Asia Youth Program Convenor (Consultant)

About RRI: 

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) is a global coalition of more than 150 organizations dedicated to advancing the forest, land, and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, and particularly the women within these groups. RRI’s members capitalize on each other’s strengths, expertise, and geographic reach to achieve solutions more effectively and efficiently. RRI leverages the power of its global coalition to amplify the voices of local peoples and proactively engage governments, multilateral institutions, and private sector actors to adopt institutional and market reforms that support the realization of rights. 

Background 

RRI’s Asia Youth Program is a key component of the Asia Program and constitutes a critical contribution towards the realization of RRI’s strategic directions for the medium and long term. The Asia Youth Program is working to achieve the following objectives:   

• Strengthen the agency of young people to advance their rights and influence decision-making process. Young people cover Indigenous youth, youth from local communities, as well as youth from affiliate organizations and networks.  

• Create and sustain enabling conditions and solidarity. This includes supporting collaborations among diverse youth groups to expand networks and share strategies, enhancing intergenerational dialogue and solidarity among each other. 

• Support access to resources and decision-making. This pertains to facilitate youth access to funding and decision-making spaces, promoting representation in funding processes. In addition, create and nurture learning opportunities for funders and young people regarding different opportunities and mentorship. 

The Asia Youth Program supports young people to work at the intersection of youth, land tenure, and climate actions.  

Purpose/Scope of Work 

The Youth Convenor will:  

1. Lead, support, and manage the implementation of the 2025 Asia Youth Program as summarized and presented in RRI’s Program Book for 2025. 
2. Ensure that the program effectively strengthens youth leadership and capacities. This does not only include deepening their knowledge of the priority themes of youth, tenure rights and climate actions, but also fortifies their appreciation and practice of intergenerational leadership and approaches, hones different practical skills such as facilitating processes, storytelling, and public speaking.  
3. Strengthen networks of young people at both the national and regional levels as platforms for the exercise of their collective agency and solidarity.   

Consultant Activities

1. In relation to leading, supporting, and managing the implementation of the 2025 Youth Program work priorities, subject to availability of funds, the Consultant will:  

• Collaborate with the Asia Program Associate to develop contract agreements with the different youth groups for their activities at both the national and regional levels 

• Provide technical assistance to youth and youth groups on their projects supported as part of the Asia Youth Program, including tracking, and sharing opportunities and resources, supporting the articulation of key issues, and the amplifying and documenting their initiatives and impacts. 

• Ensure a successful Global Youth Forum scheduled for the last week of July 2025 in Bali, Indonesia 

• Support the effective participation of youth from Asia at COP30 in Brazil  

• Collaborate and coordinate with other members of the Asia and RRI teams as may be required by the activities above 

2, In relation to developing leadership and capacities of young people, the Consultant will:  

• Work closely with youth involved in the program to develop a leadership and capacity development agenda for the program, as well as to identify the preferred methodologies and learning modalities  

• Identify the priorities for this leadership and capacity development agenda, including identifying ways how these priorities can be integrated into projects of youth groups and organizations 

• Identify a list of service providers who will be able to  

3. In relation to strengthening networks of young people as effective platforms for the exercise of collective action, the Consultant will:   

• Regular advice youth groups and organizations, as well as their networks and coalitions, to take advantage of every opportunity to engage in decision making spaces as a way of exercising collective agency 

• Track the instances when youth groups and organizations, as well as their networks and coalitions, when they have engaged in decision making spaces both within and beyond RRI organized spaces 

Consultant Deliverables and Proposed Timelines

The deliverables the Consultant is expected to meet are provided in detail below.  

