PROSPECTS Kenya: Innovation Challenge and Youth Leadership Lab Full Time NEW

Country: Kenya (with Garissa and Turkana as priority counties)

Duration of assignment: 17 months

Level of effort:

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is seeking to recruit an experienced implementing partner to support the roll-out of an Innovation Challenge integrating a Youth Leadership Lab in Kenya under the framework of the ILO’s PROSPECTS programme.

Eligibility: Applications from the following organisations will be accepted: (i) a constituent of the ILO and/or an affiliated member of such a constituent, including governmental, employers’ and workers’ organizations and/or (ii) an organization carrying out non-profit oriented work, including: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, research institutions, statistical institutions, educational institutions.

1.Context

1.1 Technical context

Kenya’s youth continue to face mounting socio-economic challenges as employment opportunities fall short of the demand created by population growth. As of 2024, the youth unemployment rate stood at 39%, with 20.2% classified as neither employed, in education, nor in training (NEET). This issue disproportionately affects young women, with NEET rates almost twice as high (26.1%) compared to young men (14.3%).[1] As at May 2025, Kenya hosted approximately 853,074 refugees and asylum seekers, with the majority living in Dadaab (50.7%) and Kakuma camps (35.9%), and the rest in urban areas, including Nairobi, with most coming from Somalia (56.8%), South Sudan (23.4%), and Congo (7.6%).[2]

Beyond constraints on labour demand and skills supply, young people, especially young women and other marginalised groups, encounter structural barriers to participation in labour market decision-making, limited representation in local governance, and weak accountability mechanisms in service delivery. Achieving decent work requires not only training and enterprise support, but also meaningful youth engagement (MYE) that elevates youth voice, strengthens youth leadership, and enables youth-led organisations (YLOs) to act as trusted intermediaries between communities, service providers and employers.

This intervention is anchored in the ILO’s broader commitment to MYE and youth leadership across the Decent Work Agenda, including promotion of rights at work, social dialogue and inclusive labour market institutions. It operationalises continental commitments set out in the AU–ILO Youth Employment Strategy for Africa (YES-Africa), which calls for stronger youth participation in policy dialogue, co-creation of programmes, and accountability for results, particularly in the context of green and digital transitions and the promotion of quality jobs. By investing directly in the capabilities, legitimacy and sustainability of YLOs, the Challenge translates these policy commitments into county-level practice and strengthens the ecosystems that enable youth agency in the world of work. Strengthening the organisational capacities, governance and leadership of YLOs in Garissa and Turkana will improve the quality and uptake of employment and enterprise services, reinforce adherence to labour standards and gender equality, and enhance accountability to affected populations through context-appropriate, conflict-sensitive engagement.

Accordingly, this Youth Leadership Lab & Innovation Challenge prioritises youth leadership and organisational strengthening as the primary pathway to impact. It will identify YLOs advancing decent work through green transitions, labour rights and youth voice, and digital innovation, and equip them, via a Youth Leadership Lab, commencing with an intensive five-day Bootcamp, with the institutional, technical and leadership capacities required to design, deliver and scale solutions. The approach embeds social dialogue, gender responsiveness and inclusion, complements existing ILO initiatives (including work on digital jobs) while avoiding duplication, and lays the groundwork for sustained support beyond the project through collaboration with workers’ organisations and public training institutions, thereby making youth leadership a durable feature of county labour market systems.

1.2 Operational context of the assignment

In response to the challenges facing both host communities and refugees, a new partnership initiative titled: PROSPECTS – Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons’ , has been launched by the Government of the Netherlands that brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank.

The overall outcome of the PROSPECTS project in Kenya is “improved sustainable living conditions for refugees and host communities in Kenya”. This is to be achieved through “increased number of refugees and host community with enhanced livelihoods and/or employment in safe/decent work”. The employment pillar will trigger the availability of employment services to support transition to work, as well as the labour market demand that is needed to support refugees and host communities’ transition to various forms of employment, and finally, mechanisms to promote enhanced quality of work. Barriers to business start-ups and scale-ups will be identified and addressed to unlock the entrepreneurial potential that exists in the targeted areas. Young refugees and host communities will be supported in accessing employment opportunities in the digital economy through enhancing and digitising local employment services, provision of vocational and career guidance in schools, capacity development of employment service providers as well as offering youth to youth coaching services.

