Data gathering and report drafting on youth participation in parliament

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, climate action and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action. In 2022 and 2023, particular focus is being placed on the IPU’s policy goal of climate 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 the threat this can pose to the future of democracy, the IPU promotes youth participation by supporting parliaments in opening up to youth and young parliamentarians by building their capacities and proposing concerted action.

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

In addition to presenting data, the IPU also provides policy guidance to parliaments and other stakeholders on how to enhance youth participation in parliaments. It produces a biennial report on youth participation in national parliaments that provides comparative data, analysis of trends and recommendations for policy-making. The most recent such report was published in 2021.

In 2021, the IPU took its recommendations to the next level by launching the I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! campaign as a call for transformative action to encourage youth participation. The campaign calls on signatories to become changemakers by taking one or more of the following actions identified by young MPs themselves as the most impactful actions to enhance youth participation in parliament: (i) promoting youth quotas; (ii) aligning the age of eligibility with that of voting; (iii) supporting youth channels in parliament; (iv) empowering young MPs; (v) mentoring young aspirants; and (vi) advocating for youth participation.

In 2023, the IPU will produce a new report on youth participation in national parliaments. The 2023 edition will be delivered in hard copy and digital formats. It 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 2020;
• providing an analysis of existing good policies and legislation to promote youth participation while shedding light on challenges and limitations;
• presenting the practical experiences and activities of parliaments, individual parliamentarians and/or parliamentary bodies such as committees and caucuses promoting youth participation, through anecdotes, interviews or stories on policy-making and implementation of policies and legislation on youth participation (youth quotas, youth caucuses, training courses, etc.) and drawing lessons learned. This can be presented through the prism of how MPs and parliaments are implementing the pledges of the I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! campaign;
• providing practical guidance on means to enhance youth participation, including through implementation of the I Say Yes campaign pledges, impactful policies, legislation, inclusive processes and other initiatives;
• given the IPU’s focus on climate action in 2022 and 2023, presenting the roles and actions taken by young MPs in addressing climate change, transforming parliaments into greener institutions and providing policy guidance in this regard;
• providing infographic elements to illustrate and facilitate understanding of information.

Objectives

Under the supervision and guidance of the IPU, the consultant will:

1. support the updating of IPU data and information on youth participation in national parliaments through information received in a survey sent to parliaments;
2. carry out additional research and interviews on recent developments including through video interviews with young MPs and parliamentary staff, to collect experiences, views, anecdotes and stories on promoting youth participation and implementing actions, such as through the I Say Yes campaign. This will be in coordination with the IPU Communications Division and include a focus on the role of young MPs in climate action;
3. draft the 2023 IPU report on youth participation in national parliaments for both paper and digital formats (in coordination with the IPU Communications Division), including data and information, a review of good policies and practices, and a compilation of testimonies, stories, anecdotes and interviews. Video interviews can be produced on the side-lines of an IPU Assembly or another meeting. The report recommendations will be framed as concretely as possible so that they provide 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 an emphasis on parliaments;
• retrieve and take into account existing data received from previous IPU questionnaire dispatches on youth participation and archived in 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 the IPU in advance. For parliaments where no data is received, the consultant will be asked to collect data on the ages of parliamentarians from existing official resources (e.g. parliamentary websites, verified articles, etc.);
• collate the data gathered into tables by year, country and region, based on the IPU geopolitical group 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.

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

• review material (video and text) collected in recent years on the experiences of young MPs;
• draft a questionnaire and conduct interviews (primarily video) with stakeholders (primarily young parliamentarians);
• in coordination with the IPU Communications Division, carry out interviews during an IPU meeting (i.e. the IPU Assembly of March 2023) to gather information and experiences on the implementation of IPU recommendations to improve the participation of youth in parliaments and their role in climate action, including through the pledges of the IPU I Say Yes campaign. The purpose of the interviews would be two-fold: to highlight the human experience of young parliamentarians, collecting youth perspectives on what works and what should improve, and to extract practical guidance based on youth experiences on how to enhance youth participation through legislation, policies and other initiatives. This will also include a focus on climate action, including greener parliaments.

In drafting the 2023 report, inspired by previous editions of the report and data and information obtained from objectives i-ii, 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 of the number of young parliamentarians with electoral systems, voting age, age of eligibility and 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 relationships related to youth participation in parliament.
  • The consultant will be encouraged to make the presentation of data more concise than the previous report.
• present and report on the implementation of measures undertaken by parliaments to encourage youth participation, including: (i) promoting youth quotas; (ii) aligning the age of eligibility with that of voting; (iii) supporting youth channels in parliament; (iv) empowering young MPs; (v) mentoring young aspirants; and (vi) advocating for youth participation. The contribution of young MPs to climate action will also be presented.
  • The human story should be presented, including challenges and steps taken to overcome them.
  • Key conclusions and recommendations on the different dimensions above should be presented in a manner that highlights concrete guidance for key stakeholders. 
• when possible, present additional anecdotal information on diversity among young MPs, and the evolution and responsibilities in parliament of young men and women MPs, as well as good practices they have implemented on topical matters such as climate change.

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

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

The deliverables will be:

• a dataset (or datasets) structured in Excel for all data and information received;
• presentation of stakeholder stories, experiences and recommendations through video and other formats;
• a series of infographics, graphs and images which are easily extractable and help convey key messages in an accessible manner;
• a comparative written report (approximately 20-30 pages without annexes) with tables and graphics presenting data and information on youth participation in national parliaments as indicated in the methodology above. This will be accompanied by a digital report that will include the main elements of the written report but also contain additional videos, animations, graphics, etc.

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 written report. The virtual report will use text from MS Word and audio-visual material from a format agreed upon in advance. All draft reports and the final report must be written in English or French.

Duration

Sixty (60) working days between 3 March and 2 June 2023, with the following timetable (subject to final modifications):

• 3 March to 17 April: Research, including desk review, data gathering (including interviews), data entry and data analysis
• 17 April to 8 May: Preparation of draft version of the report
• 8 May to 26 May: Incorporation of comments and preparation of revised drafts
• 2 June: Submission of the final version of the report as well as datasets, graphics, and audio-visual elements

Location

Primarily home-based, with travel to an IPU meeting for interviews (e.g. 146th IPU Assembly in Bahrain, 11-15 March 2023)

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 provided policy guidance on the topic. Recently published research would be a strong asset.

Experience with carrying out quality video interviews and presenting data, information and messages using graphics and digital means 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 should also have skills in digital communications, including conducting quality video interviews of MPs and insights on presenting the report in a digital online format. He/she 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 lump sum based on a daily rate upon satisfactory delivery of the deliverables described above