International Consultant

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Social and Human Sciences Sector (SHS)

Duty Station: Bangkok

Job Family: Social and Human Sciences

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 28-Feb-2020

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

UNESCO is seeking the services of a youthful individual specialist to complete a number of on-going tasks under the Asia-Pacific Youth Program. The specific areas of work relate to:

• UNESCO’s Meaningfully Engaging with Youth (under the UNESCO Operational Strategy on Youth 2014-2021)
• UNESCO Youth Forum
• Asia Pacific Interagency Network on Youth

 

Background

In line with its Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021), which emphasizes the need for youth to engage with decision makers in policy formulation and advocate for their issues and concerns, UNESCO launched Meaningfully engaging with Youth as a guide on how to strengthen our programmatic approach to partnering with youth. The outcomes of the 11th UNESCO Youth Forum, further reiterate the need to strengthening this approach, including throughout the field network.

Asia-Pacific region has been very active in promoting youth programs both within UNESCO and through interagency collaboration in support of youth including the following:

• Co-chair of the Asia Pacific Interagency Network on Youth (APINY) since 2017 which has seen significant development of APINY’s work including the APINY website, Y-MAP, summer student program (Bangkok) and on-going work in support of UNCTs
• Asia Indigenous Youth Platform
• Youth and Sport Taskforce
• Youth Policy Toolkit featuring social inclusion and gender equality including pilots in Laos and Viet Nam
• Youth-led research on vulnerable youth
• Case 4 Space: youth and shrinking civil spaces
• International Youth Media Summit

The evaluation of 2018 activities for the Mekong and Central Asia cluster has pointed out a number of critical elements to better build and support these programs, International Youth Day 2019 activities, and the recent UNESCO Youth forum commitment to building a Youth Community of Practice (YCoP), identify the need to strengthen the way we support youth and youth activities. Key elements of this include capacity building, networking and creating continuing opportunities for young people to collaborate with UNESCO/UN and with each other.

Long Description

Capacity building

For effective participation as development actors, youth may need to develop new skills. These include research, policy, advocacy, as well as technical knowledge and project management. The UNESCO Youth Project Planner is one example of a resource to assist youth. Traditionally capacity building has been done through face-to-face trainings, though there is more online training available than ever before. Building up resources to enable young people from across the region to start building the skills they need will ensure that more youth can participate in UNESCO activities, or start their own activities using these skills.

 

Networking

Y-Map was launched in 2019 and now holds details for more than 1,600 youth organisations across the region. Building from a static map to an active partnership engaging young people in UNESCO’s activities will enable this to become a network of young people supporting each other and acting in partnership with the United Nations. As Y-Map was developed in partnership with young people, further expansion of the networking is seen as a collaborative project to be conducted in consultation with youth from across the region. This will include improving the functionality of Y-Map. Providing better incentives to young people who contribute and providing active ways for network participants to engage.v

Long Description

Participation

Young people are clearly telling us they want to move from rhetoric to action. Some of the ways that UNESCO can support youth-led action include through research, advocacy and campaigning. This enables young people to champion the causes dear to them through social media, story-telling, policy advocacy and other means.

Areas the youth program will address in 2020 are:

Youth aspiration

Proposed actions

A clear UNESCO strategy for youth work in Asia and the Pacific communicated to young people that makes UNESCO's objectives, acttions and the opportunities associated with this accessible

• In consultation wirh other Field Officers finalise the regional strategy on working with youth and design a brochure to share this with youth in the region.
• Development of UNESCO SHS website youth pages, including social media linkages, to include up-to-date information on UNESCO's work with youth, stories of youth contributing to UNESCO's work, tools and resources for young people in the region, and participation/collaboration opportunities for young people. This can be mirrored/linked to the various FO websites across the region.
• Support to APINY (the Asia Pacific Interagency Network on Youth) and implementation of the APINY work plan.

Youth participation throughout the programming cycle

• Develop a proposal for a youth advisory network to support UNESCO's work with youth including a TOR, method of work, membership selection process, etc.
• Develop and coordinate a network of youth volunteers to collaborate with UNESCO and support other young people to be agents of charge.
• Design and conduct with the participation of young people, the evaluation of UNESCO's youth programs for 2019 and 2020, and publish the reports.

