Hiring Office:

The UNFPA ESARO AY Team in partnership with the SADC Secretariat (Social and Human Development Directorate - Employment, Labour and Youth Unit)

Purpose of consultancy:

About SADC

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a Regional Economic Community comprising 16 Member States, namely: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Established in 1992, SADC’s mission is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient, productive systems, deeper co-operation and integration, good governance, and durable peace and security. Further, the SADC Vision is of a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle- to high-income industrialised region, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice and freedom, by 2050. 

About UNFPA

UNFPA ensures the rights and choices of women, girls, and young people across more than 150 countries. Our work aims to ensure every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person can fulfill their potential. We work to eradicate gender-based violence, protect women from preventable maternal deaths, and enable governments to plan for changing population needs. 

The core of UNFPA’s mandate is deeply intertwined with the youth development agenda, which is integrated across the four primary outcomes of the 2026-2029 strategic plan.

Background Information

Youth unemployment stands as the most critical development hurdle in the SADC region. Current jobless rates span from 1.5% to 36.9% across Member States, with youth unemployment in certain areas reaching as high as 62.5%. Despite various policy frameworks, such as the SADC Declaration on Youth Development and Empowerment, regional and national efforts currently lack cohesion and coordination. Given that 75% of the population is under the age of 35, the region possesses a vital opportunity to capitalize on the Demographic Dividend. This initiative aims to establish a robust Youth Employment Strategy (YES), shifting the focus from supply-led programs to macroeconomic and sectoral policies centered on job creation.

There is a growing consensus within SADC that youth unemployment is a defining crisis with serious consequences for economic prosperity, social stability, and regional integration. Since young people form the demographic majority, their integration into the productive economy is essential for securing the demographic dividend. Consequently, the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 identifies youth as a cross-cutting priority. Additional frameworks supporting youth economic empowerment include:

• The SADC Declaration on Youth Development and Empowerment (2015);
• The SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063), focusing on structural change and regional value chains;
• The SADC Employment and Labour Policy Framework (2020-2030) and the SADC Decent Work Programme (2021-2025); and
• The SADC Youth Engagement Framework, designed to formalize youth involvement in regional affairs.

Despite these tools, the region faces persistent labour market challenges which underscore structural barriers, including skills gaps, weak labour demand, and high entry obstacles. Furthermore, youth exclusion is highlighted by high rates of those Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET), such as 49.6% in Lesotho. This disconnection from educational systems further hampers future economic prospects. SADC economies also grapple with high informality, which exceeds 80% in over half of the Member States. Young women are especially vulnerable in these low-productivity sectors, facing limited financial access and high susceptibility to economic shocks. In addition, and as noted by the SADC Secretariat in the 2026 Report on Status of the Labour Market and Trends in SADC, women remain concentrated in specific occupation groups and are under-represented in senior and middle management. 

Rationale 

The region is characterised by a youthful population structure, with approximately three-quarters of the population below the age of 35 years. This presents a critical window of opportunity to harness the Demographic Dividend, provided that young people are effectively integrated into productive economic activities. However, the demographic dividend does not accrue automatically and requires deliberate investments in skills, health, productivity and employment creation, supported by coherent macroeconomic and sectoral policies. Moreover, this window of opportunity is not permanent and international experience shows that without timely and sustained policy action, countries can see this opportunity pass as populations begin to age.Through the SADC SRHR programme, and the SADC Protocol on Education and Training, young people’s health and education are being addressed and the continuum of human capital development requires the deliberate investment in economic resilience and market participation by young people. SADC Member States are therefore implementing a range of programmatic interventions, including youth participation in agri-food systems, regional trade through the Simplified Trade Regime, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, and skills development initiatives. At the national level, countries such as Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe are implementing targeted youth employment initiatives.

However, these regional and national efforts remain fragmented, insufficiently coordinated, and not anchored within a comprehensive regional strategy on youth employment. In particular:

• Youth employment interventions remain largely supply-driven, with insufficient attention to labour demand;
• Youth employment objectives are not systematically integrated into macroeconomic and sectoral policies;
• Opportunities for youth participation in regional integration processes, including industrialisation, trade and infrastructure development, are not fully leveraged. These include opportunities for young people to study and/work in other SADC countries
• Persistent skills mismatch remain a critical structural challenge. This mismatch is exacerbated by weak coordination between the education and training sector and the private/business sector, resulting in curricula that are not responsive to evolving industrial and service sector needs across most SADC Member States; and
• Mechanisms for regional knowledge sharing and policy learning remain limited.

In view of the foregoing, there is a need for SADC to develop an up-to-date and comprehensive Youth Employment Strategy (YES). The development process will build on earlier strategies and deliberately goes beyond sectoral initiatives, integrating interventions to systematically address youth unemployment as the central development challenge facing the region. 

