Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 07 Jun 2017
- Research Background
Young people today make up at least 50% of the world’s inhabitants. In Asia and the Pacific, there are about 700 million 15-24 year olds whose needs, skills, and ambitions hold unprecedented potential for economic, social, and environmental progress. Young people in South Asia alone already comprise one-fourth of the region’s population while one-fifth of the population in South-East Asia are 15-19 years old.
There is growing recognition of the importance of engaging youth in development. Youth involvement not only builds social cohesion and embeds young people within their communities, but also provide innovative and creative approaches to problem solving and solution finding.
Today’s generation will mature during the 15-year period covered by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that countries adopted 25 September 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. The inclusion of youth in the design, conduct, and monitoring of the SDGs is going to be even more critical to the overall achievement of the goals than it was under the Millennium Development Goals. With the review of a country’s progress toward the SDGs being strictly voluntary, the implementation of the SDGs will rely—to a great degree—on its population, including the current generation of young women and men. Youth’s role in holding their leaders and governments to account and reminding them of their commitments to Agenda 2030 is therefore going to be essential.
On top of that, there are and increasingly will be opportunities for young people to advance the SDGs. Youth organizations, for instance, have mobilized more young people in developing a sense of ownership and awareness about the challenges they face nowadays. Elsewhere, there are cases of young people leveraging collective action to promote attitudinal changes in respect of decent work, environmental protection, and sustainable consumption patterns, which could also enhance the effectiveness of peace and development efforts further down the line. Therefore, youth are both a subject of the SDGs and crucial enablers of them.
Engaging with youth is no longer an option: the "Millennials" are a growing constituency that pushes an increasingly coherent agenda. The newly adopted SDGs represent an unprecedented opportunity: they acknowledge youth, address issues that are of particular concern to young people, and invite updated approaches to youth engagement. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has availed the services of Plan International UK to assess and evaluate the added value of youth-led or youtht oriented programs in the achievement of the SDGs. The selected organization will provide evidenceebasedresearch that supports the case of greater youth involvement for the realization and delivery of the SDGs. This will support the case that governments and policymakers that recognize the value of collaborating with young people as partners and invest in establishing clear and explicit pathways for their meaningful participation are better positioned to achieve the SDGs and related targets.
- Audience and Use of Evidence-Based Piece
• The research should strengthen the evidence base for youth to be able to meaningfully contribute to, realize, and deliver on the SDGs. The final output will be a PowerPoint report with preliminary findings from field research and early recommendations that can be adapted to future programmes and policy and presented at high level fora.
• Our primary target audiences include development practitioners, government institutions and agencies, intergovernmental agencies, financial institutions and non-governmental organisations, as well as academic institutions.
- Rationale and Study Outputs
Plan International UK is seeking a senior researcher to deliver the Evidence-basedResearchonYouthandtheSDGs. The proposed research will seek to capture,evaluateandenhancethevalue-addofyouthinvolvementinmaximizingdevelopmentimpactandachievingtheSDGs, using programme examples relating to a number of SDGs. Ultimately, the research should support the case for governments and policymakers to recognize the value of collaborating with youth as partners, and invest in establishing clear and explicit pathways for their meaningful participation in the achievement of the SDGs and related targets. The senior researcher will therefore also provide governments and the international community with adequate recommendations to that end.
Specific outputs (including key sources and suggested elements of methodology):
i. YouthSteeringCommittee: The researcher will support Plan International UK/Asia in finalising the set-up of aYouthSteeringCommittee(YSC) composed of youth representatives from Plan International, ADB Youth for Asia (YfA) and AIESEC, an organization developing the leadership potential of youth through experiential learning, volunteer experiences and professional internships. Through closely collaborating with the YSC, the researcher will ensure that youth’s concerns, aspirations and expectations from the study are accurately captured in the research plan and proceedings, and that young men and women from all backgrounds have the opportunity to contribute to their fullest potential at different stages of the research. For example, the researcher is expected to discuss with the YSC which SDGs they would like to see the research prioritize, based on previous global consultations on young people’s development priorities (e.g. MyWorld survey, YouthSpeak survey, African Monitor).
ii. Rapiddeskreview: The researcher will conduct ashortdesk/literaturereview (secondary
data collection). Plan International and its research partners have existing research and recommendations on the role of young people in the SDGs, therefore the desk review will serve to identify remaining knowledgegaps on how and why investing in youth leads to a greater chance of SDG achievement.
iii. Researchinceptionreport: Based on the above, the researcher will produce a brief inception
report including a research plan explaining the research approach. The plan will include, among other, a refined research question, details of qualitative/quantitative research methods&tools used (seepointsivandvbelow), an implementation/work plan featuring inputs from the YSC, and pointers for action to share news from the research through social media and other channels.
