Young people today make up the largest youth population in history – a fourth of the global population and the majority live in the developing world. Globally more than 267 million young people were not in employment, education or training (NEET), including almost 68 million unemployed young people.

With a strong track record of economic growth and development, Bangladesh is poised to become one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia. Despite its tremendous economic progress, however, Bangladesh still has much to do in terms of youth economic empowerment. Bangladesh is currently experiencing its demographic dividend and having more than 52 million people below the age of 30 – which is over 40% of the country’s total population. It is also estimated that every year around 2 million youths are newly joining the labour force in the country. According to a 2022 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the youth unemployment rate in Bangladesh currently stands at 10.6%, more than twice the overall national unemployment rate of 4.2%. Not only is there a lack of ample employment opportunities, but also a divide between the job market and curriculum in educational institutions, culminating to a significant mismatch in youth skills.

In alignment with the country context, UNDP Bangladesh’s CPD (2022-2026) emphasizes the need for capitalizing on the country’s short window of demographic dividend, and the need to support the youth population achieve their potential and contribute to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. With the 2030 Agenda as a guiding thread, UNDP Bangladesh works across three important tenets- to advance young people’s participation in civic and political life, their economic empowerment, and their role as peace- and resilience-builders. Aligning with the first strategic priority of United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Development, UNDP Bangladesh has undertaken multiple initiatives for the economic empowerment of youth. With multiple projects focusing on youth employment, skills and entrepreneurship development as an important area of intervention, UNDP has been striving to enable partnerships among public, private, and development sectors for creating new scope of employment, empowering youth through skill and capacity building intervention, along with supporting the local youth startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
In addition, UNDP further focuses on equipping young people with civic knowledge and skills by promoting responsible citizenship through trainings, workshops and targeted campaigns.

At the given outset, UNDP Bangladesh is looking for young talent with passion to contribute to youth empowerment focused on civic participation, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Through knowledge creation, project management and communications, the incumbent talent will have the opportunity to contribute to UNDP Bangladesh’s endeavours to create an inclusive and enabling environment for youth to thrive.

Under the direct supervision of Project Manager and Youth Coordinator, the UN National Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

A) Support Implementation Youth Empowerment Activities:
• Assist the to implement the activities in relation to civic engagement and youth skill and entrepreneurship development.
• Support to motivate and mobilize youth with a vision to be active citizens;
• Support in drafting TORs, session plan and concept note required for the implementation of planned activities.
• Assist to organize thematic national level dialogues, workshops, conference and in-novation challenges targeting development of youth.
• Assist to monitor to the progress of the planned works and generate progress report.
• Assist to co-ordinate with focal point of the youth organizations/startups and follow-up on their planning, deployment and monitoring of agreed upon solutions.
• Support the process of preparation of scalable proposals.

B) Knowledge Management and Documentation
• Proactively contribute to knowledge management by preparing briefing notes, meet-ing documentation, newsletter to help advance the youth engagement work through regular communication and information sharing.
• Support to undertake secondary research concerning youth economic empowerment and employment issues and based on the findings contribute to develop new ideas and proposals.
• Assist in drafting briefing notes, policy briefs, talking points, funding proposals and presentations.
• Assist to proper filing of all project information

C) Coordination, Communication and Report Writing
• Support to maintain relationship with youth networks of different Universities, partner youth organizations and young volunteers, along with key national and international stakeholders within the youth entrepreneurship ecosystem.
• Support to prepare beneficiaries’ stories for the media.
• Support to prepare content to promote the activities in social media.
• Contribute to event reports and annual report of the youth focused programmes.

D) Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

• Accountability
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Building Trust
• Client Orientation
• Commitment and Motivation
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Communication
• Creativity
• Empowering Others
• Ethics and Values
• Integrity
• Judgement and Decision-making
• Knowledge Sharing
• Leadership
• Planning and Organizing
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity
• Self-Management
• Vision
• Working in Teams

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• Experience in working with youth-led organizations, civil society groups and platforms focusing on youth skill, innovation and entrepreneurship.

• Demonstrated experience and expertise working with young people in the area of civic engagement.

• Good knowledge on innovation, entrepreneurship and civic engagement

• Demonstrated commitment to UN’s mission, vision and values;

• Demonstrated writing and content development skills

• Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded;

• Strong organizational skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels;

• Experience in organizing skill-building and (or) entrepreneurial training and capacity building activities

• Experience in social mobilization is an asset

• Experience in project implementation, management and coordination is an asset.

Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh. Not only is it the capital city, but it is also the largest in the country. It is the centre of political, cultural, and economic life in Bangladesh. The official language is Bengali, while English is the working language of UN Agencies. In recent decades, Dhaka has seen the modernization of services, communications, and public works. The city is attracting large foreign investments and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation; this has reportedly made Dhaka one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Good English-speaking medical, dental services, and educational centres are available for internationals. Dhaka is connected to other cities by rail, road, and by air and internationals can move easily from one city to another. Dhaka has venerable green spaces, including many gardens and parks, historical places, and nice restaurants.

The weather is tropical – hot and very humid during the summer monsoon season (April-September) and drier and cooler in the winter (October-March). Historically, Bangladesh has been a safe country for internationals so far. While Dhaka is not categorized as a hardship station, the volunteer should be prepared for limitations in freedom of movement on foot, by public transport, and to certain locations.