Job: PROGRAMME/ STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT

Location: Freetown, SIERRA LEONE
Deadline: Saturday, 31 August 2013 

Description

PROGRAMME/ STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT

Location :

Freetown, SIERRA LEONE

Application Deadline :

31-Aug-13

Additional Category

Democratic Governance

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Post Level :

International Consultant

Languages Required :

English  

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 Weeks

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 Weeks

Background

The Sierra Leone Government has placed youth employment as a core outcome of the national economic development strategy. In particular, the "Agenda for prosperity" prioritizes agriculture, and human development as a strategic sector for growth and youth employment creation.

The Sierra Leonean youth remain confronted with a series of economic and social challenges with high incidences of extreme poverty, which is amongst the highest in the world. More than 80 percent of the country’s youth population lives below the poverty line of $2 per day and well over 60 percent are estimated to be unemployed; with large numbers of ‘working poor youth’ found especially in urban areas. These groups of young people constitute about 34 percent of Sierra Leoneans or around 2 million of the estimated 5.8 million populations. Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 180 out of 187 countries on the 2011 UN Human Development Index (UNHDR, 2011).

The legacy of the civil war lies behind many of the disadvantages and exclusion faced by young people in Sierra Leone today. The economy is hampered by limited private sector development, weak local purchasing and poor infrastructure and these, among other factors, mean it is failing to grow to generate the jobs demanded by the large and growing youth population. Only 4% of young people are fully employed, while one in three urban and one in six rural 20-24 year olds are economically inactive (i.e. not contributing to household income) (World Bank, 2009). Education and training opportunities for youth are also limited: 63% of people aged 25-35 have never attended school and today the adult literacy rate is just 39% for those over 10 years of age (World Bank, 2009). Coordinating youth development activity with a purpose of enhancing youth employment is a key strategy aim at addressing the problems of youth in the country.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs was set up in 2013 as a stand-alone ministry of government by H. E. The President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma to ensure that the President’s commitment to youth development and youth employment was given the maximum attention and focus by a dedicated Ministerial team. The youth of Sierra Leone represent a major opportunity for economic growth and development and a potential political and security risk if their needs are not properly attended to in the country.

General Scope of the work

Youth employment has been declared as Sierra Leone first priority by HE Dr Ernest Bai Koroma. Several strategic documents have been developed with regards to youth employment and UNDP played a lead role in supporting NAYCOM and the newly created MOYA. It has been agreed jointly with the MOYA and NAYCOM that UNDP will support the GoSL in developing a five year youth programme document which will serve as a basis for fundraising with resident and non –resident donors. The GoSL is planning to organize donor conference in Sierra Leone and selected countries to fundraise for the implementation of the agenda for Prosperity. It’s expected that the youth programme will be part of the package and could attract donor interest. The Consultant will work with the Ministry of Youth Affairs (MoYA) and government institutions in Sierra Leone and key stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

Deliverables/Final Products Expected:

Submit a comprehensive 5 years youth employment and empowerment programme document for consideration by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the National Youth Commission (NAYCOM) and other stakeholders and in line with Agenda for prosperity.

Key Tasks:

• Consultation with key stakeholders to identify and prioritize intervention areas of the proposed program;
• Review of relevant documents which can assist the formulation of the programme document (youth employment policy, NAYCOM five years strategic document, Agenda for Prosperity, etc);
• Engage in the mapping of existing initiatives by key stakeholders at national and local level;
• Organize a validation workshop to evaluate and receive feedback from key stakeholders;
• Prepare a comprehensive report of the validation workshop;
• Formulate and develop the 5 year youth employment programme document.

Selected candidate should take local context issues into consideration.

 

Competencies

Competencies:

• Strong knowledge in development of strategic plan document;
• Excellent communication, writing skills, and analytical skills;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• Ability to establish identify areas of priority and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Strong coordination and facilitation skills applied to managing projects, including government institutions ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines, knowledge of current development policies and activities;
• Ability to collaborate effectively with a wide range of teams and work with individuals of different national and cultural backgrounds, including networking across organizational boundaries;
• The consultant  would have experience and knowledge in working with public and private agencies in the area of human resource management, Strong organizational capacity and familiarity with the operations of Government ministries and institutions are essential;
• Strong understanding of development and human resource needs and issues of Government Ministries;
• Good inter-personal skills and able to negotiate shared positions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• An advanced university degree preferably a master’s   in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Business Administration or related fields.

Experience:

• At least seven years’ experience in the formulation and design of project associated with youth employment and empowerment;
• Extensive experience in  delivering and implementing Government projects and policies;
• Good liaison and communication skills in a multi-cultural setting;
• Strong background in computer skills;
• Extensive experience in Enterprise development;
• Extensive experience in doing community development work;
• Good report-writing and editing skills with ability to produce high quality work independently;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Familiarity with the UNDP programme design and implementation.

Language requirement:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential.

Reporting arrangement:

• The Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and the technical supervision of the Programme Manager of the YEEP of UNDP/SL as well as NAYCOM

Payment modalities:

Payment to the consultant will be made in three installments upon satisfactory completion of the following deliverables:

• 1st installment-15% upon signing of the contract;
• 2nd installment-35% upon submission of the draft programme document;
• 3rd installment-50% upon submission of the final programme document.

Evaluation of Criteria and Weighting:

The consultant will be evaluated against a combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum score is 100% out of a total score for technical criteria equals 70% and 30% for financial criteria. The technical evaluation will take into account the following as per the weightings provided:

• Background and minimum educational qualification as defined in the TOR (10%);
• Practical experience in the areas of youth employment and empowerment, etc (50%);
• Quality of the technical proposal (30 %);
• English language fluency (10).

Application procedure:

• Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application should contain the following docs in one file;
• Brief proposal addressing the requirement (Methodology);
• Filled P11 form ( Application Form P11 - UNDP - );
• Detailed achievement based CV;
• Financial proposal( daily rate, DSA, Travelling expenses and other relevant expenses).

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.

More Info and Application