Antecedentes
The United Nations Youth Strategy 2030, launched in September 2018, aims at facilitating increased impact and expanded global, regional and country level actions to address the needs, build the agency and advance the rights of young people to achieve their full potential. One of the key priorities of the youth strategy is to enhance economic empowerment through decent work and support young people’s greater access to productive employment.
Consequently, UNICEF launched “Generation Unlimited”. Generation Unlimited is a global partnership that brings together the private sector, governments, international and local organizations, and young people to rally resources and co-ordinate efforts to identify and scale up best solutions for three (3) global challenges facing young people: i) Secondary age education, ii) Skills for learning, employability and decent work, and iii) Empowerment, especially for girls.
Uganda’s National Development Plan II (NDP II), prioritizes investment in both children and youth as critical in developing the human capital required to realize the government’s Vision 2040. The NDP II emphasizes economic empowerment of young people through skills development, job creation and underscores the need for stronger Public Private Partnerships – to leverage the private sector in unlocking Uganda’s development potential.
Uganda’s population is comprised predominantly of young people, as 77% of the population is under 30 years, 45% constitute adolescents and youth between 10-30 years old, while 32% are children between 0–9 years old.
The youthful population is faced with limited skills, employability and decent work; 64% of the youth population (18-30) years are unemployed, and the unemployment rate of young girls/women exceeds that of their male counterparts by two percentage points. Running ECD centers has been identified as one of the potential enterprise options to provide skills and employment to young people. Children below the school going age of 6 are equally faced with limited access to ECD services; 90% of ECD centers are located in urban areas while an estimated 3 million 3-5 year olds are currently not accessing pre-primary education, resulting in both socio-economic and geographical disparity in access. Given that 70% of children aged 3 -5 years old cannot access early learning services, and that there is no public financing for pre-primary education, which would expand access to ECD (UBOS Statistical Data, 2017), this is a key bottleneck that needs to be addressed.
UNICEF Uganda intends to develop and implement a social business model that links the need for ECD services to youth employment; the model aims at providing a set of skills and seed capital to the youth, especially young women, to set up ECD centers for gainful employment, simultaneously increasing access to early childhood education for children aged 3-5 years old.
The social business model will rely on multiple funding and financing streams with emphasis on private finance from business, investors, private foundations and high net worth individuals (HNWI’s), interested in combining financial returns with social impact. The rationale for exploring this new financing modality is to bridge the funding gap from traditional funding sources, and allow for greater private sector engagement.
The Government of Uganda (GoU) recognizes pre-primary education as the first level of education. GoU has provided policy and implementation guidelines including the ECD curriculum for children aged 3-5 years old. One of the strategic objectives of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) is equitable access through the promotion of safe learning environments and life skills that empower young people. The skilling youth for ECD model has the potential to:
- Increase access to pre-primary education through financing of ECD centers across Uganda;
- Improve the workforce and quality of ECD services through accredited skills and knowledge building;
- Create employment opportunities for young people as ECD proprietors and practitioners.
UNICEF Uganda is committed to working with GoU to build an inclusive, relevant and accessible education system through three strategic areas:
Early Childhood Development: To strengthen national capacity to coordinate, manage and scale up integrated early childhood care and development programmes.
Quality of Basic Education: Enhance national capacity to increase equitable access, quality and sustainable education that is inclusive and innovative.
Adolescent Development: Improve adolescent’s (young people’s) access to information, life skills and essential services, to reduce their vulnerability.
Deberes y responsabilidades
UNICEF Uganda, in collaboration with UNCDF Uganda, is seeking the services of an individual contractor to conduct a comprehensive feasibility assessment of UNICEF Uganda’s Investment Proposition on skilling youth for ECD.
The feasibility assessment will involve the following:
- Identify and map out existing business models for ECD, particularly in the context of low-resource environments and in developing countries, and generate detailed profiles of viable types of ECD enterprise options by providing in-depth analysis of their financing and commercial set-ups in the context of their adherence to national sector standards and systems for service delivery;
- Assess the appetite / capability (including legal, financial, capacity, social norms, and other potential barriers) for the operationalization of this model and for youth uptake of ECD as a business venture, examining both the readiness and preparedness of young people, especially girls and young women in Uganda to set up ECD enterprises. Key considerations of viability, scalability, risk analysis and mitigation should be included, as well as the propensity for parents to entrust such unconventional ECD establishments, run by youth;
- Assess the demand for ECD, the viability of the business model, the unique value proposition, the macroeconomic environment, and potential for attracting impact investment. Further, measure the estimated willingness to pay for ECD services by families/parents across different income groups and Districts, in both urban and rural areas in Uganda (both among groups currently reached with community-based services and groups currently not reached);
- Determine the extent to which “youth-managed ECD centers” will appeal to financiers and determine the prospects for such social investment to generate both financial and social returns. Advise on which metrics could be used to easily and accurately capture the social returns, so as to ensure that impact investors consider the double bottom line, rather than focusing on profits only;
- Design a delivery mechanism on skilling youth for ECD anchored to the national Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) service delivery system, integrated with accredited ECD and Business training programs, including the mechanics of identifying and retaining young people as ECD practitioners/entrepreneurs in both urban and rural contexts;
- Assess the MoES and other relevant Government institutions, capacity to monitor and provide guidance to the ECD centers and propose key recommendations to strengthen its capacity as a preparatory measure for a scenario of expansion of ECD interventions;
- Assess the appetite of the private sector (mainly those involved in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives), high income individuals, known philanthropists to be involved in ECD projects in the format of PPP or as sponsors;
- Based on the analysis of information and expertise, recommend and design the most appropriate financing instrument, financial vehicle, business model and identify potential financiers for “youth-managed ECD centers” from startup to national scale;
- Recommend a monitoring and evaluation framework, including a learning agenda for the proposed model for “youth managed ECD centers model”
Competencias
- Ability to work well with UN staff and partners;
- Strong private sector engagement skills;
- Strong communication and relationship management skills;
- Discretion in dealing with stakeholders;
- Drive for results.