Through PROSPECTS the ILO collaborates closely with local and national governments, education and training institutions serving youth in Turkana and Garissa, as well as employers and other key stakeholders to better understand and promote decent work opportunities for young refugees in the digital economy. This partnership aims to enhance skills training, facilitate access to job opportunities, and foster inclusive policies that support the integration of young refugees into the workforce. In this regard, ILO has supported a number of initiatives in these counties including market-driven digital skills initiatives, focused on curriculum development, training and recognition of prior learning (RPL), digital job intermediation services focusing on human skills development, one-to-one mentorship and job placement, as well as digital job search clubs and peer-learning job placement services.

2.Concept of the Youth Leadership Lab & Innovation Challenge

The ILO has conducted various types of Innovation Challenges (IC) to promote decent jobs for young people, including with a focus on business development services, skills development and the digital economy. ICs were conducted recently for instance in Kenya, South Africa and Rwanda.

For this IC existing ILO materials and toolkits will be used – only minor adaptations are expected from the implementing partner regarding the IC concept as well as all required supporting documentation.

1. Overall Goal of the Innovation Challenge

The overall goal of the Innovation Challenge is to strengthen youth-led organizations in Turkana and counties with a view to support innovative initiatives that promote the transition of young people to decent jobs opportunities among refugees and host communities.

2. Objective of the Innovation Challenge

The primary objective of the Innovation Challenge is to identify and strengthen youth-led organizations in Turkana and Garissa counties that are developing or scaling innovative, inclusive, and sustainable solutions to promote decent work for young people in refugee and host communities. The Innovation Challenge seeks to enhance the institutional, technical, and operational capacities of these organizations to deepen their impact, improve service delivery, and strengthen their role in local development ecosystems

3. Target Audience

The target audience for the Innovation Challenge are youth-led non-profit organisations as well as social enterprises working to advance decent job opportunities for young people in refugee and host communities in Kenya in Turkana and Garissa counties. This may include, but is not limited to, organisations engaged in enterprise development, skills training, digital innovation, labour rights, and green economy initiatives, such as youth hubs, business incubators, NGOs, cooperatives, and community-based organisations.

Eligible applicants must demonstrate a clear commitment to promoting youth employment and a track record of impact in Garissa and/or Turkana counties, particularly among marginalised groups including refugees and young women.

Applicants must be legally recognised non-profit organisations with contractual and registered capacity, that have been in existence for at least three calendar years prior to the call deadline and are registered in Kenya. This may include youth-led NGOs, civil society organisations, government agencies, employers’ and workers’ organisations, cooperatives, education and training providers, and research or development institutions.

Important: The innovation challenge is NOT targeting the application of individuals but of established organizations.

4. Types of Ideas and Examples of Solutions

The Innovation Challenge will prioritise support to youth-led organisations proposing innovative solutions in one of the following three thematic tracks (tentative, tracks to be confirmed between ILO and implementing partner during the inception phase):

• Green transitions and climate-resilient livelihoods: initiatives that promote youth employment in sustainable sectors such as renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, waste management, and other climate-smart solutions
• Labour rights and youth voice in the world of work: projects that empower young people to advocate for better working conditions, engage in social dialogue, and promote rights at work through education and/or organising
• Youth leadership and social accountability: initiatives that strengthen the capacity of youth-led organisations to lead, influence, and engage with local governance, employers, and communities to promote decent work, inclusion, and gender equality.

Across all three tracks, interventions may span a variety of approaches including skills development, enterprise creation and support, and labour market intermediation. This allows applicants to frame their innovations in line with local needs and organisational strengths.

All innovations are expected to proactively address gender inequalities, with targeted strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of young women and other marginalised youth in the world of work.

5. Innovation Challenge Stages

The IC will comprise several stages:

1. Pre-launch preparatory activities
   1. Advertisement: Launching the call for applications and promoting the challenge.
      1. Applications: Submission of initial proposals by applicants.
         1. Screening, evaluation and selection: Evaluation of submitted proposals by a panel of experts and selection of winning solutions.
2. Announcement of winners and event: Publicizing the winners and organizing a celebratory event.
3. In collaboration with the implementing partner, the ILO may decide to offer several tracks to apply (for instance an “innovator track” for small-scale or recently founded organizations and a “mature track” for scaling-up the work of well-established support organizations) and/or several categories to award prices.

6. Awards and Support for Winners

The will awards grant to 5 to 10 organisations, with a total amount of USD 200,000. The exact distribution of grants will be determined at a later stage by the ILO in consultation with the implementing partner. The implementing partner will be responsible for providing the grants to the winners of the Innovation Challenge.

