National Consultant

Assignment Title:

National Consultant for Development of National Strategic Plan for Youth Policy Implementation- Myanmar

Duration

36 Working Days 

Duty Station: 

Nay Pyi Taw and  Travel to some States and Regions if required

Closing Date for Application:

08 June 2018 (5:00 PM Yangon Time)

Starting date of Assignment:

As soon as possible  

UNFPA Myanmar has supported Department of Social Welfare under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, in the development of a national Youth Policy. With regards to the youth policy process UNFPA emphasises a human-rights based approach and wants to ensure the meaningful and inclusive engagement of young people from diverse and in particular disadvantaged or marginalised communities.

The National Youth Policy was launched on 5^th January 2018. Fourteen State and Regional consultations were completed with young people in February 2018 as a basis for an implementation of the youth policy with continued support of UNFPA.

Youth representatives for State and Regional level as well as Central level were elected during state/region consultations. The first strategic planning meeting for the youth policy was conducted on 26 March 2018, where States and Regional youth committees were formed.

According to the discussions by youth representatives at the first strategic planning meeting, there is a critical need to further promote the inclusiveness of diverse young people’s voices in particular with regards to young people who have special needs and who are from marginalized communities. It is therefore, necessary to empower youth policy implementation committee representatives through training in facilitation, listening, and documentation skills and to connect these representatives with CSOs in order to carry out listening exercises and context analyses in each state and region.  Results from the training and listening sessions will need to be the evidence base for a drafting of the Youth Policy Implementation Strategy, with a view to upholding inclusiveness and a recognition of diversity of youth needs and perspectives from across States and Regions in Myanmar.

The consultant will work under the overall technical and logistical guidance of the Representative of UNFPA Myanmar. The consultant will work in close collaboration with UNFPA technical team and with Youth and Child division of DSW. On a daily basis the consultant will work with UNFPA Youth Program Specialist based in Naypyitaw and Youth PBF Management team.

The objective of the assignment is to work with youth networks and representatives from diverse backgrounds to jointly draft a strategic plan that will facilitate and guide the implementation of Myanmar’s National Youth Policy. This is to be achieved through analysing inclusive inputs from youth who will carry out listening exercises in collaboration with civil society, presenting strategy drafts to youth networks for feedback and submitting a jointly agreed final draft.

Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Review existing reports of Youth, Peace, Security workshops undertaken and report published by UNFPA in 2016 and 2017, as well as other research and report on youth and peace in Myanmar to identify key youth perspectives and needs.
2. Collaborate with youth representatives and youth-led CSOs in preparing a comprehensive mapping of youth actors across states/regions as basis for listening exercises
3. Support youth-led CSOs and young people from Youth Policy Implementation Committees at State/Region level to carry out listening exercises. The consultant will develop clear guidelines and a report-back mechanism and timeline for this process.
4. Support youth-led CSOs in training youth policy committee representatives to assist in listening exercises in their states/regions
5. Compile, analyse, and summarize findings from state/region listening exercises and existing reports (see point 1).
6. Align national strategic plan for youth policy implementation with other existing national strategic plans such as national strategic plan for education, national strategic plan for young people’s health and other relevant national strategic plans.
7. Prepare first draft of strategic plan based on state/region exercise insights and insights from existing reports (based on points 1-6)
8. Send findings and recommendations from State/region exercises to youth representatives in advance of first round of feedback, supporting representatives to gather feedback from their constituencies.
9. Arrange inclusive meeting with youth representatives and selected youth-led CSOs in Naypyitaw to receive feedback on the first draft from each constituency.
10. Compile feedback from youth representatives and prepare second draft of Strategic plan.
11. Arrange inclusive meeting with youth representatives and selected youth-led CSOs in Naypyitaw to receive final feedback.
12. Produce a final national strategic plan for youth policy implementation to be approved by Department of Social Welfare and distributed to youth representatives, youth networks and Government Ministries
13. Arrange final inclusive meeting with diverse group of youths and Government members to present final strategic plan and facilitate action planning for youth networks and government to move forward and implement the strategic plan.

The consultancy will be undertaken for a duration of 36 working days. All work will be done in Myanmar.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement

The Consultant is expected to prepare and submit the following key deliverables:

• Analysis report of existing research/evidence on youth & peace in Myanmar
• Youth organization and actor mapping across States and Regions.
• Plan for State/Region listening exercises incl. potential focal points and groups to consult (based on experience) + follow-up process
• Report on findings from listening exercises.
• Paper on alignment of strategic plan with other relevant plans
• 1^st draft national strategic plan for youth policy implementation
• 2^nd draft national strategic plan for youth policy implementation
• Final draft national strategic plan for youth policy implementation
• Report on feedback received on 1^st and 2^nd draft
• Report and action plans from final workshop

All reports and documents will be provided in electronic format (MS Word)

The Consultant will have regular meetings to provide substantive guidance and strategic advice to the Department of Social Welfare personnel, and the UNFPA Technical Team.  The consultant will provide regular updates to DSW and UNFPA management on progress.

Education

• An advanced university degree (Master level) in the area of Public Policy, Peace and Conflict Studies, or related field;

Experiences

• At least ten (10) years of progressive experience in working with diverse young people in all setting including humanitarian and conflict setting, conducting needs assessments, listening exercises, conflict analyses
• Demonstrated good relationships with and in-depth knowledge of youth networks and actors especially among ethnic minorities and marginalized groups in Myanmar
• Thorough understanding of the issues of young people with particular focus on peace in their respective context and in States and Regions;
• In-depth understanding of UNSCR 2250 and the role of youth in building peace
• Demonstrated ability to work closely with international and national counterparts, in particular those active in peace building and conflict transformation, and in complex environments;
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills and fluency in written and spoken Burmese and English;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Adaptability and ability to work with people from different socio-cultural backgrounds and across different managerial levels

The consultant will be provided with documents of:

• National Youth Policy
• States and Regional consultations report
• Central level first Strategic Planning report
• State and Regional Youth committee lists

Payment will be made on a lumpsum basis. 

Terms and conditions will be in accordance with UN service contract procedures. Remuneration will be based on years of work experience in the relevant field and standard rates for UN consultancy.