Purpose 

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based, and implementable SADC Youth Employment Strategy and Action Plan aimed at promoting productive and decent employment opportunities for young women and men in the SADC region and beyond. The ultimate aim is to enhance the contribution of employment to the realisation of the demographic dividend, in alignment with relevant regional frameworks on education, health, gender equality and youth development. 

The Strategy will therefore, among others, seek to:

• Provide a clear and coherent regional framework to guide and coordinate youth employment interventions and harness the demographic dividend across Member States, addressing fragmentation and strengthening collaboration across sectors;
• Support the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap by promoting meaningful youth participation in regional value chains and broader regional integration processes, including infrastructure development and enhanced labour mobility mechanisms;
• Promote more deliberate employment-centred macroeconomic and sectoral policies, moving beyond predominantly supply-side approaches, including through practical tools such as budget tagging to strengthen the focus on job creation;
• Strengthen alignment across key sectors, including education, labour, trade, agriculture, infrastructure, health and gender, ensuring that programmes and interventions work together to support sustainable employment outcomes; and
• Strengthen linkages between education and training institutions and the business sector to address skills mismatches, including in the context of new technologies and digitalisation and their implications for skills demand and the future of work. This includes emerging areas such as artificial intelligence
• Institutionalise structured youth participation while facilitating regional knowledge sharing and peer learning, to strengthen the role of young people as active drivers of economic transformation in the region.

Scope of work:

(Description of services, activities, or outputs)

SCOPE OF THE WORK

The consultant will initiate and conduct primary and secondary research to support the development of the SADC Youth Employment Strategy and Action Plan.

To achieve the purpose, the consultancy will:

1. Undertake a comprehensive situational analysis of youth employment in SADC; disaggregated by sex, age, sector among other factors such as migrant status where applicable;
2. Review and assess the coherence of existing policies and programmes at regional and national levels; 
3. Identify key constraints and opportunities for youth integration into productive sectors and value chains with attention to gender-specific barriers;
4. Develop a Youth Employment Strategy anchored in the principles of decent work, social inclusion and youth agency;
5. Develop a costed Action Plan with clear implementation arrangements, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and resource mobilisation strategies; and
6. Facilitate consultations with Member States and partners, including youth organisations.

Project Description

1. Conduct a desk review of relevant policies, data, and literature at regional and national levels;
2. Undertake stakeholder consultations with Member State officials, regional bodies, private sector, civil society, and youth organisations;
3. Analyse existing youth employment strategies and initiatives to identify lessons learned and gaps;
4. Identify policy and coordination gaps, including institutional weaknesses and resource constraints;
5. Develop a draft Strategy and Action Plan;
6. Support validation processes through national and regional consultations; and
7. Finalise the Strategy and Action Plan incorporating feedback.

Geographical Area to be Covered

The consultancy will cover all 16 SADC Member States, with a focus on regional-level policy coherence and the identification of cross-cutting issues relevant to youth employment.

Target Groups

The primary target groups for this assignment are the SADC Member States (particularly Ministries of Youth, Labour, Education, Trade, and Agriculture), regional and national youth organisations, private sector associations, SADC Secretariat, and development partners.

Duration and working schedule:

The implementation period will be for a maximum of 40 workdays, with all deliverables submitted no later than 31 August 2026.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Services will be delivered online remotely for the duration of the contract.

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):

The implementation period will be for a maximum of 40 workdays, with all deliverables submitted no later than 31August 2026.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

The monitoring will be conducted as per the deliverables indicated in the above section 

• Consult with the SADC Secretariat on a regular basis to provide inputs and ensure alignment with regional priorities; 
• Submit all deliverables timely and the final Strategy and Action Plan (both soft and hard copy) to be presented to the relevant technical and Ministerial meetings of SADC. 

Supervisory arrangements: 

The SADC Employment and Labour Sector within the Social and Human Development Directorate and the Youth Team in UNFPA ESARO   will be responsible for managing the consultancy. Given the cross-cutting nature of youth employment, other Directorates in SADC and Units in UNFPA will provide technical inputs in this assignment.

Expected travel:

Travel may be required for stakeholder consultations and validation workshops, subject to agreement with the Secretariat.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

Qualifications and Skills: 

• Advanced university degree in economics, labour economics, development studies, or a relevant social science discipline;
• Good analytical skills and practical exposure in employment, labour and youth programming 
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; and
• The individual consultant must speak fluently in English. French and Portuguese will be an added advantage

General Experience: 

• Demonstrated knowledge of SADC policies and strategies, as well as experience in policy development, research and analysis, and monitoring and evaluation processes;
• Sound experience conducting both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis;
• Excellent report writing and workshop facilitation skills; and
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications;

Specific Professional Experience: 

• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in employment policy, youth development, labour market analysis, or related areas, including international or regional development work; and 
• Proven experience of working in the Southern Africa subregion would be a major asset.

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

N/A