Консультант/ка для оцінки програми стажування

Background Information:

The project “Civil Society and Youth Support” funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a nation-scale 4-year initiative which runs from 1st January 2023 until 31st December 2026. The Civil Society and Youth Support Project (CSYP) builds on many years of joint programming by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMFA) and UNDP supporting civil society and youth empowerment. CSYP contributes to the following long-term result: “Ukraine’s civil society and youth are impactful players in strengthening the country’s resilience and recovery, democracy and human rights agenda, including issues of respect to diversity and women’s rights and social cohesion”. The project has a three-dimensional approach. Firstly, it works to strengthen civil society organizations: focusing first and foremost at the subnational level) to enable active civil society participation in strengthening Ukraine’s resilience, sustainable recovery and development processes, link established CSOs with youth groups especially newly emerged initiatives after February 2022 to ensure cross-fertilization in skills. Secondly, the project works at the central level to create a more enabling policy environment for CSOs and support the national “youth machinery”. CSYP supports CSOs to monitor the implementation of national-level policies to determine progress made and areas needing additional efforts. Thirdly and finally, CSYP is designed to support Ukrainian youth in to actively participate in Ukraine’s recovery by honing their skills for good citizenship and leadership. The project supports youth-driven projects and exposes young women and men to how local governments operate to implement locally relevant l initiatives.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has severely affected the situation for young people in Ukraine, with disruption in education, displacement and psychological traumas. According to the “Impact of war on youth” survey data, as a 79% of young people in Ukraine have been affected by war (UNDP, 2024), with more than two million young people becoming internally displaced, and around two million young people forced to flee abroad. But despite the challenges of the war, many young people have played an active role in the emergency response, serving as volunteers in their communities, helping to distribute humanitarian aid and support internally displaced people (IDPs) and vulnerable populations.
UNDP is recognizing youth as key agents of change in resilience building and sustainable recovery, and in the longer term, sustainable peace. Building on a strong relationship with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and a substantive experience of supporting youth participation at national, sub-national and local levels. Hence, UNDP supports the promotion of young people’s voices and participation in decision making processes at all levels in the recovery efforts.

The third component of CSYP is focused on building skills of young people including through practical exposure to how Ukrainian municipalities work. In 2023 CSYP team in partnership with National Agency of Ukraine on Civil service had developed the recommendations on how to organize the skills-building programme to first, give young women and men an opportunity to receive first-hand experience in the municipal/government work, and second, strengthen capacity of selected municipalities in attracting and retaining young people to work in public sector. The key objective of the designed internship programme recommendations was to assist local municipalities in conducting internship programs for youth. It offered a comprehensive approach to planning and organizing internships, which included forming an internship program based on the needs and goals of the hosting municipality and the intern, describing the roles that arise during the internship process, an algorithm for organizing the process, key challenges and ways to overcome them, as well as analyzing the success of the program. The designed recommendations offered clear definitions and roles for all actors within the internship programme, and steps in organizing an effective cooperation between the intern and the hosting party.

In 2024, there were ten municipalities selected across Ukraine who were open to pilot the internship programme. CSYP organized a 2-stage training to equip those selected municipalities with the knowledge and skills necessary to organize successful internships in accordance with the UNDP-developed recommendations on how to organize such activity. The first step was to obtain knowledge on productive cooperation between interns and a hosting public institution, and to receive a digital certificate of e-course on Diia.Osvita “Organizing Internships for Youth in Public Authorities”. The second step was a three-days offline course for civil servants who wish to initiate the internship programs in the local authorities bodies in which they work. After that, the first iteration of the internship programme happened in the period of Sep – Dec 2024 which was completed by 9 municipalities

In this context, UNDP is recruiting a professional with relevant experience and track record for the position of a National Consultant on the assessment of the first pilot of the internship programme for youth.
The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behavior, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Through this assignment, UNDP seeks the services of a qualified Consultant to conduct assessment of the results and impact of the first iteration of youth internship programme in selected municipalities, and to formulate ideas to UNDP in Ukraine, National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service and the Ministry of Youth and Sports on how the programme recommendations can be improved for further implementation of the future iterations and scaling up of the internship programme.

The analysis of the pilot youth internship programme will include mapping of the existing internship programmes for youth in public service in 2023-2025; analysing existing materials from key partners (including a new methodological recommendations adopted by NAUCS1) and feedback forms of internship programme in 2024; conducting the interviews with young people who completed internships and representatives of municipalities that hosted interns.
The main objective of the assignment is to assess relevance/coherence, effectiveness, scalability, sustainability and outcome of implemented internship programmes for youth in local municipalities. The assessment should highlight strengths, weaknesses and gaps in developed programme recommendations; collect good practices and provide adjustments, ideas for further improvement of the developed recommendations with a special focus on the role of the NAUCS, Ministry of Youth and Sports and local municipalities who are willing to host an internship programme and the ways to replicate the best practices on wider scale.