Habilidades y experiencia requeridas
Education:
- The Team Leader/Individual Contractor shall have advanced university degree (PhD, Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Communication, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related field. (Bachelor’s Degree in related field with 10 or more years of experience can be considered in lieu of Advanced University Degree);
- Technical Professionals shall have advanced university degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Human Resources, Communication, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related field. (Bachelor’s Degree in related field with 7 or more years of experience can be considered in lieu of Advanced University Degree).
Experience:
- Demonstrable substantial international and developing country experience in Research, Finance, Business, Social Entrepreneurship, and Impact Investing;
- Demonstrable knowledge and experience in designing financing instruments, vehicles and models for social investment.
- Demonstrable experience in conducting feasibility assessment of similar nature in developing countries;
- Experience in vocational training, skills and employability of young people;
- Experience working with the Private Sector, especially mobilizing private finance for development will be an added advantage;
- Experience in youth empowerment and engagement and early childhood development will be an added advantage;
- Experience working in developing country contexts.
Language requirement:
- Fluent in both written and spoken English language.
Methodology:
- Desk research into comparable social business models and financing instruments for ECD, drawing on international, regional and national case studies;
- Conduct the study with a national perspective, focusing on a comparative analysis of key elements such as youth uptake / capability for ECD, affordability, demand, private sector appetite and willingness by parents and/or guardians to pay for youth-managed ECD services in different income groups and districts i.e. rural and urban settings;
- Stakeholder engagement (field visits, surveys, meetings, and interviews) with MoES and partners including youth, ECD, finance and business sector;
- Engage in consultations and feedback on the assignment with the relevant Inter-Agency Task Team comprised of UNICEF Uganda and UNCDF Uganda.
Deliverables:
- Inception Report, including proposed methodology and timelines;
- Draft Feasibility Study Report;
- Validation debriefing and presentation of findings and recommendations to stakeholders;
- Comprehensive Feasibility Study Report, featuring a delivery mechanism, including recommendations and design of financing instrument(s), financial vehicle(s), business model(s) and potential financier(s) for “youth-managed ECD centers” from startup to national scale.
Reporting:
The consultancy will be supervised by the UNCDF Regional Technical Advisor, working closely with UNICEF Uganda’s Private Sector Partnerships Specialist, and supported by an inter-Agency Task Team.
Duration:
Duration: 88 working days (commencing on 1st November, 2019 and ending on 28th February, 2020)
Delivery Schedule:
- Inception Report -15th November, 2019;
- Draft Feasibility Study Report - 15th January, 2020;
- Validation with stakeholders (Presentation) 20th January, 2020;
- Final Feasibility Study Report: featuring Delivery Mechanism,Financing Instrument(s), Financial Vehicle(s), and Business
Model(s) from Startup to National Scale: 28th February, 2020
Payment Schedule:
- Inception Report - 30%;
- Draft Feasibility Report - 20%;
- Debrief with Stakeholders (Presentation) - 10%;
- Final Feasibility Report - 40%.
The rate and interval of payment is subject to approval.
- Payment will be made on periodical basis upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor;
Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.
Evaluation method and criteria:
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. Example 70%-30%.
- * Technical Criteria weight; 70%
- * Financial Criteria weight; 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation
Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points
Criteria:
- Qualification – 5%;
- A minimum of 10 years’ relevant work experience – 10%;
- A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience is preferred; Substantial experience in developing business plans and excel financial models and; Significant experience in writing/editing reports for large organizations, especially within the UN system or large national or international organizations – 25%;
- Description of approach/methodology to assignment- 30%.
Submission of Application:
The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below. Annexes and further information may be downloaded on http://procurement-notices.undp.org no.59659.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document to this website - http://jobs.undp.org no. 87776.
- Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
- Personal CV, 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.
Technical proposal:
- Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
- A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
- Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II);
- Annexes 1 and II - may be downloaded from the UNDP Procurement Notices Website -http://procurement-notices.undp.org/. For further clarifications, please contact; janet.anyango@undp.org; moses.lutwama@undp.org
Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only.