IC -TO ENHANCE AND STRENGTHEN CAPACITY AND SKILLS OF THE BOTSWANA NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL (BNYC) TO IMPLEMENT GRANT MAKING PROGRAMME (Ботсвана - Тендер #5555880)

The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport & Culture Development (MYSC) was established to create an enabling environment for youth empowerment, sport development and preservation of culture and heritage in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The Ministry delivers its mandate through six functions namely: - Youth Empowerment; Sport and Recreation; Arts and Culture; Department National Service and Internship (DNSI); Botswana National Library Services (BNLS); Botswana National Archives and Records Services (BNARS). The Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) is the executing agency for MYSC youth grants under the youth empowerment function. The MYSC grants are meant to aid youth who wish to pursue different empowerment/development initiatives in Botswana. Every financial year, BNYC provides youth Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), NGOs and youth groups/CBOs with these grants to enable them to; - implement innovative and effective approaches geared towards youth empowerment; build positive and long-term relationships amongst youths and between youths and organizations that provide services to young people; promote active participation of youth in socio-economic development of the country; create platform for supporting activities/project that entail competence development and capacity-building opportunities for young people.

Therefore, BNYC as the executing agency has the responsibility to disburse the youth grants through an established grant making process which should include three main phases: (a) Pre – Award Phase which includes advertising the funding opportunities, application review and selection of grantees, (b) Award Phase. In this phase the staff of the grantor review and make award recommendations based on the programmatic and financial reviews of the applications. These recommendations are reviewed by a series of levels in the agencies to ensure high-quality, fair, and unbiased decisions. (c) Post Award Phase which includes implementing the grant, reporting progress, and completing the closeout requirements.

Recently, BNYC completed its process for development of new grant guidelines, application forms and a template to facilitate a call for Expression of Interests (EOI). However, this process only covers a part of a complete grant making lifecycle. For example, other crucial tools to facilitate review/assessment of grant applications/proposals are missing. Similarly, there are no tools to facilitate evaluations and management of NGO contracts including a mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of program activities. Furthermore, the BNYC staff responsible to oversee implementation of the grant making program do not have the necessary skills and expertise to drive successful implementation of the program.

It is within this context that the UNDP Botswana has agreed to procure the services of an experienced consultant with a strong background in grants management, financial, project management and procurement to help BNYC to complete the design of its grant making program and help strengthen areas that are already developed for successful implementation. The consultant will be expected to also train BNYC staff while completing the program to enhance their skills and expertise on the use of the grant making processes, procedures and management of contracts. This consultancy will be done under the auspices of a project titled the “Support to the Fulfilment of Human Rights, Access to Justice and Empowerment of Women and Youth Project” (2018 – 2021) (“the Project”).