Background

UNDP Global Mission Statement
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is on the ground in about 170 countries and territories, working with national counterparts on solutions to global and national development challenges.

UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement

UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, governance and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP, in partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, helps countries to achieve sustainable development by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shock. In Afghanistan, a country in conflict, UNDP works for development and recovery choices that reduce vulnerability and contribute a development perspective to strengthen humanitarian and peace-building responses. 

Background

Today, young people are more connected, more creative, more informed, and more persuasive than any previous generations. Young people are responding to the challenges of the day with innovative approaches, contributing fresh ideas, creating the world they want, and driving human development for themselves, their communities, and their societies.

In Afghanistan, 63% of the population (37.1 million people) is below 25 years of age, making the country one of the youngest in the world. Challenges such as high youth unemployment rates (17.5%), poverty (40% of the population surviving on less than USD 1.25/day) and insecurity, however, seriously limit their prospects to contribute to a safer, more prosperous and inclusive Afghanistan for all.

The Afghanistan National Youth Strategy for 2018-2022 calls for the promotion of entrepreneurship among the youth to enable them to create employment opportunities for themselves as well as for others.

Identifying youth entrepreneurship as a key driver for economic inclusion, UNDP would like to propose the creation of a platform that will leverage social entrepreneurship to provide young people (aged 18-25) with learning opportunities, skills development and active participation at the local level.

Acknowledging that fragility is an aspect that cannot be overlooked in Afghanistan, the platform will also promote and improve mental well-being, help build resilience and propose soft-skills to help youth cope with the psychological strain of starting social ventures and projects in highly uncertain environments.

Mental health, well-being, and lasting economic outcomes are in fact intimately connected. However, in places affected by conflict and violence, entrepreneurs experience chronic stress and poor mental health on a regular basis. Stress reduces performance, contributes to a more negative work environment, and leads to counterproductive work behavior.

According to Afghanistan National Health Survey (2018), over 66% of Afghans have personally experienced at least one traumatic event, and more than 77% have witnessed at least one such events, and 84% have either personally suffered or witnessed a traumatic event. Among available interventions to reduce the intensity and prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the most appropriate one to help link and improve mental health and business outcomes.

The training module will thus leverage CBT to provide young entrepreneurs a skillset to help them cope with stressful situations in everyday life, including stress management, problem solving, facilitation and resilience skills.

The position
Under the supervision of the Project Manager and in close collaboration with the SDGs Unit, the Training Module Developer will design, draft and deliver a training module on soft skills, facilitation and mindfulness. S/he will report to the Project Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work and Deliverables

The scope of work for this assignment is as follow:

1. Design 1 training module for young entrepreneurs based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approaches;
2. Inform the online design of the module;
3. Assist the team to test the module through the online platform and modify content based on feedback;
4. Develop simple metrics to measure performance and results.

Deliverables and Schedule of Payments:

Payment Modality: 

Payments under the contract shall be delivery based and be made on receipt of the specific deliverables indicated above, and including a timesheet according to UNDP procurement formats for individual contractors. Upon receipt of final comments on the last deliverable and successful completion of all deliverables, the consultant shall submit a final report for formal acceptance by UNDP at which point the final payment shall be released.

Working Arrangements

Institutional Arrangements:

• The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Project Management and in close collaboration with the SDGs Unit team;
• The consultant is expected to work remotely/from home on personal IT devices.

Duration of the Work:

The total duration of the consultancy will be a maximum of 2 months (with maximum 43 working days), starting April 2021.

Duty Station:

Remote/ Home-based.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.

Management and Leadership:

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Psychology, Education or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 8 year of relevant work experience required. Areas of experience may include psychology, education, youth programming, entrepreneurship, training and capacity developing;
• Experience with developing content and training for youth or entrepreneurs is required;
• Experience with online platforms is an asset;
• Proficient use of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc);
• Experience with UN/UNDP managed projects is highly desirable;
• Excellent writing, presentation, facilitating and training skills are required.

Languages:

• Fluency in English – both verbal and written - is required.
• Fluency in Pashtu or Dari is an asset.

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.  The consultant shall then submit a price proposal when requested by UNDP, in accordance with the below:

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

• Professional Fees – The Consultant shall propose a daily fee which should be inclusive of his/her professional fee and local communication costs if any. The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is two months (with maximum 43 working days).

The total professional fee, shall be converted into a lump sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the abovementioned schedule of payment.

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:

• 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.

* Technical Criteria weight 70%

* Financial Criteria weight 30%

Technical Evaluation (70%)

Qualification, Experience and Technical Proposal (70 marks):

1. General Qualification (15 marks);
2. Experience relevant to the assignment (35 marks);
3. Technical Proposal:  Brief methodology and workplan on how the consultant will approach and complete the work (please see mandatory question on jobs site for inputting response) (20 marks).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30%):

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

Documents to be included when submitting proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

1. 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.
2. Technical Proposal (can be attached with CV or response can be provided to mandatory question on jobs site):
   1. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
   2. A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment and work plan as indicated above.

All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNDP Afghanistan.  UNDP Afghanistan will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

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

• Annex 1 - IC Contract Template (for information);

• Annex 2 -  Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (to be completed at later stage upon request by UNDP);
• Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions (for information);
• Annex 4 – RLA Template (if consultant wishes to be recruited through an employer) - (for information).

Note: Incomplete application will result in automatic disqualification of candidate.