7. Post-Innovation Challenge: Youth Leadership Lab

Following the announcement of the winners, a (temporary) Youth Leadership Lab will be established by the selected implementing partner to offer intensive technical support services to the winning organizations in the 9 months following the award of the financial prizes.

The selected implementing partner is expected to collaborate in the delivery of the Youth Leadership led with government institutions with a view of realising synergies of existing public programmes and initiatives in the space of youth leadership. The ILO will be initiating the coordinating between the selected implementing partner and government institutions at the inception stage of the project.

Organisations admitted to the Lab will include both Innovation Challenge winners and a limited number of high-potential runner-up organisations. Participation in the Lab is a core component of the Innovation Challenge and a prerequisite for receiving the full financial award.

The Lab will commence with a 5-day Innovation Bootcamp, bringing together all selected organisations for a focused and hands-on capacity-building experience. The purpose of the Bootcamp is to enable organisations to:

• critically review and refine their initial proposals,
• strengthen their implementation plans and organisational readiness, and
• finalise milestones and budgets linked to their proposed interventions.
• Based on this process, the final grant amount to be awarded to each organisation will be confirmed, ensuring alignment between their proposed innovations and their operational capacities.
• Building institutional capacity: strengthening strategic planning and delivery, governance and accountability, financial management and grant compliance, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL);
• Empowering youth leadership: developing young leaders’ capabilities in representation, advocacy and social dialogue, partnership development and communications, and embedding gender-responsive and inclusive practices across programmes;
• Fundamental Principles & Rights at work (FPRW) training: providing modules on fundamental principles and rights at work, freedom of association and collective bargaining, elimination of forced and child labour, and non-discrimination, plus basic OSH and grievance/feedback mechanisms,

Following the Bootcamp, the Lab will provide a coordinated package of support services, tailored to the specific needs of each organisation.

Support services may include structured learning modules, mentorship, peer exchange, hands-on advisory, and facilitated linkages to resource partners and networks. The exact design of the Lab will be proposed by the implementing partner as part of their application and refined in collaboration with the ILO.

All services under the Lab should reflect the overarching goals of the Innovation Challenge: to empower youth-led organisations to deliver innovative, inclusive, and sustainable solutions for decent jobs for young people, particularly in refugee and host community contexts.

8. Stakeholder Engagement

The success of the IC depends on the active involvement of key stakeholders at the national, county, and community levels. A stakeholder engagement strategy will be developed to ensure the effective participation of relevant organizations and individuals throughout the challenge, from the initial launch to the post-IC support phase.

3. Objective

The objective of the assignment is for the implementing partner to support the ILO in:

1. implementing all stages of the Innovation Challenge, including outreach, selection, and award of grants, based on the Innovation Challenge concept of the ILO (with slight adjustments to existing materials and templates)
   1. In collaboration with government institutions (to be selected and coordinated by the ILO), delivering a coordinated package of technical support services through a Youth Leadership Lab to strengthen the institutional capacities and leadership of participating youth-led organisations.

4. Scope of the Assignment

Where applicable in the description of the scope of the assignment the distribution of responsibilities between the ILO and the implementing partner is indicated.

This assignment includes the following tasks:

I. Inception: Finalise the Innovation Challenge & Youth Leadership Lab Concept and detailed workplan (Timeline: 2 weeks after signature of the contract)

This task implies:

• Clarify with the ILO expectations on the Innovation Challenge
• Getting familiar with ILO materials and template for Innovation Challenges
• Work closely with the ILO to revise and finalise the concept note on the Innovation Challenge & Youth Leadership Lab based on the indications shared in Section 2 and the applicants proposal
• Devise a detailed workplan for the implementation of the IC and the follow-up support to winners

II. Implementation of the Innovation Challenge (Timeline: 4.5 months)

The implementation of the IC will depend on the finalised concept and workplan. It will entail the following tasks:

a.Conducting pre-launch preparatory activities (4 weeks):

• Establish partnerships with key actors: The implementing partner will work with the ILO to establish partnerships with key actors, including sectoral associations, and local government representatives in Turkana and Garissa counties. The role of partners might be to support with logistics for the IC, promote the IC, contribute prizes, and act as judges across the different categories. While the ILO has a list of potential partners, it is expected that the implementing partner is also able to mobilize partner networks effectively.
• Develop a communication plan and related communication materials: this will include in particular a presentation that explains the goals and different steps of the IC for external audiences, as well as materials for social media.
• Lightly adjust relevant application materials from the ILO: examples from previous ILO ICs will be made available to the implementing partner by the ILO. Materials to be finalised include (i) participant guidelines, (ii) application form (online); (iii) scoring criteria. All these materials will be made available to the selected partner in an advanced form

b. Advertisement (6 weeks):

