National Consultant- Adolescent and Youth Engagement, 11.5 months, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, protection.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To achieve this, UNICEF Mongolia works with key youth networks in the country to give adolescents space, voice, audience, and influence the narratives that act as barriers to achieving their aspirations. One of such youth initiatives is Volunteer engagement, which UNICEF would like to leverage upon for impactful results for children.

Generation Unlimited – In April 2021, Minister of Labor and Social Protection(MLSP), Ms. Ariunzaya Ayush expressed her interest to be involved in GenU initiative on behalf of Mongolian Government. Since then, UNICEF in partnership with MLSP led the process of conducting analysis of country situation related to youth connectivity for learning, acquisition of skills for employability, entrepreneurship and youth participation. Based on the analysis, the draft Country Investment Plan was developed. This Plan includes an operational framework which sets out youth engagement model, financing model, and other elements related to operationalization of country investment agenda. It aimed to leverage partner collaboration, mobilize financing, and achieve scale by providing models of shared-value partnerships, expand existing efforts across the partnership, and improved coordination.

Volunteer engagement, as a new and promising strategy for improving program effectiveness was used by Mongolia CO during the COVID-19 pandemic response and in some program areas such as Climate Change, Education, WASH, Mental Health, Child Protection. It has been acknowledged by partners and showcased globally that Mongolian youth have enormous potential to increase program impact and sustainability. There is a growing need to continue to strengthen volunteer engagement capacity of the government and create a sustainable mechanism at the national and sub-national level to support continuous volunteer engagement. 

Therefore, the purpose of the consultancy is to contribute to the creation and operationalization of sustainable structure, which will enable young peoples’ volunteering, networking, sharing knowledge and partnerships for promoting child rights on participation. 

How can you make a difference? 

Under the guidance of the Adolescence Development (AD) Specialist, the consultant will provide professional technical assistance and support for the conceptualization, design, planning, implementation, monitoring, management and evaluation of volunteer engagement initiatives, contribute to fundraising and implementation of the GenU initiatives in Mongolia.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Conceptualise, design and implement volunteer initiatives with government, CSOs, academia, and private sector with the aim of furthering Child Rights and Child Participation;
2. Contribute to the fundraising efforts of UNICEF Mongolia Office on adolescents’ development and participation;
3. Monitor and document ongoing volunteer projects and explore new opportunities for future engagement with volunteers

Scope of Work:

The consultant will be working under the guidance of AD Specialist at the national and sub-national level by engaging with youth participation platforms at both levels:

The work at the national level will require close collaboration with MLSP, Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) and possibly Ministry of Health (MoH) and respective agencies. With the support of AD Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for follow-up engagement with respective ministries, particularly planned activities aimed at adolescents and youth development. Youth related NGOs will be key partners to be engaged as well.

• National and subnational level Children’s Councils, Teen Parliament will be also engaged.
• Newly established structures of Youth Development, established under provincial Governor’s office will be supported by the consultant with the capacity building trainings.

Programme Area and Specific Project Involved:

Adolescents Development and Participation.

Contract duration (start and end date):

The consultant will work for 11.5 months. The consultancy will begin from 1^st June, 2024 until 15 May 2025.

Type of engagement: Deliverable based

The consultant will be requested to conduct field missions to monitor volunteer engagement project progress as needed (tentatively 2 times throughout assignment).

For detailed terms of reference and evaluation criteria please click here  ToR_Adolescent and Youth Engagement Consultant_ad.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• University degree in the social/behavioural sciences (communication, marketing, public health), international relations or in a related technical field.  Advanced university degree in relevant field is added advantage.
• Minimum three years of professional work experience in program design, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation related to networking and partnerships for child rights.
• Work experience related to advocacy, communication, social mobilization and partnerships, including proven experience of working with government and civil society groups is required.
• Field work experience is an asset.
• Background/familiarity with Emergency situations is an asset.
• Knowledge in Human Rights Based approach, Results-based management, Child Rights, gender issues, child participation and strategic partnerships is an asset.
• Fluency in English and Mongolian is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.