Consultant to Study on adolescents' and young people's perception, attitudes and drivers towards learning and skill development in South Asia - UNICEF SAR
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Job no: 582570
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Kathmandu
Level: Consultancy
Location: Nepal
Categories: Adolescent Development
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Rationale:
Currently, 44% of South Asia’s population is under 25 years of age[1]. The region is home to the largest number of children and young people globally, including the largest cohort of young people living with disabilities who continue to face multiple exclusion barriers.[2] In the coming years, demographic factors will remain important for economic progress, but value added will increasingly result from the talent and skills of this new generation rather than the sheer numbers of the total working age population.
The learning crisis in South Asia is evident by the fact that 59% of the children are not able to read by the age of 10. And, very often, learning gaps and disparities increase with age. Many disadvantaged adolescent girls and boys missed out on Foundational Skills. Foundational skills are critical for employability. But unfortunately, millions of disadvantaged adolescents and young people have never attended any school or dropped out at early grades before mastering basic literacy and numeracy skills. For example, in Balochistan of Pakistan(2019/20), 89% of the adolescent girls from the poorest quintile have never attended any school. Many young people remain ill-equipped for the demands of modern job markets, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including young people with disabilities. Countries are keen to implement programs to address this, including skill-building in the vocational fields and entrepreneurship. However, curriculum relevance, foundational, transferable and practical skills remain insufficient.
Youth unemployment in South Asia, while reduced to a 15-year low of 15.1%, remains the highest in the Asia-Pacific[3]. From the start of the millennium to 2023, the share of young people in self-employment declined from 57 to 42%, while the share in temporary paid work increased from 20 to 28%. Moreover, 42.4% of young women in the region are neither in education, employment, nor training (NEET)[4]. According to ILO, the overall projected youth NEET rates in 2025 are on the rise for South Asia. The gender gap in youth NEET rates in South Asia, 31%, is higher than in any other subregion in the world. This exclusion is compounded by societal issues like child marriage, a region where 1 in every 4 girls are married or in union before the age of 18. The high NEET rates for young women and persistent child marriage highlight continued systemic barriers to achieving gender equality.
Young people, whether skilled or unskilled, are poised to enter the labor market. UNICEF is committed to ensuring that every adolescent and young person from the most marginalized and disadvantaged communities acquires the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in life, learning, and employment. In the context of rapid digital and green transitions, there is an urgent need to better understand how adolescents and young people from the most marginalized and disadvantaged communities in South Asia perceive opportunities for learning and skills development, the barriers they face, and what motivates or deters their engagement.
This study aims to generate evidence and insights that will inform policies and programming to make learning and skills development more inclusive, relevant, and accessible to all young people, especially girls and most marginalized and disadvantaged groups.
urpose of Activity/Assignment: This exercise seeks to generate evidence on the perceptions, attitudes, motivations, and drivers that shape adolescents’ and young people’s (ages 10–24) access to and engagement with learning and skill development opportunities across South Asian countries. Through this study, UNICEF aims to gain valuable insights into the opportunities and gaps that exist in accessing learning and skill development opportunities for adolescents and young people, in particular the most disadvantaged.
The Key objective of the study will be:
- Understand how the adolescent and young people from the most disadvantaged communities view formal and non-formal learning pathways, skills development, and employability.
- Identify the factors that affect motivation, access and participation in formal education and in skills development programmes, in particular for the most disadvantaged adolescents and young people.
- Analyze how perceptions are different according to gender, age, socio-economic status, geography, and other vulnerabilities, such as a disability.
- Document the aspirations and voices of adolescents and young people related to future skill development and employment in changing labor markets, and with an equity lens that capture the voices of the most disadvantaged adolescents and the bottlenecks for them to access general education and skill development programmes.
- Provide recommendations to guide UNICEF and partners on programming on learning and skill development for the most marginalized and disadvantaged adolescent and young people.
ROSA will conduct the study in close collaboration with Country Offices. The Country office focal colleagues will support and facilitate in identifying and reaching the adolescents and young people in their current programs (and addition) to conduct the study. The Country office will play a key role to ensure that the identified adolescent and young people are represented from the most marginalized and disadvantaged community. This exercise has the potential to offer timely insights on different levels. Primary users will be UNICEF management at the region and country level as well as key national partners. The information gathered will be analyzed and presented to
Scope of Work:
1.Design and Lead the Research Framework
- Develop the study's methodology, research tools, and sampling strategy tailored to diverse contexts across South Asia. In consultation with the Country Office, the consultant should ensure that while developing the sampling strategy, the most marginalized and disadvantaged adolescent and young people are reached (in terms of socio-economic status, gender, disability etc.).
- Similarly, while developing research tools (example questionnaire) the consultant should ensure that it reflects a pro equity perspective to well capture the voices and needs of the marginalized and most disadvantaged adolescent and young people.
- Ensure ethical standards and adolescent and young people’s participation principles are integrated in study design.
