Background

The project “Youth for business and innovation” is addressing the economic vulnerability and social exclusion of young people of age 15-29 in Tajikistan, with a special focus on youth living in the remote areas of GBAO, Rasht and Sughd. The project promotes youth’s engagement in sustainable entrepreneurship, innovative and inclusive local development through development of young people’s skills for innovations and business. The project also promotes youth-led local initiatives and overall empowerment of youth as proactive development agents in the context of Agenda 2030. All interventions proposed within the project are aligned with the national development priorities which are expected to push forward the SDG localization in close partnership with the Government of Tajikistan (both national and sub-national levels), private sector, as well as civil society organizations (CSO’s) and development partners.

The project reinforces and complements the results of the past and on-going projects of the UNDP Communities Programme in youth empowerment and inclusive economic development.  The project outcome, outputs and activities aimed at bringing innovations will be leveraged by the parallel funding coming from other youth- and innovation-focused projects of UNDP. The Project envisages development of modern employable business skills as well as skills for innovation for young men and women in order to increase the number of decent jobs for youth in agribusiness, sustainable tourism and green technologies for rural development. The project objectives will be achieved through interconnected complex of activities including but not limited to vocational trainings to meet the rising local demand for new skills, support to start-ups, trainings for innovations in business, knowledge and experience exchange at the national and international level, strengthening capacities of decision makers for youth-friendly policies, institutions, etc.

The main Components/Outputs of the project are:

1.         Enhanced skills and knowledge of youth on innovative entrepreneurship and business

2.         Improved access of youth to new vocational skills and local productive capacities that are sustainable, employment- and livelihood intensive

UNDP within its “Youth for Business and Innovation” project plans to engage national consultant on youth empowerment in rural areas of Tajikistan, particularly conducting needs assessment, organization of master classes, trainings, introducing innovations in rural development. National consultant should ensure cooperation with partners, particularly local governments, universities, farmers, CSOs and private sector representatives

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Consultant will assess the progress of the Project “Youth for Business and Innovation” against stated outputs, as well as identify issues and recommend course corrections. Evaluation will also highlight issues and challenges affecting effective and efficient implementation of outputs and their contribution to project outcomes and impact.

The evaluator should submit the following deliverables:

• Inception report detailing the reviewer’s understanding of what is being evaluated, why it is being evaluated, and how (methodology) it will be evaluated. The inception report should also include a proposed schedule of tasks, evaluation tools, activities and deliverables.
• Evaluation matrix that includes key criteria, indicators and questions to capture and assess them.
• Evaluation debriefing- immediately after completion of data collection, the evaluator should provide preliminary debriefing and findings to the UNDP/Project team.
• Draft Evaluation report for review and comments.
• Evaluation Audit Trail – The comments on the draft report and changes by the evaluator in response to them should be retained by the consultant team to show how they have addressed comments.
• Final report within stipulated timeline with sufficient detail and quality by incorporating feedback from the concerned parties.
• An exit presentation on findings and recommendations.

For detailed information, please refer to annex 3 - Terms of Reference.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies

• Maintains and establishes network of contacts with national counterparts and development partners for information sharing and responding to capacity development request;
• Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders;
• Technical expertise in area-based development process;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of Integrated Rural Development strategies, and good understanding on Local Development issues;
• Relevant international experience and cross-cultural communication skills;
• Proven interpersonal skills;
• Attitude and ability to motivate people;
• Flexibility and resourcefulness;

Computer skills (common software programmes).

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Advanced university degree (at Master level or equivalent) in social sciences, economic development, management, sustainable development or related field is required.

Professional experience.

• At least 7 years of demonstrated work experience in the field of project implementation, monitoring and/or project design in development sectors;
• Demonstrated experience of conducting similar evaluations of development projects related to youth development, livelihood promotion, sustainable economic development or related areas;
• Adequate knowledge on gender equality, youth policies and human rights issues;
• Strong analytical and report writing skills;
• Excellent command in different data collection methods including FGDs, KIIs and Social Surveys

Knowledge of languages:

• Fluency in English, knowledge of Russian is an asset.

Application Procedure:

Please follow the link to download Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and follow the application procedures indicated in the downloaded ICPN:

http://www.undp.tj/va/upload/va/ICPN%20International%20consultant_Final%20evaluation%20_YBI.pdf

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP.
Personal CV and/or resume.
Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment; (max 1 page)
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc.), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template. If an applicant 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 Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
All application materials should be submitted by email at the following address ONLY: (ic.tj@undp.org) by (22 September 2021). Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.