Consultant: Data gathering and report drafting on Youth Participation in Parliament

Background

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. We promote democratic governance, institutions and values, working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people. We work for peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action.

There are more young people today than ever before. More than half of the world population is under 30 years of age, and one-fifth of it is made up of youth aged 15-25. Despite this high proportion of the world population, youth are vastly underrepresented in political institutions. Concerned by low levels of youth political engagement and its threat to the future of democracy, IPU promotes youth participation by supporting parliaments in opening up to the youth and young parliamentarians in building their capacities and concerted action.

Cognisant of the lack of data on youth participation in parliaments, in 2014 IPU developed a first of its kind sex-disaggregated database on the topic. Since then, data and information are updated regularly and made available publicly. IPU data is now an official reference for the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16 by the United Nations.

In addition to presenting data, the IPU also provides recommendations to parliaments and other stakeholders on how to enhance youth participation in parliaments. Since 2014, it produces a biennial report on youth participation in national parliaments that provides comparative data, analysis of trends and recommendations for policy-making. For example, through youth quotas, support for young women’s participation,  aligning the minimum age of eligibility for parliament with the minimum voting age or providing targets for youth representation. The most recent report was published in 2018.

In 2020, the IPU will produce an updated report on youth participation in parliaments. The 2020 edition will aim to inform policy action by:

• Presenting up-to-date data on the participation of young men and women in national parliaments and analysing progress and new trends since 2018;
• Providing an analysis of existing good policies and legislation to promote youth participation while shedding light on challenges and limitations;
• Presenting practical experiences through anecdotes and stories behind policy-making and implementation of policies and legislation for youth participation and drawing lessons learned;
• Providing practical guidance on means to enhance youth participation through impactful policies, legislation, inclusive processes and other initiatives.

Objectives

Under the supervision and guidance of IPU, the consultant will (i) support the updating of IPU data and information on youth participation in national parliaments through information received in a survey sent to parliaments, (ii) review and complete an analysis of good policies and legislation carried out by the IPU in 2019, (iii) carry out additional research, including through interviews with young MPs and exploit existing interviews carried out in 2019 with stakeholders (ex. young MPs) to collect experiences, views, anecdotes and stories on promoting youth participation, (iv) draft the 2020 IPU report on youth participation in national parliaments including data and information, a review of good policies and practices, and a compilation of testimonies, and stories and anecdotes. The report recommendations will be framed as concretely as possible so that it provides practical guidance to MPs and stakeholders on how to enhance youth participation.

Methodology

To support the updating of IPU data and information on youth participation (objective i), the consultant will:

• Carry out a desk review of existing literature on youth participation, with emphasis on parliaments;
• Review existing data received from previous IPU questionnaire dispatches on youth participation and archived on the Parline database (since 2014);
• Review, analyse and structure new data and information received from parliamentary responses to IPU questionnaires on youth participation . The questionnaires will be sent to parliaments by IPU in advance. For parliaments where no data was recovered, the consultant will be asked to collect data on the ages of parliamentarians from other existing official resources (e.g. parliamentary websites, verified articles, etc.);
• Collate the data gathered into tables by year, country and by region, based on the IPU geographic regions;
• Create tables with rankings of countries based on numbers of young parliamentarians below the age of 30, 40 and 45;
• Collate information from survey responses and from the desk review on existing youth quotas, youth committees, youth parliamentary caucuses/forums or networks, and any other innovative youth-related initiative undertaken by parliaments; and

In the review and completion of an analysis of good policies and legislation carried out by the IPU in 2019 (objective ii), the consultant will:

• Carry out a desk review of existing literature, evaluations, and reports on good policies and and legislation carried out by the IPU and partners in 2019 (provided by the IPU). The consultant is encouraged to contribute other possible examples to this existing inventory of examples.
• Inspired by this review and the concluding report of the 2019 project, pull out key conclusions and practical guidance for inclusion in the 2020 IPU report on youth participation in parliaments. 

