Background

Cambodia remains a young and growing nation; people under the age of 30 represent two-thirds of its population, which continues to grow at around 1.6% per year. Youth also constitute about 43% of the total working-age population. Moreover, the country is undergoing a rapid demographic transition, with birth rates falling, and the proportion of elderly dependents remaining relatively low. This demographic dividend can be used to further boost economic growth and bring about positive social transformation. Whether the country can realize these benefits in the future, however, is dependent on youth’s access to decent and higher value jobs and their ability to start and sustain their enterprises, as well as to successfully respond to rapid technological change driven by the advent of Industry 4.0.

To address these critical issues and support Cambodia to promote skill development and employment for young Cambodians, UNDP is executing a project on Promoting Youth Employment in Cambodia with three key objectives: 1) Contribute to the improvement of sectoral and national policies related to youth skills development and employment through policy-oriented researches and advocacy which includes an analysis of the threats and opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 for youth employment and a co-design of appropriate policy responses following the analysis; 2) Increase human capital for decent and better employment to support Cambodia’s Industry 4.0 transition through enabling young working-age Cambodians to participate in the dynamics of rising income from higher value-added manufacturing and services; 3) Increase young entrepreneurs’ capability by equipping them with entrepreneurial skills that will allow them to start-up businesses in both rural and urban areas that are responsive to changing industry needs and coordinate efforts and leverage resources from key stakeholders including government, development partners and private sector to promote social impact investment by young entrepreneurs.

Under this youth employment project, UNDP is collecting evidence for policy interventions through two separate studies, one of which is a study on the digital literacy among Cambodian youth with a focus on employability and interpreneurship development. The study is an integral part of the project and will contribute to the improvement of sectoral and national policies such as the national framework for digital literacy, digital economic policy and future advocacy work related to youth skills development and employment in Cambodia.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant is expected to perform tasks and accomplish the expected result as following:

1. Thoroughly review existing literature on digital literacy and digital skills required among Cambodia’s young people (aged 15-30) for entering and competing in the evolving labour market in the country. The review shall engage closely with existing digital literacy/skills frameworks for youth employability and entrepreneurship with a reflection on Cambodia’s socio-economic context.

2. Based on the literature view, develop a research plan detailing methodologies, survey questionnaires, representative sample size covering youth in urban and rural areas and from different social-economic backgrounds. The questionnaires should be placed for consultation with UNDP team.

3. Roll-out a survey with 300 youth respondents and conduct focus group discussions with youth (aged 15-30) in universities, high-school, non-formal education programs, communities, and those employed in formal and informal sectors. Wherever possible gender balance among the respondents should be considered.

4. Consult closely with key Ministries (MoEYS, MLVT, MEF, and MPTC) and selected companies on national policies, labour market, digital skills needed and skills development.

5. Identify and assess existing digital literacy training programmes tailored to employability and entrepreneurship and identify areas of intervention to propel digital literacy and skills development among vulnerable young people.

6. Based on existing literature and the study findings, propose digital literacy framework for youth’s employability and entrepreneurship development which serves the design of project interventions and contributes to the subsequent development of the national framework for digital literacy.

7. Present the key finding to the relevant stakeholders

Interested offeror must  read  the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=60222 for more  detail information about term  of references, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

Competencies

• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work together with teams.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

Master’s degree in ICT (Computer Science or Engineering), social research, statistics, labour economics, public policy, and other related interdisciplinaries.