International Consultant to support research activities related to Youth Entrepreneurship (Senior Consultant)

The context of Youth Empowerment

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the important role of youth in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and calls for action against the challenges faced by young people that limits their economic, social and political inclusion. Today, young people are more connected, more creative, more informed and more persuasive than any previous generation. Young people are responding to the challenges of today with innovative approaches, contributing fresh ideas, creating the world they want, and driving human development for themselves, their communities and their societies. But at the same time, due to COVID-19 pandemic and other socio-political challenges, many young people are at the risk of economic insecurity. In addition, many young people are left out of decision-making processes, which further contributes to their marginalization and exclusion.

Youth Co:Lab – Website: https://www.youthcolab.org/

Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for Asia-Pacific countries to invest in and empower youth to accelerate implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. By developing 21st century skills, catalyzing and sustaining youth-led startups and social enterprises across the region, Youth Co:Lab is positioning young people front and center in order to solve the region’s most pressing challenges. In addition to supporting youth entrepreneurship, Youth Co:Lab also works closely with multiple stakeholders across the region, including governments, civil society and the private sector, to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem and policy support to better enable young people to take the lead on new solutions that will help meet the SDGs.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The Research Consultant will provide support in the design, delivery and dissemination of Youth Co:Lab knowledge products, in close collaboration with the UNDP BRH Regional Youth Team and UNDP country offices. This will include supporting national Youth Co:Lab programmes to use action-oriented research to support policy influencing and ecosystem strengthening in line with the programme objectives.

Scope of Work:

With overall guidance and supervision of Programme Specialist on Youth and Civil Society and Regional Youth Project Manager, the consultant is responsible for the following activities:

• Refine the scope, design and methodology of individual research and thought leadership products in order to deliver on Youth Co:Lab’s research and thought leadership objectives.
• Coordinate the development of research products, including reviewing intermediary outputs and providing regular feedback to any research partners, consultants, and volunteers engaged to support research production.
• Design and conduct surveys for primary research generation
• Synthesise findings from primary and secondary research and draft final publications
• Co-design a toolkit to support youth-led enterprises to adopt gender-responsive business practices and advance gender equality through their business models.
• Coordinate UNDP and Citi Foundation review and approval processes for knowledge products.
• Support UNDP country offices under the Youth Co:Lab programme in the development, review, delivery and dissemination of knowledge products at the national level.
• Support UNDP country offices under the Youth Co:Lab programme in leveraging research to influence policy development and strengthen the ecosystem for youth social innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Support the development of communications materials and other outputs synthesizing the findings of research products.
• Support the roll-out and dissemination of knowledge products and related communications outputs to reach key target audiences at regional and national levels.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Based on the aforementioned criterion of the tasks associated with this Terms of Reference, the consultant is responsible for the following deliverables

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will report to UNDP BRH Programme Specialist on Youth and Civil Society and Regional Youth Project Manager. S/he will work closely with UNDP BRH Youth Team and Private sector partnerships team and other staff involved in the UNDP Global Policy Network (GPN) team and UNDP Country Offices and relevant counterparts as appropriate. 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.

The UNDP BRH Youth Unit 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 Youth Unit, UNDP BRH.

The present ToR may be subject to modification, without changing the overall objective and the scope of work, on the basis of mutual consultations and acceptances from both parties. UNDP will hold the copyright of the assignment deliverables.

Duration of the Work:

1st January 2022 – 31st December 2022 (Up to 120 days)

Duty Station:

Home based with no travel required.

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment; The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, specific software, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection; Payments will be made upon submission of a certification of payment form and acceptance and confirmation by the BRH Youth Unit Managers based on days worked and outputs delivered.

Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s mission, vision and values;
• Demonstrates sound judgment, diplomacy and sensitivity to confidential matters;
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Innovative forward thinking, good coordination and organizational skills, teamwork; and
• Participate effectively in team-based, information sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others.

Qualification: 

The consultant should possess the following expertise and qualifications:

Education:

• Masters’s degree in sustainable development, business administration, social/human sciences, political sciences, international relations, gender or development policy or other related expertise areas required.

Experience and required skills:

• At least 2 years’ technical knowledge and experience in youth empowerment, gender equality, or entrepreneurship
• At least 2 years’ experience in coordinating qualitative and quantitative research and writing high-quality reports
• At least 2 years’ experience working with the UN system
• At least 2 years’ working experience in Asia and the Pacific region.

Language:

• Excellent command of English, written and oral.

Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s mission, vision and values;
• Demonstrates sound judgment, diplomacy and sensitivity to confidential matters;
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Innovative forward thinking, good coordination and organizational skills, teamwork; and
• Participate effectively in team-based, information sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others.

Price 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, 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:

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.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Cumulative Analysis: The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. When using the weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will 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 set of weighted combine technical evaluation of desk review and interview (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 (70 points)

Proposed Methodology, Approach and Implementation Plan (30 points)

• Criteria 1: Brief description (maximum 250 words) on why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; (10 points)
• Criteria 2: Short proposal (maximum 750 words) outlining the approach that the individual would bring to this assignment. (20 points)

Qualification of IC (40 points)

• Criteria 1: Masters’ degree in sustainable development, business administration, social/human sciences, political sciences, international relations, gender or development policy or other related expertise areas required; (10 points)
• Criteria 2: At least 2 years’ technical knowledge and experience in youth empowerment, gender equality, or entrepreneurship; (10 points)
• Criteria 3: At least 2 years’ experience in coordinating qualitative and quantitative research and writing high-quality reports; (10 points)
• Criteria 4: At least 2 years’ experience working with the UN system. (5 points)
• Criteria 5: At least 2 years’ working experience in Asia and the Pacific region (5 points)

**Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% or above in the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Personal interview may be required.

Financial Evaluation (30%)

Financial proposals from all technically qualified candidates will be scored out of 30 marks based on the formula provided below. The maximum marks (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal.

All other proposals will receive points according to the following formula:

• 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 the proposals.

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the “Apply now” button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit “submit application” tab at the end of the page then the uploading option for the required document will be available.

Please group all your document into one (1) single PDF document as the application system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Interested candidates must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Financial Proposal (in USD) using the template provided as Annex III 

[Financial proposal: Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided for the entire assignment. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the proposed fee submitted in the proposal]

If an Offeror 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 Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

1. P11 / 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.

1. Brief description of (1) Brief description (maximum 250 words) on why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; 2) A short proposal (maximum 750 words) on the approach that the individual would bring to this assignment.

**Failure to submit the above-mentioned documents or Incomplete proposals shall result in disqualification

**Please group all your document into one (1) single PDF document as the application system only allows to upload maximum one document.

The short-listed candidates may be contacted, and the successful candidate will be notified.

ANNEXES

Annex I – TOR_ Research Consultant

Annex II – General_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Contracts_Individual_Consultants

Annex III – Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal

All documents can be downloaded at: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=85893