• In close collaboration with the ILO, the implementing partner will launch the challenge and circulate the call for application widely within its networks.
• The application process should be simple and accessible to refugees and members of host communities. Applicants should be able to enter their submissions through a variety of channels that may include applying in-person, by phone, through an email account set up by the project, or through a partner organization providing digital services, financial and non-financial services.
• The implementing partner will also host at least (2) webinars in which interested organisation are presented to the IC concept and can ask questions.
• The implementing partner will track applications and follow-up with partners to remind their networks of the application deadline.

c. Screening, evaluation and selection (4 weeks):

• Conduct an initial screen of received applications based on formal application criteria (due diligence)
• The implementing partner may conduct a first round technical screening (depending on number of applications received) to narrow down the pool of applications
• Confirm the composition of the evaluation panel in close collaboration with ILO. The ILO will be inviting selected organizations to nominate judges.
• Organise an in-person pitching event, 2 days in Garissa county and 2 days in Turkana county. The Implementing partner is response for:
  • Logistics of the venue, incl. participation of their own team
  • Transportation reimbursement (as required) from applicants pitching at the event
• The ILO is responsible for organizing the travel of all judges with the exception of staff members of the Implementing partner.
• The ILO, in consultation with the implementing partner, will determine the mechanism through which final decisions on the IC winners will be made.

III. Implementation of the Youth Leadership Lab (Timeline: 12 months)

The implementing partner will be responsible for the design and delivery of the Youth Leadership Lab, a structured post-award capacity development programme targeting winners and selected runner-up organisations from the Innovation Challenge (see Section 2- Concept).

Tasks of the implementing partner include:

a. Innovation Bootcamp

The Lab will commence with a 5-day in-person Innovation Bootcamp in Nairobi, bringing together winners of the IC (up to 12 organisations with up to 4 representatives each);

The Bootcamp will serve as a transition point from proposal selection to implementation readiness. It will allow selected organisations to review and strengthen their technical and financial proposals, finalise milestones, budgets, and reporting frameworks linked.

It will also provide an opportunity to ILO and the implementing partner to present the structure and timeline of the Youth Leadership Lab to all participating organisations.

Roles and responsibilities:

• Implementing Partner
  • Lead all logistical arrangements for the Bootcamp, including venue, accommodation, and travel reimbursements for participants;
  • Design and deliver selected sessions on institutional development, leadership, and operational planning;
  • Support participants in finalising revised technical proposals and implementation plans;
  • Present the Youth Leadership Lab structure and schedule to participating organisations;
  • Review and validate finalised technical proposals and milestone-based workplans for each grantee;
  • Ensure documentation of individual organisational needs to inform the support plan for each.
• ILO: Provide overall technical leadership of the Bootcamp content and curriculum; Lead or co-facilitate core sessions on decent work, gender, youth leadership, and ILO tools and approaches;

b. Youth Leadership Lab Roll-out

Following the Bootcamp, the IP will continue to implement the Youth Leadership Lab, delivering a structured but flexible package of support services tailored to the specific needs of each participating organisation.

Support should respond to the priorities identified during the Bootcamp and may include a mix of advisory services, mentorship, structured training (in-person or virtual), peer learning opportunities, field-based accompaniment, and linkages to relevant partners or networks.

The exact modalities, intensity, and timeline of services are to be proposed by the Implementing Partner as part of the application to this TORs and further refined with the ILO during the inception phase. The approach should reflect the dual focus of the Lab on:

• Building institutional capacity of youth led organisations
• Empowering youth leadership
• Fundamental Principles & Rights at work (FPRW) training
• Strengthening the capacity of existing government led youth leadership initiatives in Kenya through co-delivering selected Youth Leadership Activities

c. Administrating the grants for winning organizations of the Innovation Challenge:

