Youth Needs Assessment Tool and Guide At Catholic Relief Services

Please visit https://www.crs.org/about/bid-opportunity for full scope of work and attachments.

This consultancy’s objective is to develop a youth needs assessment tool and guide to support CRS youth programs worldwide. The tool and guide should reflect the standards and best practices for assessing the needs of different groups of young people (e.g., young women, young men, youth with disabilities, young mothers).

III. Tasks and Activities
Phase 1: Development of Beta Version of the Youth Needs Assessment Tool and Guide
1. Develop a draft work plan for the deliverables in the scope of work (see below) that includes deadlines for submitting drafts, receiving CRS feedback, and submitting final versions. The work plan should also include a description of the methodology that will be used to validate the youth needs assessment tool and guide.
2. Review literature on best practices in developing needs assessment tools with a specific focus on youth who are 15-29 years old.
3. Review existing needs assessment processes and tools of implementing agencies and thought leaders who work in the fields of youth development and youth livelihoods.
4. Develop interview guide and conduct virtual key informant interviews with relevant CRS staff to understand existing participant needs assessment processes that include youth and tools within CRS with a focus on how they are used and rolled out.
5. Submit a report that summarizes findings from the desk review and interviews and offers recommendations for designing a youth needs assessment tool and guide based on those findings.
6. Conduct an initial virtual workshop to review findings with relevant CRS staff to gather input that will inform the development of the youth needs assessment tool and guide.
7. Draft a report of feedback from the virtual workshop.
8. Incorporate feedback shared from CRS staff and through virtual workshops.
9. Draft youth needs assessment tool and guide, including a long-form version and a short-form version of the tool, guidance on how the tool should be used, how the tool should be administered during focus group discussions and/or key informant interviews with young people, how data from the assessment should be analyzed, and how data should be used to inform program design.
10. Organize and facilitate a virtual workshop with relevant CRS staff to get feedback on the draft assessment tool and guide.
11. Submit a revised assessment tool and guide that incorporates feedback from the virtual workshop and a plan for piloting the tool and guide.
Phase 2: Piloting of the Beta Version of the Youth Needs Assessment Tool and Guide
1. Virtually support a pilot of the youth needs assessment tool and guide that includes three different country programs from different regions.
2. Draft a report of the findings from the pilot and recommended adjustments to the youth needs assessment guide and tool (long- and short-form versions), based on the pilot.
3. Organize and facilitate a virtual workshop with relevant CRS staff to review and validate the findings of the pilot and recommended adjustments to the assessment tool and guide.
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Phase 3: Finalization of Youth Needs Assessment
1. Revise and submit the assessment tool and guide based on the pilot.
2. Organize and facilitate a virtual event with relevant CRS staff to present and disseminate the final youth needs assessment tool and guide.