2. Conduct Desk Review as well as Field Research and Data Collection
- Conduct desk review on existing data and information to build the study on that existing knowledge. The desk review should be conducted during the inception/design phase to identify gaps at the early stage of the study.
- Oversee and coordinate qualitative and quantitative data collection across multiple countries in South Asia.
- Facilitate and conduct online focus group discussions, interviews, and surveys with selected adolescents and young people from the most marginalized and disadvantaged community and caregivers/guardians of young people.
3. Analyze Findings
- Analyze based on disaggregated data (gender, age cohort (10-14, 15-18, 19-24) and socio-economic status) to find attitudes, perceptions, gaps and motivations related to learning and skill development of the most marginalized and disadvantaged adolescents and young people.
- Identify structural, social, economic, and gender-related factors influencing the most marginalized and disadvantaged adolescents and young people’s decisions and access.
4. Engage with external Stakeholders and validate the findings.
- Engage with local partners, governments, education providers, and young people-led organizations for insights and validation. The country offices will support the consultant in identifying the external stakeholders and connecting with them.
- Ensure meaningful adolescent and young people's participation from the most marginalized and disadvantaged communities in both the research process and interpretation of findings.
5. Develop Final Report including Policy Recommendations
- Produce a comprehensive study report summarizing key findings, opportunities, challenges, and gaps.
- Provide actionable recommendations for UNICEF and partners to strengthen marginalized and disadvantaged adolescent and young people-responsive learning and skill-building policies and programs.
- Highlight structural and systemic bottlenecks (e.g., discrimination, poverty, lack of access) and provide recommendations.
- The country and regional offices. The study report also will be produced and shared with the relevant stakeholders.
Consistent with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards, The UNEG Ethical Guidelines and UNEG Code of Conduct, the UNICEF Procedure on Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation and Data Collection and Analysis, the UNICEF guidance on gender integration in evaluation, the Sphere standards, the UNEG guidance on integrating human rights and gender equality and UN System-Wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP) on gender equality, the assessment will ensure:
• Respect for rights of individuals and institutions: The consultant will accord informants the opportunity to participate voluntarily while maintaining their anonymity, and to make an independent decision to participate without pressure or fear of penalty (informed consent/assent). Also, interviewers will assure respondents that information would be confidential, and that reports would be written such that responses/contributions would not be traced back to them. Interview notes and any recordings will be accessible to the team members only.
- Respect for cultural identities and sensitivities: Variances in ethnicities, culture, religious beliefs, gender, disability, age will be respected. As a result, assessment processes will be mindful of cultural settings, developmental status and evolving capacities/ages of adolescents/young people and other stakeholders, and the needs of the respondents and rights-holders that programmes are supposed to serve.
• Professional responsibilities and obligations of consultant: The consultant will exercise independent judgement and operate in an impartial and unbiased manner. During data collection, any sensitive issues and concerns will be addressed through the appropriate mechanisms and referral pathways
- Adherence to the “do no harm” principle will be required when interacting with all groups of informants. Special attention should also be paid in situations where the consultant interacts with adolescent and young people. As per the UNICEF Evaluation Office standard procedure, the assessment design will undergo ethical review during the inception phase. Ethical approval will be sought from the UNICEF Institutional Review Board or designated subsidiary prior to implementation.
- An inception PowerPoint presentation outlining the study methodology including a complete set of tools (development of detailed questionnaire). Inputs from Kick off call with individual country offices also to be included in the Inception report by end August (7 days)
- Detailed presentation with key findings, recommendations and comprehensive lessons learned by end September/October (30 days)
- Ensure quality assurance throughout the study period to maintain ethical standard, data reliability and thorough research methods by end September/October (30 days)
- Draft assessment report including 1 day sharing meeting(online) with Country offices by 10 November (10 days)
- Final assessment report by 18 November (8 days)
- Participate to online dissemination event by December 2 or 3 week (3 days)
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- Education:
University Degree in Education, Development Studies, Social Sciences, International Relations, or related fields
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- At least seven years of proven experience in research or evaluation, including perception studies or similar.
- Knowledge of methods and approaches in research and
- Experience in applying both quantitative and qualitative methods, particularly around identifying perception, attitudes and drivers and ability to effectively communicate data and analysis
- Experience in working on education and skills and employability theme.
- Strong experience in writing reports, documentation to convey clear and well-articulated findings.
- Experience with the ethics of evidence generation; familiarity with ethical safeguards
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required.
Desirable:
- Experience of working in the South Asia region. Based in one of the country in SA where UNICEF works is an added value.
- Knowledge and exposure to UNICEF programming in the areas
- Adolescent and young people engagement and participation, Skills and employability, education.
- Previous experience editing and writing for UNICEF and familiarity with UNICEF’s style guidelines would be an asset
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
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Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert candidates from targeted underrepresented groups] are encouraged to apply.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
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Advertised: Nepal Standard Time
Deadline: Nepal Standard Time