The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) invites interested and eligible consultancy firms to express interest by submitting RFP documents for the following works:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories.
Applications are invited for:
Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) – Conduct a National Volunteering Survey & Establish a Volunteering Measurement for the National Volunteering Programme
Reference No: 2022-9174566
Background
Volunteering is the act of freely contributing your time and effort for the benefit of others (whether individuals, animals, environment, or community at large) without financial gain. It can be conducted within an organized structure, within informal groups or even individually. Volunteering is an element of civic engagement. It reflects the concern individuals have for each other and their communities and demonstrates the maturity of a society in moving from passiveness towards active and engaged citizenship. Jordan volunteering charter defines volunteering as the individual’s contribution of caring and social development in all aspects of life, whether through opinion, work, or other means. It is a human effort made by members of a community, either individually or collectively, that is motivated primarily by desire and self-motivation and not getting rewarded for serving the community. It deepens one’s connection to their community and strengthens local support networks. Volunteering, especially at a young age, helps youth shape their relationship with their communities, develop a sense of belonging and responsibility, and most importantly, develop their ability and willingness to act to support each other. It also serves to benefit the volunteers themselves by broadening their horizons through exposing them to a variety of causes, building their skills through practical experience, expanding their social networks, and preparing them for their future careers.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on governments to work closely with volunteering groups on its implementation. The UN General Assembly resolution on “Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (UN, 2019) recognizes “that volunteerism can be a powerful and cross-cutting means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and encourages countries to “invest in measuring the scale and contribution of people’s voluntary efforts”.
The recently launched Jordan National Youth Strategy (2019-2025)1 stands out as a positive response to the great political, social, economic and cultural changes that have had a great impact on the Jordanian adolescents, youth and young people (here defined as 12-30-years old), which – with its different segments – accounts for 36% of Jordanian society. It aims at promoting youth engagement, volunteering and participation as well as the development of young people in an educational, skillful and valuable way, enabling them to innovate, create, produce and participate in political life and public affairs.
Objective and Targets
The main objective of this National Volunteering Survey is to create/update national database on the situation, sentiment, motivations, priorities ,aspirations and the behaviour change of young people aged 10-24 in relation to volunteerism and address data/knowledge gaps in areas where information is not available. It will also provide a basis for measuring volunteering in Jordan with a specific focus on the socio-economic impact of volunteering.
Specifically, the primary objectives of this survey are:
- Analysing volunteer population: segmenting them against social, economic, psychological, geographic and other considerations; determining their sentiments related to volunteering, the ecosystem, key stakeholders, and their own role within the ecosystem, identifying their sentiments, motivations, priorities and aspirations in relation to volunteering and its ecosystem.
- Determine the most critical aspects that contribute to advancing volunteerism including the measurement of volunteering activities impact on the community
- Informing processes of formulation or revision of national policies and strategies and reforms required to sustain volunteering growth in Jordan
- The results of the survey will be used to influence resource allocation to support building a culture of volunteering in Jordan.
- The findings of the survey will contribute in informing the design and implementation of interventions and services relating to young people volunteerism
- Identifying areas that require further investigation and research in developing and institutionalizing volunteerism in Jordan
- Assess parents’ knowledge, attitudes, practices, and goals in respect to their children’s involvement in volunteering.
Methodology
The survey will target young people aged 10-24. This will allow an in-depth analysis of the various stages of adolescence and youth and hence providing a more comprehensive picture of their situation, priorities and aspirations across the different age groups.
The methodology used in the survey will be participatory and focus on using evidence-based practice techniques. Support from UNICEF Participatory action research group will be utilized as youth contribute in the design and the implementation of the research. It will use various qualitative and quantitative methods including desk review of previous available resources, policy documents, and researches done by UNICEF or others. The survey will use Interviews and focus group discussions with young people, parents and service providers. Social media approaches will also be explored as a key tool to be used in the survey. Data will be collected on a wide range of parameters across the different themes of the survey.
To identify the main themes and determinants of the survey, preparatory research based on the ILO measurement framework for volunteering will be followed. A desk review of similar surveys done in the region or globally will be necessary to identify lessons learned, challenges and areas that need to be addressed. Focus group discussions, among other research methods, will be organized with young people and their parents in addition to service providers, youth network leaders and key stakeholders to ensure that the various rights and topics relating to the participation, and volunteering of young people are included in the survey. Furthermore, global and regional frameworks, including ILO, UNV, UNICEF frameworks on working with young people should be used as a reference in the design of the survey.