The scope of the assessment should cover 9 municipalities where internships took place, covering at least 30 participants of internships spanning over the period of summer-winter 2024. The final assessment report will provide UNDP, stakeholders and implementing partners with an overview of results achieved by the internship programme in different communities.

DELIVERABLES

The role of the Consultant is to assess the developed recommendations on organizing the internship programme for youth in municipalities, propose adjustments to those recommendations on how to improve the designed programme for the second iteration. The process will include:
-Analyse NAUCS Methodological recommendations for the internship of citizens from among the youth who are not in civil service positions in state bodies to ensure complementarity and alignment of UNDP developed recommendations for implementing the internship programme in local municipalities.
-Analyse feedback forms and existing materials, including those developed during the Final forum of programme alumni (materials will be provided by UNDP in Ukraine) with ideas and recommendations from representatives of municipalities on how the algorithms and approaches to the programme can improve.
-Development of comprehensive review of the existing internship programmes in Ukraine in 2023-2025 to update the data set formed during the preparation stage of the first iteration of the internship programme (September 2023) (materials will be provided by UNDP in Ukraine). The mapping should present the existing internship programmes for young people across Ukraine in the public sector, collecting data on its geographical distribution, duration, formats,financial component, stakeholders and partners involved in programming, results planned for those programmes, other relevant information which will serve as analytical data to create the comprehensive vision of how to implement an impactful and effective youth internship programme.
-Conduction of personal interviews and focus groups with youth who participated in internship and the hosting local municipalities to understand for both actors their motivations, priorities, and challenges, experiences at all stages of the internship program. Additionally, evaluate the impact of the internship on both local municipalities and the participating youth.
-Analyse the topics offered for public servants during offline and online training organized by UNDP team, and conduct a survey on how the acquired knowledge and skills helped the implementation of the internship programme by civil service and enhanced their capacity for youth engagement.
-Based on the information collected, analyze the internship programme recommendations (incl. online and offline course for public servants) to finalize the list of suggestions on how those recommendations can be improved to meet all expectations and requirements for further iterations.
The ultimate goal is to update the developed internship programme recommendations so that it will benefit both youth and participating municipalities.
The Consultant will need to have excellent communication and coordination skills, as well as the ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders.
There is a list of questions to assess the relevance, effectiveness, scalability, sustainability and outcome of implemented internship programme for youth in local municipalities. The final list of the assessment questions and tools to be proposed by the consultant and agreed with UNDP.

Relevance

•Are the recommendations on how to organize internship programme developed by UNDP team in line with young people’s and local municipalities needs in Ukraine?
•Were the training activities and engagement instruments for realization of internship appropriate to prepare the hosting institution to achieve the expected results?
•Was the internship programme recommendations consistent and coherent with other policies targeting young people involvement into public sector in Ukraine?
•To what extent did the internship programme adopt gender-sensitive, human rights-based and conflict-sensitive approaches?
Effectiveness
•Was the overall performance of the internship programme carried out in each municipality with the reference to its respective plans and objectives?
•What were the main challenges in implementing the internship in each municipality and what were the strategies of overcoming those issues?
•What are the main lessons learned from overall implementation and what are the possibilities of replication and scaling-up?
Scalability
•How to ensure implementation of the internship programme in larger number of municipalities of different size and geographical location (scalability)?
•How to ensure scalability in cost-effective way (incl. online and offline training activities and preparation of municipalities to host an intern)?
•What potential expenses would be required to ensure the implementation of the programme of internship in cost-effective way on local and national level?
•What regulatory and legal field of work should be prepared on local municipality level or/and at national level to ensure smooth organization of the internship programme?
Sustainability
•Are internship outcomes achieved in a sustainable way? Were there any young people employed by municipalities after the internship?
•Does the municipality plan to continue the internship programme? What steps should be taken to ensure municipalities make internship programs an integral part of their work and engagement with young people?
•Are there any risks that may hinder sustainability (institutional, legislative, environmental, societal, etc)? What measures could mitigate the identified risks?
•To what extent have the results contributed or are likely to contribute to immediate or long-term change?
•Has the internship programme supported by UNDP contributed to implementing youth policy and increasing youth engagement in the public sector in Ukraine?

The assessment of the first iteration of the internship programme & its recommendations should be well substantiated by the evidence and logically linked to the results of the conversations with interviewees. The suggestion on how to improve the recommendations should respond to key questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues.
Proposals for improving program recommendations should be evidence-based, reliable, practical, action-oriented, and identify who is responsible for the action in order to have the potential to be used in decision-making.

The timeframe and deliverables of the assignment are as follows:

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will provide payments upon provision of deliverables duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the table above. UNDP will be the ultimate authority to control the quality of work results and assess the Contractor’s performance during the assignment. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Management. Payments are made in three tranches as per the Schedule of payments indicated in the table above.

