National Individual Consultant: Youth Expert, UNICEF SOP office

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfil their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, advocate.

UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access services and protection, from early childhood through to adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. We are working for every child and young person in the State of Palestine.

In Palestine, several initiatives are underway to support young people in not only accessing opportunities for training and employment but also to empower them as agents of positive change. There are dozens of innovation labs, small business incubators, entrepreneurship programmes – many of them supported by Palestinian individuals and community organizations, as well as the international donor agencies and development partners. This is true in Gaza as well as in the West Bank including in East Jerusalem where such initiatives are being implemented despite a very challenging context. The National Policy Agenda adopted by the government recognizes the importance of a life skills approach to education, of vocational training, and of empowering young people to participate in all aspects of public life in Palestine. The various sectors and entities (both on government and international partners side) that need to come together to achieve the goal of “every young person either employed, in school or in training by 2030” tend to operate in silos, and the existing initiatives will not be able to go to scale or not be sustainable unless they are supported by an integrated platform bringing together relevant parts of the Government of Palestine, the private sector, the UN and civil society (national and international).

How can you make a difference?

As a Youth Expert, you will provide support to the Prime Minister’s Office in the development of the National Youth Volunteer Service Program platform in Palestine. The consultant is expected to undertake a landscape assessment of the current state of volunteerism in Palestine, stakeholders who could support, gaps, including a review of the existing electronic voluntarism platform hosted by the Higher Council for Youth & Sports (HCYS) and the extent to which it can be built upon; the assessment will also include an overview of other successful models from other countries that may serve as models for the programme, and a set of recommendations/options as to how to establish a successful service in the Palestinian context. The consultant will be supported in this work by a UNV who will assist in liaising and consulting with partners, acting as a secretariat for the advisory committee, and ensuring process documentation.

Based on the recommendations, the consultant will develop a road map outlining the vision and mission of the National Youth Volunteer Service Program, an action plan of interventions, proposed institutional structure, and activities to establish it.

Major Tasks to be accomplished****:

The consultant will be responsible to provide technical support to the UNV coordinator and stakeholders. Activities will include the following:

1- Assessment of the current state of volunteerism in the state of Palestine and analyze data from mapping of current volunteer platforms in the country and best worldwide practices related to similar initiatives that invest in young people’s education, employment, engagement and well-being through public service. The Terms of Reference of the assessment needs to be cleared by the steering committee.

2- Review the current electronic volunteerism platform hosted by the Higher Council for Youth & Sports (HCYS) and provide a report summarizing the strengths, weaknesses and recommendations.

3- Assessment of University students’ community service programmes in the West Bank and Gaza.

4- Extensive consultations with young people aged 13-24 years, and youth led NGOs in WB, EJ, and Gaza (to be documented);

5- Formulation of a set of recommendations to advise on the future National Youth Service Programme (scope, how it will be run, etc.) including an analysis of the mapping related to best placement mechanisms for the establishment of the future programme platform (place in government body, university, CSO, universities, etc.);

6- Present an analysis of mappings & options including institutional and organizational arrangements to steering committee;

7- Identification of strategic potential partners, from the government, CSOs, universities and private sectors supporting volunteer opportunities in Palestine;

8- Articulation of road map/strategic framework including institutional arrangements for the national youth voluntarism service program.

For more details, please refer to the below attached TOR.

ToR Youth Expert Consultant.pdf

Recourse:

UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines. The deliverables will remain the copyright of UNICEF.

The consultant must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

Estimated duration of contract and Tentative Dates

5 months starting from February to June 2021

Cost and Terms of Payment

Interested candidates should submit a financial and technical proposal for the assignment, outlining all-inclusive fees (including professional fees and other professional expenses, insurance etc.) Please refer to consultancy TOR attached.

Official Travel Involved: In the context of COVID-19, movement restrictions are in place; which has made travel not possible. Hence, alternative online media platforms are to be explored to facilitate meetings with key persons.

To qualify as an Advocate for every child you will have:

• An advanced university degree in education, international development, public policy, political science, research, communication or any related social sciences field.
• Previous experience working on volunteer initiatives
• Strong knowledge and experience in institutional and capacity building methods and approaches.
• Strong knowledge and experience of M&E systems and assessment tools with either the UN and/or NGOs.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in the area of research and evaluation and or related field and experience with assessments and/or M&E with either the UN and/or NGOs.
• Experience in information management and reporting, project coordination and event management. Experience with UN in the Sectors affecting youth such as education, employment, civic engagement is an asset.
• Fluency in English and Arabic languages (oral and written)

The terms of reference is attached for more information.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability.

Core competencies:

Communication, Working with people and Drive for result.

Functional competencies:

• Analyzing
• Learning and Researching
• Planning and Organizing

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Remarks:

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.