Consultancy Announcement

Job title:                       Consultancy to Develop a National Youth Profile

Duration:                      6 WEEKS

Application Deadline:      21st May 2010

Terms of Reference

Background

The Gambia government and other development partners had put in place various programmes and activities for youth development over the past years which had some positive impact. However, the lack of consultation or involvement of the youth themselves in planning these programmes and activities has limited chances of greater success. The Ministry of Youth and Sports is charged with the responsibility to ensure the development of Gambian Youth. The Ministry organizes biannual youth conferences (NAYCONF) at which delegates from the different regions discuss issues which affect them and proposals for improving their plight.

The Ministry adopted a strategy with and for the youth aimed at ensuring youth concerns, vision and contributions is fully taken into account in all programs and activities. The Principal objective of the Ministry in this regard is the empowerment of young people so as to enhance their full participation in national development.

However, the inadequate and lack of segregated data on youth has made it complicated to develop well targeted programmes for supporting their development. The Ministry of Youth and Sports wishes to conduct a youth profile so that future interventions would be a true reflection of the challenges of youth and their wishes and aspirations. The study seeks to check on the views, concerns and values of young people between the ages of 15-35 years. It aimed to get a richer understanding of young people?s thoughts and opinions. The consultancy therefore seeks to determine the conditions that exist in the country that either assist or hinder youth in playing an active role in national development.

Objective:

The main objective of this consultancy is to establish comprehensive information on the status of youth in the country with the view to promulgating appropriate interventions to enhance the contribution of youth in national development in line with Vision 2020, PRSP, MDG, and the national Youth Policy.

TASK:

The main tasks are:

1.         Review national census data and develop youth characteristics in the following key demographic features:

i)          Education/illiteracy

ii)          Employment and unemployment status

iii)         Skills/life skills

iv)         Conditions of disabled

2.         Identify national and regional employment opportunities and analyze current constraints affecting youth taking advantage of them

3.         Assess and analyze the impact of development interventions at national and regional

            levels on youth

4.         Conduct survey in all the regions looking at lives and views of young people

5.         Review registers/directories of youth organizations from the departments responsible

            or youth affairs, NYC, NGOs and other agencies and compile information in the form

             of a database showing: name of group, purpose or mandate and key activities (priority

            area), number of members including gender, conditions of registration, affiliations/

            partnership, contact persons and addresses, location (village, region), coverage,

            achievements/successes registered, problems and constraints

Duration:

The period of the consultancy is six (6) weeks.

Expected outputs

The main expected output of this assignment will be:

•        A report on findings and recommendations on priority areas of  intervention for youth development in the Gambia
•       Comprehensive national data base of youth organization disaggregated into regions

Qualification and Experience:

• At least a post graduate qualification (Masters Degree) in social sciences
• Proven experience and knowledge in research
• Proven experience in youth work and development issues
• Excellent information gathering, report writing and presentation skills
• Excellent computer skills including development of Databases

Submission of applications

Applications should be submitted to:

The Resident Representative

UNDP The Gambia

5, Kofi Annan Street

Cape Point, Banjul

Or through email:registry.gm@undp.org, indicating ?Consultancy for the Review and Update of The Gambia Industrial Policy in the subject field.

The closing date for applications is Friday 21 May 2010. Any applications received after this date will not be given consideration. Only short-listed candidates whose applications respond to the above criteria will be contacted for an interview.