In particular, the payment schedule will be as follows: 

Deliverable 1 – 20 %

Deliverable 2 – 40 %

Deliverable 3 – 40 %

MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant shall report to the Civil Society Project Manager and Youth Development Analyst. The Consultant will need to provide monthly reports on key results, achievements, and challenges related to the implementation of the programme. The final report shall be submitted to UNDP no later than 30 June 2025.

The Consultant shall provide the necessary information and reports according to a preliminary determined schedule or as soon as possible (within a reasonable period of time). UNDP will be the ultimate authority to control the quality of work results and assess the Contractor’s performance during the assignment.

All reports should be transmitted to UNDP electronically (formats of: * .docx, * .xlsx, * .pptx, * .pdf) on the electronic source or in the form of electronic communication with the attached final product in the Ukrainian language. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

 Education

• At least Bachelor’s degree in political science, social science or related
• At least 2 years of experience in project/programme evaluation/assessment, including experience in designing evaluation frameworks, methodologies, and tools;
• At least 3 examples/evidence materials of experience in designing/implementing internship programmes for youth in public sector at different levels in the last seven years (examples/samples/overview provided as the links or separate documents attached to the proposal);
• At least 2 examples/samples/brief overview of analytical products produced by the applicant demonstrating the applicant’s ability to produce comprehensive analytical products/assessments in Ukrainian or English language in the area of social, civil service or youth area, cooperation of public and civic sector;
• Prior experience working with UNDP or other UN agencies will be considered as an asset.

Experience

Language (s)

• Ukrainian – Working knowledge of English would be an advanta

COMPETENCIES

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual

Technical Competencies:

• Ability to work under the deadline and deliver within the schedule;
• Ability to work on complex issues under changing environment;
• Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations;
• Strong communication, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills;
• Strong communications skills (written and oral).

Documents to be Included when Submitting the Proposals

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

• Personal CV, including detailed information about past experience in similar projects/assignments and contact details for at least two referees.
• Financial proposal indicating an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs according to the defined deliverables. The proposal must be submitted in UAH and should consider that all relevant logistical costs (e.g., consultations, workshops) will be covered by UNDP.
• Examples/samples/overview of at least 2 overviews of analytical products produced by the applicant (provided as the links or separate documents attached to the proposal).
• Examples/samples/overview of designing/implementing internship programmes for youth in public sector at different level implemented in the last seven years (provided as the links or separate documents attached to the proposal)
• FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and a number of anticipated working days).

Please take note that the currency of the proposal is UAH. Furthermore, UNDP will enter into a contract with the selected national consultant in UAH. Payment for services shall be made through bank transfer to the Contractor’s account during 30 (thirty) days from the date of services rendered.

Travel costs

Should any travel be necessary in connection to this TOR, UNDP will reimburse the expenses based on the duly authorized travel details, including travel and per diems. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Educational background:

• At least Bachelor degree in political science, social science or another relevant field – 10 points max (Master’s degree in relevant field – 10 points, Bachelor`s degree – 8 points).
• At least 2 years of experience in project/programme evaluation/assessment, including experience in designing evaluation frameworks, methodologies, and tools (to be clearly specified in the applicant’s CV) – 16 points max (5 years or more – 16 points, 3-4 years – 13 points, 2 years – 10 points).
• At least 3 examples/evidence materials of experience in designing/implementing internship programmes for youth in public sector at different level in the last seven years (examples/samples/overview provided as the links or separate documents attached to the
• Relevant professional experience:

proposal) – 15 points max (5 or more examples – 15 points, 4 examples – 12 points, 3 examples

– 10 points).

• At least 2 examples/samples/brief overview of analytical products produced by the applicant demonstrating the applicant’s ability to produce comprehensive analytical products/assessments in Ukrainian or English language in the area of social, civil service or youth area, cooperation of public and civic sector – 22 points max (4 examples or more, with at least one example being in English – 22 point; 4 examples or more, with all being in Ukrainian language – 21 points; 3 examples, with at least one being in English – 20 points; 3 examples in Ukrainian language – 19 points; 2 examples in Ukrainian language – 18 points).
• Prior experience working with UNDP or other UN agencies would be considered as an asset – 2 points max (experience proved by examples/samples/overview provided as the links or separate documents attached to the proposal – 2 points; no experience – 0 pts)

Language Skills:

• Minimum required: native level knowledge of Ukrainian is required.– 5 points max (native level knowledge of Ukrainian and working knowledge of English – 5 points, native level knowledge of Ukrainian – 3 points).

Maximum available technical score – 70 points.

 EVALUATION METHOD

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: ∙ responsive/compliant/acceptable, and having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre- determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: 70% Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will be equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per the formula below:

30 points (max points available for financial part) x (lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers) / (evaluated price).

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Application – https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_negotiation.cfm?nego_id=31663

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