iv. YouthprogrammescopingandSDGcategorizationsystem: the scoping will cover relevant youth initiatives/projects in a maximum of 4-5 Asia&Pacific countries suggested by Plan and the YSC. The strategic objectives, activities and outcomes of youthprogrammes(about10)
selectedfor scoping will need to be mapped against current SDG targets (specifically those identified by the YSC) using a SDG categorization system** to be developed by the senior researcher. The researcher will assess whether selected youth programmes need or need not have (a) happened in the same countries, (b) used various degrees of youth involvement (e.g.
some should be initiatives where youth engagement seemed instrumental in maximizing development outcomes) and (c) related to the same SDG(s) – yet all mapped initiatives should show key programme implementation&evaluation information such as structure, cost, impact/relevance, scalability potential, etc. Theexactcriterialististobedeterminedbytheseniorresearcher who will be responsible for identifying those variables that will make any necessary comparison and conclusion on the value add of youth engagement in SDG projects as rigorous as possible.
v. Fieldresearch: Based on the results of the above components, the researcher in collaboration with the YSC and ADB will determine which youth projects, in up to 2-3 different countries, are worth exploring in more depth. With support from Plan Asia Regional Office and Plan country offices, the researcher will carry out in-country visits to proceed with primary data collection and field research to validate and complete/refine initial findings under component (iv) and any assumption related to the value add of investing in youth engagement in programmes and youth’s role in maximizing sustainable development achievements. Throughout data collection, the researcher is expected to ensure propersegmentation of gender, age, ability/disability and other relevant characteristics, and to use youth-friendlyandparticipatoryresearchmethods: FGDs, key informative interviews, ‘diaries’, most significant change with key stakeholders (e.g. staff and beneficiaries, local implementing partners, government stakeholders), consultation with global staff involved in the delivery of youth programmes, etc.
vi.Study report and dissemination of findings:** Based on field data analysis as well as findings
from the earlier components, the researcher will share preliminary study results including programmatic recommendations in the form of a20pagePowerPointresearchreport for review and input by the ADB. Subject to ADB’s approval early results will be disseminated via the usual communication channels and presented by the researcher as well as relevant Plan International/YSC staff on a highlevelpolicyplatform,possiblyUNGA2017.
How to apply:
We therefore expect the consultancy to require approximately 60daysofworkovertheperiodof26th**June** – 29th**September** 2017.
The research must be submitted to the ADB by 30th September 2017. However we would like to present the initial findings at UNGA in September 2017 and would therefore need these to be available by early/mid-September.
- Senior Researcher’s Qualifications
The senior researcher will have an excellent understanding of the SDG framework and a demonstrated experience in youth development, engagement and empowerment as well as in social sciences research.
Required experience:
• Proven experience in designing and leading youth-participatory research focused on SDG related themes and youth empowerment, with relevant publications
• Extensive technical knowledge of one or several of the following youth thematic areas: youth education, youth employment, youth governance, youth health
• A demonstrated understanding of and ability to mainstream gender equality and environmental sustainability in research outputs
• Very good knowledge of (youth-participative) methodologies for qualitative and quantitative research
• Experience of conducting research in developing countries, working with youth organisations/agencies
• Ability to form constructive relationships with the relevant stakeholders who need to be consulted as part of this research, particularly youth
• Ability to produce well-written reports, in a plain and approachable text, demonstrating excellent analytical and communication skills
• Masters degree in a relevant field of social development with at least 10 years of experience.
- Submission of Technical Proposals
Submission of proposals should be made by email to the email address indicated below, by specifying on the Cover page the research title “**Plan** InternationalUK/AsianDevelopmentBankEvidencenbasedResearchonYouthandtheSDGs”**.**
The proposals should include the following:
A. A topline research framework/plan based on the ToR
B. Your proposed daily fee
C. Your CV
D. An example of youth empowerment/participation research report produced by the candidate (or valid hyperlinks to online published papers or reports)
Place and deadline for submission of tenders:
Technical proposals should be submitted in English to Lea.Moubayed-Haidar@plan-uk.org
The deadline for submission is 7th**June** 2017,noon(UKtime).Pleasenote: we apologise in advance that we are unable to confirm receipt of your application and will only be contacting shortlisted candidates. Interviews will be conducted on Friday9June2017 at Plan International UK’s Old Streeta based offices in London.
The senior researcher should be able to engage in the work no later than June26th**,** 2017. The research will be carried out in accordance with Plan International’s ethics standards and child protection policy.