In carrying out interviews with stakeholders and the review of previous interviews (objective iii), the consultant will:

• Review material (video and text) collected in recent years of the experiences of young MPs;

Draft a questionnaire and conduct interviews with stakeholders (primarily young parliamentarians) and extract key messages and highlights for presentation in the 2020 report on Youth participation in parliaments. The purpose of the interviews would be two-fold: to highlight the human experience of young parliamentarians, collect youth perspectives on what works and what should improve in existing legislation, policies and initiatives to enhance youth participation and to extract practical guidance based on youth experiences on how to enhance enhance  youth participation through legislation, policies and other initiatives.

In drafting the 2020 Report, inspired by previous versions of the IPU report and data and information obtained from objectives i-iii, the consultant will draft a comparative report that will:

• Explain the background of the research;
• Present the main findings through multiple lenses of analysis, for example: at global and regional levels; between lower and upper chambers of parliament; from a gender perspective, etc.;
• Analyse correlations between the number of young parliamentarians with electoral systems, voting age, age of eligibility, youth populations, as well as with the existence and/or absence of particular youth-related measures or mechanisms (quotas, parliamentary bodies, youth parliaments, etc.);
  • The consultant will be encouraged to identify other statistical relations related to youth participation in parliament;
• Identify and explain challenges encountered by young people to be elected/appointed as members of parliament and showcase good practices developed to overcome them;
• Identify and analyse existing quotas for youth in national parliaments including describing good practices as well as challenges faced in the design, adoption and implementation of such measures;
• Identify and analyse empirical examples of enhancing youth participation through impactful policies, legislation, inclusive processes and other initiatives in order to provide practical guidance on similar efforts;
• Present key conclusions and recommendations on the different dimensions described above;
  • The recommendations should be presented in a manner that highlights concrete guidance for key stakeholders as well as the human experience of young parliamentarians;
• When possible, present additional anecdotal information on social origins, evolution and responsibilities in parliament of young men and women MPs, as well as their good practices.

Tables and charts shall be presented in a way that facilitates their extraction and presentation as factsheets or policy briefs.

The final document should be of publishable quality in accordance with the criteria set by the IPU.

• The chronological order of organizing this work to obtain the objectives will be subject to the availability of parliaments and MPs and may differ from the ordering presented in these terms of reference.

Deliverables

• a dataset (or datasets) structured in Excel for all data and information received; and
• a comparative report (approximately 20-30 pages without Annexes) with tables and graphics presenting data and information on youth participation in national parliaments. The report will include the key elements listed above in the methodology section, including data and information on youth participation in parliaments, good practices with regard to youth laws and policies, the human experience of young MPs, and practical guidance for changemakers.

The outputs should be easily extractable so as to facilitate incorporation into factsheets or policy briefs for dissemination by the IPU.

Format

MS Excel for the presentation of the data and information and MS Word for the report. All draft reports and the final report must be written in English or French.

Duration

Forty seven (47) working days between 27 July and 6 October 2020, with the following timetable (subject to final modifications):

• 27 July to 25 August: Research, including desk review, data gathering (including interviews), data entry and data analysis;
• 26 August to 11 September: Preparation of draft version of the report;
• 14 September to 2 October: Incorporation of comments and preparation of revised drafts;
• 3 October: Submission of the final version of the report;
• 6 October: Submission of the datasets for all data and information.

Location

Home-based.

Required qualifications

Experience: The consultant should have advanced experience in quantitative and qualitative social science data collection, tabulation and analysis, ideally using MS Excel.

The consultant should also have strong experience in the study of parliaments, elections, youth political participation and youth policies. Global comparative experience in such topics is required. 

The consultant should have conducted comparative research on youth political participation and youth policies. Recently published research would be a strong asset.

Skills: The consultant should have advanced proficiencies in research collection and analysis, as well in drafting high-quality concise reports. He/She should also be able to write in a style and in language that is accessible to the general public.

The consultant must also be proficient in the use of MS Word and Excel.

Academic achievement: An advanced degree (Masters/PhD) in the area of social sciences is required, with a PhD degree desirable.

Languages: The consultant should have excellent drafting and oral skills in English or French. Knowledge of both languages would be an asset. Knowledge of other languages, such as Spanish or Arabic, would also be highly desirable.

Remuneration

The IPU shall pay the consultant an agreed upon lump sum upon satisfactory delivery of the deliverables described above.