Background
More than half of the world’s young people alive today, live on this continent. At the moment, roughly 68 of every 100 people in Asia are of working age. It is a region facing the challenges of extreme poverty and climate change, but brimming with economic dynamism and a young workforce to deliver on unfulfilled potential. Furthermore, nearly a billion people in Asia are below the age of 15, which means by 2050 the region will have more working-age people, and fewer older and younger dependents than at any point in its history. This ‘youth bulge’ offers the region a unique opportunity for economic progress to lift millions more out of poverty, and ultimately close the gap with the developed world.
Young people in the region are 5-7 times more likely to be unemployed than their older counterparts at the same level of education. Women’s access to education and participation in the labour force remain stubbornly low across populous swathes of the region. The next wave of development gains as envisioned by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals must address the needs of those left behind. These are big issues and our solutions must be equally bold. UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Human Development Report for 2016 examines these demographic trends and sets out clear policy directions that governments can harmonise with their national development plans and strategies.
UNDP and its partners believe that youth can make a real and positive difference and create their own opportunities by engaging with these challenges head on through social entrepreneurship and innovation, exploring dynamic approaches to mobilizing their peers and communities and creating adaptive solutions to addressing youth economic marginalisation. Against this backdrop, the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub and its partners are developing a regional project on Youth Economic Empowerment and Social Innovation. With the great majority of Asia’s peak-era workforce still in their early years, now is the time to invest in interventions that will harness their potential. In not doing enough to ride this wave, we risk losing the most potent inter-generational opportunity we have had in ensuring the well-being of one half of humanity.
Duties and Responsibilities
Objective:
In light of this, the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub and partners have initiated a youth empowerment programme for the region. UNDP is seeking an experienced consultant for the monitoring and evaluation, event management, partnership development, and resource mobilization, for this project.
Scope of Work:
The Consultant will assist with:
- Develop and maintain a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Regional Youth Project;
- Coordinate project-related meetings such as Inception Workshops, Project Steering Committee Meetings and other stakeholder meetings;
- Support the UNDP Youth Unit, both substantively and structurally, in varying stages of the project cycle (e.g. – coordinating and support other staff who are working on various project outputs – research, financial sustainability, communications, national dialogues etc.);
- Prepare the UNDP Youth Unit annual report based on the corporate reporting guidelines and donor guidelines;
- Prepare project proposals for external project partners;
- Support evaluation and reporting activities related to project closure and developing project documents for the next phase.
Expected Outputs and Deliverables
The consultant is expected to achieve the following outputs:
- Finalize the comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the regional youth project and produce the 2018 Annual Report (Due Date: 5 December 2018)
- Prepare the Regional Youth Project proposal for 2019-2020 to be submitted to external project partners (Due Date: 15 December 2018)
- Support to project closure activities of Regional Youth Project (Phase 1) and prepare project documents for Regional Youth Project (Due Date: 1 March 2019)
- Conduct Mid-term review and report external project partners (Due Date: 1 May 2019)
- Support to coordinate the activities under National Dialogues, Research, Financial Sustainability and Communications (Due Date: 30 June 2019)
Institutional Arrangement
The M&E Consultant will report to the Regional Youth Project Manager and Coordinator at UNDP BRH and work in close collaboration with the UNDP Country offices and other key parties. The success of the project depends on the timely delivery of each component. The Consultant should ensure timely identification of potential risks and signal any delays in deliverables. The contract will be effective immediately upon signature by UNDP.
UNDP BRH will have the following responsibilities: (i) Provide relevant documents; (ii) Discuss and agree on the methodologies of the assignment; and (iii) Monitor and evaluate the progress of the assignment. The contract and payments will be performance-based and regularly assessed by the UNDP BRH. All travel expenses to and from the target area should be included in the financial proposal.
The present ToR may be subject to modification, without changing the overall objective and the scope of work, on the basis of mutual consultations. UNDP will hold the copyright of the assignment deliverables.
Duration of the Work:
In accordance with the requirements above, The Consultant is expected to commit to a maximum of 100 working days for a period of 15th November 2018 to 30th June 2019.
Duty Station:
The consultancy will be managed by the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub. The consultant’s presence is required at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub premises to work very closely with Youth Unit. Travels to project sites and/or regional events are expected under the authorization of the Youth Team Leader.
Travel expenses (ticket, living allowance and local transport) shall be agreed prior travel and reimbursed after trips completed.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationalityand age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favouritism.
Functional Competencies:
Communication:
- Communicate effectively, both in writing and verbally, to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.
Professionalism:
- Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
- Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
- Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
Teamwork:
- Work well in a team to advance the priorities of UNDP;
- Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
- Focuses on results for the client;
- Welcomes constructive feedback.
Required Skills and Experience
The consultant should possess the following expertise and qualifications:
Education:
- Master’s Degree in development studies, social sciences, international relations or other fields related to the scope of the assignment.;
Experience:
- Five years of relevant experience related to innovation and supporting startup ecosystems;
- Expertise in conducting research related to innovation, policy development and ICT;
- Relevant experience on evaluating programmes which offer grants and funding to startups and ecosystem partners;
- Understanding monitoring and evaluation methodologies is essential;
- Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
- Participate effectively in team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
Language requirements
- Excellent English, report writing, presentation and communication skills.
Financial Proposal and Schedule of Payments
Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, living allowance and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:
- First instalment (20%): upon satisfactory completion of the 1st deliverable
- Second instalment (20%): upon satisfactory completion of the 2nd deliverable
- Third instalment (20%): upon satisfactory completion of the 3rd deliverable
- Fourth instalment (20%): upon satisfactory completion of the 4th deliverable
- Fifth instalment (20%): upon satisfactory completion of the 5th deliverable
In general, UNDP shall 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
In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent. The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.
Evaluation Method and Criteria
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
Cumulative analysis
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.
Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)
- Criteria 1: Relevant Education; (10 points)
- Criteria 2: Five years of relevant experience related to innovation and supporting startup ecosystems (20 points)
- Criteria 3: Relevant experience on evaluating programmes which offer grants and funding to startups and ecosystems partners (10 points)
- Criteria 3: Expertise in conducting research related to innovation, policy development and ICT (10 points)
- Criteria 4: Understanding monitoring and evaluation methodologies (20 points)
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Documentation Required
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:
- Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
- Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
- Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (in USD currency)
Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.
ANNEXES
Annex I – TOR for Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant
Annex II – Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
Annex IV – Procurement notice: Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant
All documents can be downloaded at : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=50840