Consultant to Conduct Quantitative Analysis and Modelling of Youth Not in Education, Employment and Training

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The Generation Equality campaign is a multi-generational campaign championed by UN Women that promotes the ideals of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment as encapsulated by the Beijing platform for action. It demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women and girls, health-care services that respond to their needs, and their equal participation in political life and decision-making in all areas of life. This campaign is different from others in that it stresses its multi-generational nature and focusses on galvanizing support of the youth for gender equality.

The demographic dividend is a term used in demography to refer to the benefits accruing to a society if they have a well-educated and predominantly youthful population who can drive economic growth and support older members of society who may be unable to do so themselves. In section 3.1 we have seen that the mean age in East Africa is 18.7 years and Southern Africa is 27 years, which places both sub-regions in a position to benefit from the demographic dividend. However, for the demographic dividend to truly pay off these youthful populations have to be educated and economically active. The proportion of youth that are in education and or employment therefore gives an indication of the extent to which the special characteristics of a youthful population is being harnessed to propel a country’s development forward.

SDG indicator 8.6.1 was developed for this purpose and reflects the inverse of having a well- educated and economically active youth. According to the most recent statistics for the sub-region young women are much less likely than young men to be either engaged in education or employment activities. This is true for all countries in East and Southern Africa (ESA), except Burundi. Countries with the most significant gaps between young women and men are Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

More than four in ten women aged 15–24 in Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are neither in education, employment or training. It is also becoming increasingly clear that these ‘Not in Education, Employment and Training” (NEET) statistics for the youth and the gaps between women and men are likely to deepen due to the pandemic.

Two main COVID-19 related factors influence this:

1. Closures of educational institutions at the height of the pandemic which have triggered higher drop-out rates and or created serious learning gaps.
2. The general economic decline and increases in poverty rates are affecting women and men across the region and will reduce job and income generation opportunities. This is most likely to affect the youth with their limited experience more so than the older generations.

The consultant will be responsible for the production of a quantitative research report on the determinants of ‘Not in education, employment and training’ (NEET) youth (aged 15-24 years) in the ESA region using existing national and international data sets.

The consultant with work under the supervision of the UN Women ESA Regional Gender Statistics Specialist, in close collaboration with UN Women’s field-based presences and relevant units in ESA-RO.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

• Obtain relevant international and national datasets that contain data on youth not in education, training and employment for Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda.
• Do a literature review to collate existing secondary data of NEET in the target countries to formulate a conceptual and analytical framework for the quantitative analysis.
• Develop statistical models using advanced statistical techniques to identify the determinants of NEET in the target group.
• Compile a report with seperate chapters and recommendations for each country included in the study with policy recommendations about how NEET can potentially be adressed.
• Generate a chapter in the same report that contains an integrated regional analysis of the main trends and determinants.

The study will answer some of the following key questions:

1. What are the characteristics that determine whether youth are NEET or not?
2. Are there any determinant characteristics that distinguishes women from men when it comes to NEET?
3. How can the demographic dividend in the region be harnessed within the context of post COVID-19 recovery?
4. What are the particular actions that are needed by national Governments, the private sector and International agencies to move the youth, and particularly young women out of NEET?
5. What is the potential role of technology and how can technology be harnessed to help the youth overcome the NEET barriers?

Deliverables:

1. One inception report that describes the approach and outputs that will be generated by the project.
2. One regional report containing the findings as well as policy recommendations. These should be reported per country as separate chapters as well as in an integrated regional analysis format.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of women’s rights and gender equality issues;
• Ability to analyze data using STATA, R, SAS or other statistical software for analytical purposes;
• Ability to build complex statistical models;
• Excellent writing and editing skills;
• Demonstrable research experience in the East and Southern Africa region in the fields of gender and or employment and or education/training and or youth;
• Demonstrable ability to analyze data using STATA, R, SAS or other statistical software for analytical purposes;
• Demonstrable ability to build complex statistical models;
• Excellent writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Minimum master’s degree in economics, development studies, econometrics, statistics, gender studies or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in complex statistical analysis, five years of which should be experience in policy research;
• Experience in using labour force survey data in at least one country in the region;
• Experience with gender statistics and analysis will be an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.

UNWOMEN 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