Contract Duration – 6 months
Working arrangement: remote with travel
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TERMS OF REFERENCE
Generation Unlimited (GenU) is a global multi-stakeholder partnership—co-chaired by the UN Secretary-General, the UNICEF Executive Director, and global private sector leaders, dedicated to ensuring that every young person is in education, learning, training, or employment by 2030. In South Africa, GenU aims to connect 1.5 million young people to opportunities in skilling, training, entrepreneurship, employment, and social and environmental impact by 2030, in support of national goals.
To concretise the GenU approach in South Africa and shift towards actionable plans, the services of a consultant are required. The consultant will innovatively translate data-driven insights, stakeholder feedback and youth voices into a strategic operational and co-ordination roadmap to achieve the mission of UNICEF’s GenU. Building on the foundational GenU Africa strategy and that of the PYEI in South Africa, the consultant will produce a toolkit that clearly articulates the GenU SA governance structure, its’ youth engagement and accountability strategy, and outline the GenU SA key performance indicators and targets. A key aspect is the integration of this toolkit with existing government and private sector led initiatives to facilitate higher-impact collaborations that avoid duplication and maximize scale, while effectively delivering on youth outcomes.
Purpose of Assignment
Under the overall supervision of the Deputy Representative and direct supervision of the Innovation Specialist, the consultant will support UNICEF GenU South Africa by:
1. Establishment of the GenU SA Governance Structure: Development of the formal framework of rules, authority, relationships, processes, and decision-making systems to strategically and operationally direct, control, and hold GenU SA accountable to its mission and outcomes. This will include a recommendation on the GenU SA board composition and structure, development of Terms of Reference for the board members, and the establishment of the Board. This must incorporate the integration strategy already under development, which seeks to integrate GenU SA with government’s efforts under the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention.
2. Development of the GenU-PYEI youth engagement and accountability strategy: This is a structured, rights-based framework designed to transition young people from passive recipients of aid to active partners in their own development. The strategy will serve as a recommendation on the institutionalization of youth participation and leadership within national youth development programmes in South Africa. Key components include the establishment of platforms for youth engagement, for monitoring government commitments, transparent sharing of information, capacity building, continuous feedback mechanisms, and youth representation on governance bodies.
3. Development of GenU SA Key Performance Targets, and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting framework. This includes creation of clearly defined, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals, key indicators, baseline data, milestone checkpoints, etc. The MER framework will focus on the programme theory of change, data/evidence management systems, reporting cycles and formats, the evaluation plan, and learning and adaptive management. Reporting formats should be beneficial to all targeted stakeholders (donors, government, the public, youth, etc.). The aim is to align GenU SA’s goals and report with that of Global GenU and the PYEI/PES.
The consultant will be required to work with other UNICEF staff/consultants who are concurrently developing GenU SA strategic and roll-out plans to ensure alignment and integration.
If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: 
Individual National Consultant to Support GenU in South Africa.pdf
Education: Master’s degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, Development Studies, Youth Development, Economics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Policy,
Language: Demonstrates proficiency in required languages; English, local or UN language
Work experience: Minimum 10 years’ work experience including mid-to-senior professional roles within:
- National youth development and empowerment interventions (focusing on employment, entrepreneurship, advocacy, etc.)
- Civil Society or Private sector led youth-support programmes
- Advisory boards and/or steering committees focused on youth livelihood support
- Programme Management within government or private sector
Skills:
- Demonstrates prior participation in youth consultations, youth workshops, and driving youth in public-private governance.
- Experience designing institutional and governance frameworks for high-value, high-impact, programmes. Experience with embedding youth into public-private governance frameworks beneficial.
- Has expertise in strategy development, strategic framework design, youth engagement methodologies, monitoring and evaluation
- Proven experience working with national government or government agencies within South Africa
- Strong experience in developing results frameworks, key performance indicators, monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER) systems, iterative/continuous learning, and data management.
- Experience aligning MER systems with national statistical systems such as those used by
- Statistics South Africa is advantageous
- The consultant should have strong abilities in policy analysis, stakeholder mapping, institutional assessments, facilitation of workshops and consultations, and synthesis of complex information into actionable frameworks.
- Demonstrate previous experience delivering outputs such as national strategies, governance frameworks, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and policy advisory reports.
- Experience with multi-stakeholder coordination and partnership management. Proven stakeholder engagement and negotiation skills
- Strong background knowledge of youth unemployment challenges, youth livelihood and empowerment trends, public sector governance, youth in governance, and labour market trends.
- Knowledge of the South African youth development landscape, including government support programs (e.g., Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, National Youth Development Agency, Youth Employment Services (YES), SA Youth Platform, etc.).
- Systems integration expertise desired
- Familiarity with Generation Unlimited/UNICEF agendas is desirable.
- Experience working with the United Nations will be advantageous
- Specialized training in programme evaluation, governance systems, public sector reform, youth participation methodologies, and public administration is advantageous.
- Excellent analytical writing and communication skills, experience producing strategy documents and policy frameworks, and ability to communicate with senior government stakeholders.
- Experience working with government institutions is highly desirable
For every Child, you demonstrate...
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UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
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Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):
Remarks:
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