents of change and partners in SDG implementation, monitoring and accountability as well as the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security (2015) and related international agreements. The project also aims to strengthen UNDP’s overall accountability and commitment to youth. As such, the project leverages UNDP’s distinctive added value within the multi-lateral system, its strong partnerships with UN and external partners on youth issues and its strength as a decentralized operational organization in order to effectively foster youth empowerment and to advance the role of young people as positive agents of change and partners for sustainable development and peace.

As an active member of the Working Group on Youth Participation in Peacebuilding of the Inter-Agency Network for Youth Development (IANYD), UNDP hosts, coordinates and facilitates with partners an updated and expanded Youth4Peace Global Knowledge Portal. Launched in October 2016, the portal supports the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015) on Youth, Peace and Security and serves the needs of young peacebuilders, decision-makers, researchers, development practitioners and other stakeholders, by providing a one-stop-shop for generating, accessing and sharing knowledge to promote and support young people’s participation in peacebuilding. It also offers a unique hub for UNSCR 2250 and the related Progress Study on Youth, Peace & Security and its follow-up.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will directly report to the UNDP Youth Specialist / Youth-GPS Manager, and will produce essential advocacy, communications and knowledge management 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 and the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda. The consultant will also work closely with other team members 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:

Youth-GPS / Youth4Peace Advocacy, Communications and Knowledge Management:

  • Ensure relevant content is captured and shared on appropriate internal / external platforms and channels to enhance the visibility of UNDP’s work on youth empowerment.
  • Work with relevant colleagues in BPPS and BERA to develop/revise content for the new UNDP website and other related online platforms.
  • Conduct updates of relevant online spaces (Yammer, SharePoint Intranet, etc.).
  • Facilitate the internal online UNDP network of youth practitioners / YPS practitioners.
  • Lead UNDP’s social media efforts for Youth Empowerment, including: manage social media accounts and tools; develop social media messaging and assets for targeted campaigns; coordinate with – and contribute to – UNDP BERA, Inter-Agency and other partners’ campaigns and outreach efforts.
  • Conduct reviews of existing and planned knowledge products on youth across UNDP, update and identify topics for new knowledge products based on gaps and needs from Country Offices.
  • Ensure distribution and dissemination of relevant knowledge products; plan, develop and launch campaigns and roll-out strategies.
  • Conduct research and provide inputs for background briefs / concept notes. Support the preparation of technical progress and monitoring reports.
  • Produce/update briefing notes, concept notes, issue notes, fast facts, toolkits and other internal UNDP and Youth4Peace knowledge and advocacy products to strengthen the community of learning and practice.
  • Capture innovation and emerging trends related to youth and governance; document lessons learned and case studies and share them on relevant platforms.
  • Coordinate the editing, design and publication of UNDP knowledge and advocacy products.
  • Support youth team members with the development and dissemination of cutting-edge policy and programming guidance on youth empowerment; the development of training modules; developing / drafting lessons learned, mapping and stocktaking exercises and the development and coordination of new UNDP youth initiatives under Youth-GPS.
  • Draft news updates, press releases and youth inputs for internal and external newsletters (such as UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster News Update, OGC’s SDG 16 Info Digest, UNDESA’s Youth Flash).
  • Develop and maintain mailing lists and/or database of contacts to support UNDP4Youth’s outreach and partnership-building efforts.
  • Organize and support corporate learning events, particularly webinars.
  • Support the development / management of new online platforms.

Support the implementation of the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda

  • Support UNDP’s role in the Inter-agency network on youth development (IANYD), including in the YPS working group.
  • Develop and support partnerships between UNDP and youth organizations, youth-focused CSOs, UN entities, international/multilateral organizations on youth, with a focus on advancing young people’s participation in peacebuilding.
  • Manage the Youth4Peace Knowledge Portal:
  • Ensure regular and timely updates on the Youth4Peace Portal.
  • Develop and/or commission new content, visuals, etc.
  • Expand resources section.
  • Liaise with developers on issues / improvements to the platform and outstanding enhancements.
  • Oversee any further development of the Youth4Peace portal, including but not limited to: consultation with partners for drafting of Concept Note, extended portal site map, development of ToRs, procurement process for developers and coordination with developers.
  • Develop regional spaces / groups in collaboration with regional focal points.
  • Coordinate and Facilitate Youth4Peace Network activities, blog series, e-consultations, etc.
  • Manage Youth4Peace social media.
  • Serve as Secretariat for Youth4Peace Steering committee.
  • Coordinate Youth4Peace consultations, including those which will feed into the drafting process of the progress study requested by S/RES/2250 and other relevant consultations such as, for example, youth-led solutions in PVE and linkages between S/RES/2250 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Support the development of new initiatives, such as Youth4Peace Ambassadors, etc.
  • Capture innovations and emerging trends related to Youth4Peace and undertake research on related issues, as required.
  • Support the organisation of Youth4Peace events including: supervising logistics, invitations, reviewing and compiling presentations, preparing background documents, managing all final reporting (including drafting the workshop executive summary and meeting reports).