1. In relation to leading, supporting, and managing the implementation of the 2025 Youth Program work priorities, the Consultant will deliver:  

• Collaborate on executed contracts for all youth initiatives to be supported by the Asia Youth program by no later than 15 March 2025 

• Detailed plan for the Global Youth Forum that includes the agenda and facilitators; participants, speakers and other special guests; venue, travel and other logistical arrangements for the forum; special arrangements such as simultaneous interpretation and documentation – that has been collectively put together by the joint RRI and Youth GYF Organizing Team by no later than mid-June 2025  

• Completed implementation of the plans for the Global Youth Forum by no later than end-July 2025  

• Summary of evaluations of the Global Youth Forum with recommendations for RRI by no later than end August 2025  

• Detailed plan for the participation of young people from Asia at COP30 in Brazil that includes what the agenda and how young people will engage; the participants; travel and visas, accommodations and other logistical arrangements for their participation at COP30; special arrangements such as simultaneous interpretation as may be required – that has been put together in close coordination with the young people themselves by no later than end September 2025 

• Completed participation at the COP30 by youth delegates from Asia by no later than the end of November 2025  

• Summary of evaluation of the youth participation at COP30 with recommendations for the Asia Youth Program by no later than end December 2025 

 2, In relation to developing leadership and capacities of young people, the Consultant will deliver:  

• Youth determined agenda for leadership and capacity development with priorities, preferred approaches and methodologies, and initial list of possible service providers by no later than the end of June 2025  

3. In relation to strengthening networks of young people as effective platforms for the exercise of collective action, the Consultant will deliver: 

• List of decision-making spaces that youth groups and organizations, as well as their networks and coalitions, have engaged in on a quarterly basis, or by no later than March 2025, June 2025, September 2025, and December 2025    

Minimum Requirements 

• 5 years of experience implementing youth programs at regional level 
• 2 years of experience building and supporting coalitions and networks of young people 
• 2 years of experience in managing projects of youth groups and organizations  
• 2 years of experience of providing technical assistance and support to youth groups and organizations  
• Fluency in English and at least another Asian language, preferably one of the languages of the countries where the Asia team operates (Indonesia, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines)  
• Ability to work effectively within a multicultural setting  

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience implementing youth program at the international level 
• Experience working with Indigenous youth, youth from local communities, and young people from allied networks 
• Ability to travel frequently and for extended periods of time 
• Strong analytical skills to identify issues and opportunities pertaining to youth work in Asia 
• Proficiency in computer packages, including MS Office applications  

Key Contract Terms 

Contract Type  

This will be a TIME plus MATERIALS contract. The consultant will be paid a daily rate for all activities undertaken against the scope of work, plus reimbursement of any approved expenses/materials.  

Expenses  

• The following expenses will be reimbursed at cost: 

• Economy class travel as may be required for the various activities listed above  

• Accommodations while traveling for the various activities listed above  

• Visas, local transportation, and all other incidental costs associated with traveling for the activities above  

• All other projected costs/expenses must be included in the fixed price proposed by the Offeror.  

Equipment and Supplies  

Unless stated otherwise in this RFP, the Consultant is responsible for providing equipment and/or supplies required to perform the services, including computer, internet connections, software, etc. 

Budget 

The anticipated budget for this project is between US$24,000 and US$27,000 for consultant fees and US7,500 for reimbursable expenses.  

Submission Requirements 

1. Cover letter 
2. CV/Resume of Offeror 
3. Written proposal (maximum 5 pages) explaining Offeror’s specific process for completion of activities and deliverables listed in this RFP 
4. Brief financial proposal detailing the Offeror’s daily rate in U.S. dollars 
5. One or more samples of prior similar work (e.g., project reports, consultancy reports, reports or evidence of prior data cleaning and analysis exercises, evidence of prior experience with data/projects, etc. for which the Offeror has led the process) 
6. Current phone and email contact information for three (3) professional references from similar past projects  

Please submit your proposal and required documents through this site's application.

The deadline for submission is 5:00pm ET on Monday 24 February 2025. 

Evaluation Criteria 

Proposals will be scored based on the following parameters: 

• Proposed approach (35%) 

• Understanding of the youth sector (20%) 

• Consultant work history and experience in youth programming (20%) 

• Costs (25%)