Networking

• Development and management of Y-MAP (an intiative of UNESCO and UNV through APINY) including development of the enquiry function, profiles of youth organisations in the database, addition of an individual layer and establishment of a review and up-date process.
• Linkages with other sectors?

Capacity building

• Develop resources to assist youth to support peace and sustainable development through online skills building, online tools and other resources. This will be informed by the youth evaluation and other consultations with young people in the region.

Participation

• Expand the Youth as Researchers initiative
• Launch campaigns on key issues across UNESCO's mandate
• Support International Youth Day

 

Long Description

Tasks

Under the Authority of the Director of UNESCO Bangkok Office and the direct supervision of the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisor for Social and Human Science, the individual specialist will perform the following functions:

• In consultation with other Field Offices finalise the regional strategy on working with youth and design a brochure to share this with youth in the region.
• Administrative support to APINY (the Asia Pacific Interagency Network on Youth) and implementation of the APINY work plan. Current and on-going initiatives include development of UNCT Guidelines on including youth, Y-MAP and the APINY website.
• Develop a proposal for a youth advisory network to support UNESCO’s work with youth including a TOR, method of work, membership selection process, etc.
• Development and management of Y-MAP (an initiative of UNESCO and UNV through APINY) including development of the enquiry function, profiles of youth organisations in the database, addition of an individual layer and establishment of a review and up-date process.
• Development of UNESCO Bangkok’s SHS website youth pages, including social media linkages, to include up-to-date information on UNESCO’s work with youth, stories of youth contributing to UNESCO’s work, tools and resources for young people in the region, and participation/collaboration opportunities for young people. This can be mirrored/linked to other websites across the region.
• Design and conduct with the participation of young people, the evaluation of UNESCO’s youth programs for 2019 and 2020, and publish the reports.
• Develop resources to assist youth to support peace and sustainable development through online skills building, online tools and other resources. This will be informed by the youth evaluation and other consultations with young people in the region.
• Develop and coordinate a network of youth volunteers to collaborate with UNESCO and support other young people to be agents of change.
• Develop new project proposals to further UNESCO’s work with youth.
• Contribute to other on-going UNESCO youth activities as appropriate.

Specific attention to creating products that actively promote and enable strengthening gender equality is required.

 

Deliverables schedule:

Each month a monthly report will be required plus submission of at least one substantive deliverable. Substantive deliverables include:

• UNESCO Asia Pacific Strategy for meaningfully engaging with youth (no later than 30 June 2020)
• Brochure on UNESCO Asia-Pacific work with youth
• Online capacity building tools for youth
• Revision of UNESCO Bangkok SHS Youth webpages (with links to other field offices)
• Conduct and prepare report for Youth Evaluation 2019
• Concept note for UNESCO Asia Pacific Youth Advisory mechanism
• Report on the functionality and up-grades to Y-Map
• Report on International Youth Day 2020 from across the region
• Concept notes for new activities proposed by young people

 

Estimated Duration of Contract:

The proposed start date is 1 April 2020.The Individual Specialist is expected to deliver all assignments by 31 December 2020.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial) Accountability (C) Communication (C) Innovation (C) Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (C) Planning and organizing (C) Results focus (C) Teamwork (C) - For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Advance degree related to a social science - including education, human rights, gender studies, development studies, sport & youth development, journalism.

Work experience:

• Minimum of two years relevant work experience;
• Demonstrated experience working in the thematic area of youth;
• Demonstrated experience in drafting concept notes and workshop facilitation;
• Demonstrated understanding of integrating gender equality into activities.
• Familiarity with the Asia Pacific region and working in multi-cultural environments is essential;
• Previous experience working with the UN/multilateral/bilateral institutions an asset;

Skills:

• Excellent oral communication and report writing skills in English;

ASSESSMENT

Suitably qualified applicants should submit their CV, work proposal and motivation letter supporting their application to the UNESCO Bangkok Office by e-mail no later than 28 February 2020.

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