Roster Management

  • Manage UNDP’s Youth Empowerment Roster, including:
  • Provide oversight for the roster.
  • Conduct a systematic update of current experts (review status, liaise with experts to update their profile and documentation, re-validate experts as appropriate).
  • Liaise with WIDE System Administrator on issues / improvements to the platform.
  • Update procedures for contracting experts from the roster and other relevant documents as / if needed.
  • Conduct search for experts according to ToRs / Create Search User accounts as needed.
  • Manage new call for experts, including:
  • Drafting and publication of ToRs.
  • Develop new taxonomy (skills / expertise) and make necessary changes to the WIDE platform.
  • Evaluation and selection of experts.
  • Draft email templates and other communications / guidance notes.
  • Invite selected experts to join the roster.
  • Collect references submitted for experts, review them and upload them on the platform.
  • Activate experts and inform them of their status; follow up and notify experts missing documents / references.
  • Support experts with the population of their profiles and related processes on the WIDE platform.

Competencies

Corporate:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP and the UN;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

  • Knowledge and understanding of governance and youth issues, with an emphasis on the provision of coordinated support and management of knowledge and advocacy initiatives;
  • Familiarity with processes and thematic issues related to youth and the 2030 Agenda, UNSCR 2250 and the inter-agency working group on young people’s participation in peacebuilding;
  • Ability to conduct advocacy, and to support the development of programme communications strategies for sharing good practices and successful strategies;
  • Familiarity with UNDP’s work, particularly its work on youth, governance and peacebuilding;

Behavioural Competencies:

  • Demonstrated ability to multitask under pressure and to meet strict deadlines;
  • Excellent organizational skills, ability to prioritize tasks and to work effectively in teams, delivering through and with others;
  • Ability to manage heavy workloads and solve complex problems with minimum supervision.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Political Science, Law, International Relations, International Development studies, or other relevant area. A Bachelor’s Degree with an additional two years of relevant experience will also be acceptable.

Experience:

  • Eight years of relevant professional experience required (ten with Bachelor’s degree), in international cooperation for development, governance and communications, including experience in promoting youth participation and empowerment.
  • Solid experience in knowledge management required, including the preparation of high-quality reports, drafting newsletters, managing online collaboration platforms, facilitating web-based portals and communities of practice. Familiarity with UNDP CMS, or other content management platforms highly desirable.
  • Experience in communications and advocacy for development and peacebuilding required, including the ability to develop content for online dissemination and the establishment and development of social networking platforms. Experience with advocacy on youth development issues at the global level, including in UN fora, an asset.
  • Experience in conducting research, gathering and synthesizing information from a variety of sources to provide evidence and capture learning, and supporting the implementation of governance, human rights, education, post-conflict and youth-related activities at global and regional levels, an asset.
  • 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 developing and maintaining rosters of experts required. Familiarity with the WIDE platform an asset.
  • Proven experience of working remotely, including the ability to build constructive relationships with a wide variety of colleagues and partners, required.
  • Previous work experience with the UN System required. Experience working with UNDP on governance, peacebuilding and/or youth issues, highly desirable.

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent writing and editing skills in English required.
  • Excellent command of a second UNDP working language (French or Spanish) a strong asset.

Application Procedure

Application is a two-step process:

STEP 1

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications (note: all documents must be compiled into one file to be uploaded as part of the online application):

  • Proposal / Cover letter explaining why the candidate is 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.

STEP 2

  • Financial Proposal.
  • After review of applications, shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be contacted by UNDP and 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 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 will be home-based. 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 ICFA. Offers from applicants should not reflect/include these costs.
  • 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.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidate(s) about the outcome or status of the selection process.

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. Level and Relevance of Degree in Political Science, Law, International Relations, International Development studies, or other relevant area. Weight = 5%; Maximum Points: 50.
  • Criteria 2. Number of years (more than eight years) of relevant professional experience required in international cooperation for development, governance and communications, including experience in promoting youth empowerment, working in the UN System, fostering and managing UN-civil society multi-stakeholder partnerships and working remotely. Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 150.
  • Criteria 3. Solid experience in knowledge management, including the management of websites. Weight 15%; Maximum Points: 150.
  • Criteria 4. Relevant experience in communications and advocacy for development and peacebuilding, including social media. Weight: 20% Maximum points: 200.
  • Criteria 5. Experience conducting research, writing and editing. Weight: 5% Maximum points: 50 points.
  • Criteria 6. Experience developing and maintaining rosters of experts. Weight: 5% Maximum points: 50 points.
  • Criteria 7. Additional UNDP working language (Spanish or French). Weight: 5% Maximum points: 50 points.

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.

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

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 the 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, funding and project demand.

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