Outcomes of this preparatory research will contribute to the design of the survey, its determinants and tools that will be used at a national level to be integrated in the national volunteering platform.
Stakeholders of the survey will include:
- Young people between 10 -24 years with age segmentation 10-14, 15-18 and 19-24
- It will also look at 25-30 to study the post volunteering impact on the longer term
- Most vulnerable young people including out of school
- Not in Education Employment or training NEET
- Young people with disabilities and refugees will also be given special attention in the survey. in addition to parents of young people and service providers working with young people as well as key stakeholders as required.
Tasks of the Research Institute
The research institute will act as the technical arm of the survey and will be responsible for the following:
- Phase I- Preparation of survey design and tools
- Phase II- Administration of survey and preparation of survey reports
- Phase III- Measurement tools for future tracking
Expected Deliverables
- An inception report with the objectives, methodology, areas to be included in the survey as well as key outcomes of the desk review; including a section summarizing outcomes of the focus groups conducted in the design phase of the survey to identify and verify survey indicators; including final survey questionnaire and the survey tools combined with specific guidelines for data collection in addition to data analysis plan and tabulation plan for results;
- A preliminary presentation of findings after data collection.
- A final report in both English and Arabic summarizing the results of the National Youth Volunteering Survey
- A reader-friendly summary of the survey findings, including visuals, infographics and charts
- A youth-friendly summary for the survey report (developed with the support of the youth reference group)
- A Final PowerPoint presentation summarizing the results of the survey; ( all data collected and analyzed before drafting of the report if the purpose is to ensure all data was collected.
- A policy brief with key recommendations and policy asks
- A measurement framework to be adapted for further analysis and integration within the national volunteering platform nahno.org to measure the socio-economic impact of volunteering
- Copy of data sets, notes taken, and cassettes recorded during the participatory group discussions if used.
Desired Qualification, Specialized Knowledge or Experience
For the team leader:
- An advanced university degree or equivalent in social sciences.
- At least 8 years of experience in conducting/ leading similar research and surveys.
- Proven experience of leading national research in the last three years
- Proven experience in leading or developing policy/advocacy
- Excellent report writing skills, analytical skills as well as good computer skills.
- Experience in working with teams and team processes.
- Demonstrated experience in integrating an equity and gender perspective in the research design and analysis.
- Strong analytical skills and understanding on the programming around adolescents and concerns linked to the age group.
- Previous experience on volunteerism is an asset
For the research team:
- Experience on adolescent programming with at least 5 years of experience. The team should also have experienced research professionals with advanced degree in social sciences/development and excellent communication skills Arabic and English.
- To the extent possible, embody a range of perspectives (gender balance, cultural or ethnic background, etc.)
- Have experience and knowledge of national research on adolescents and youth programming in national and state level with a focus on participatory youth programming, experience of working with local organizations and local partner agencies.
- Demonstrable ability to simplify technical language, extracting and emphasizing key points for a designated target audience.
- Have experience in volunteering, youth volunteering and measurement of volunteering
- Demonstrated excellent writing skills, and strong communication, in particular for the development of technical documents is essential.
- Demonstrated experience and knowledge of the latest developments and issues related to youth and adolescents is an asset.
- Fluency in English (both written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN language (Arabic) is considered an asset
Application Closing Date
23rd May, 2022.
Submission of Documents
Request for Proposal for Services must be emailed to: [email protected] Proposals are to be submitted in separate e-mails, one for technical proposal, one for financial proposal. If the technical proposal includes any pricing or numbering, your proposal will be invalidated.
Very Important Notes:
- Please note that inquiries related to this request for proposal will be accepted through e-mails communications only. Inquiries through phone calls will be invalidated.
- Please note that the latest date to receive inquiries is 11.may.2022.
- Please make sure to submit your financial proposal as per the attached annex c – pricing schedule. Any financial proposal received in other formats will be invalidated, even if the technical proposal passed the technical evaluation criteria. Please submit your financial proposal as attached, signed / stamped.
- Kindly note that it is extremely important to pay attention to all of the bid instructions while submitting your proposal. For example: proposals which were not marked correctly as per the bid instructions were invalidated and not considered further in the process. Therefore, kindly ensure to indicate the full tender number, subject, technical / financial proposals, in your submission.
Related Documents
- LRFP-2022-9174566 National Volunteering Survey (PDF).
- Annex B – ToR (PDF).
- Annex C – Pricing Schedule (MS EXCEL).