• The implementing partner will be responsible for providing the grants to the winners of the Innovation Challenge. In particular, the implementing partner will propose legal agreements to be concluded between them and the winners of the IP.
• The implementing partner will award grant to 5 to 10 organisations, with a total amount of USD 200,000. The exact distribution of grants will be determined at a later stage by the ILO in consultation with the implementing partner.
• Each of the grants will be provided to one of the winners (in 2 to 3 tranches, following a milestone based roadmap) of the Innovation Challenge and will support the Innovation Challenge winner in implementing the innovative solutions which they applied;
• Before transferring the grant to the IC winners, the implementing partner will contact a due diligence process and develop a grant agreement contract between the implementing partner and the grantees

d. Document results and lessons learned: This will include conducting monitoring and evaluation, collecting information on business growth and impact in terms of jobs created and/or improved as a result of the interventions and collect lessons learned and success stories, in close collaboration with the ILO

4. Deliverables & timeline

The main deliverables of this engagement are as below:

The payment terms also provide interested implementing partners with an indication of the relative importance – in terms of time and resources – of the different stages of the Innovation Challenge, including post Innovation Challenge services.

Deviations from these deliverables can occur according to the evolution of the assignment; however, any changes observed or anticipated should be consulted with the focal person at the ILO.

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Timeline | Deliverables | Payment terms (See also Section 5)

1. 2 weeks – Inception report: A revised Innovation Challenge and Youth Leadership Lab concept note, including a detailed workplan. Feedback from the ILO is incorporated. (Related to Task I.)

10% payment

2. 6 weeks – Innovation Challenge is launched: All preparatory materials are finalised, communication materials and outreach strategy are developed, and key partnerships are established. (Related to Task II.1)

15% payment

3. 6 weeks – Applications received: Following the call for applications, at least 30 eligible submissions from Turkana and Garissa are received. (Related to Task II.2 and II.3)

4. 4 weeks – Winners selected and announced: 5 to 10 winning organisations are selected through an in-person pitching process; due diligence is completed; and organisations are admitted into the Youth Leadership Lab. (Related to Task II.3 and Task III.3)

40% payment

5. 4 weeks – Innovation Bootcamp delivered: A 5-day residential Bootcamp is successfully implemented, and all grantees have submitted final technical and financial proposals, linked to milestones and grant tranches. (Related to Task III.1 and III.2)

25% payment

6. Deliver first tranche of grants: deliver up to 50% of the grant volume to winners.

7. 4 months – Initial Youth Leadership Lab support delivered: Targeted support services are rolled out to participating organisations based on priorities identified during the Bootcamp. An initial report on support provided and early results is submitted. (Related to Task III.2 and III.4)

8. 4 months – Lessons learned documented & all grants disbursed: Support services are completed. A final report is submitted including documentation of results, learnings, and use of grant funds. (Related to Task III.2, III.3 and III.4)

10% payment

5. Payment and Reporting Terms

The ILO will only pay for deliverables that are successfully completed to the satisfaction of the ILO. The payments will be made according to the following schedule:

The payment schedule is as follows:

• First Advance – 10% of the contract value will be made upon signing of the contract and upon receipt of inception report and an invoice:
• Second Advance – 15% of the contract value will be made upon receipt and approval of Deliverable 2 and Deliverable 3 to the full satisfaction of the ILO and the submission of invoice, and financial and narrative reports of the previous tranche.
• Third Advance – 40% of the contract value will be made upon receipt and approval of Deliverable 4 to the full satisfaction of the ILO and the submission of invoice, and financial and narrative reports of the previous tranche.
• Fourth Advance – 25% of the contract value will be made upon receipt and approval of Deliverable 5, 6 and 7 to the full satisfaction of the ILO and the submission of invoice, and financial and narrative reports of the previous tranche.
• Fifth and final payment – 10% of the contract value will be made upon receipt and approval of Deliverable 8 to the full satisfaction of the ILO and the submission of invoice, and financial and final narrative reports.

6. Roles and Reporting

ILO will require from time to time based on agreed timelines comprehensive reports to highlighting work done. Reports will be reviewed to ensure conformance with ILO operations before acceptance.

The implementing partner will operate under the overall supervision of The ILO Chief Technical Advisor. The ILO Kenya PROSPECTS team will offer technical support and will coordinate closely with the Regional Youth Employment Specialist at the Regional Office for Africa and further technical specialist of the Decent Work Team of the ILO, based in Pretoria.

When submitting invoices for payments the implementing partners will also submit to the ILO:

1. A technical progress report (to be continuously updated)
2. A financial report detailing the expenditures of the implementing partner in the reporting period.

Note: When implementation of a tranche crossover to the next financial year, the implementing partner must submit financial report of actual expenditures covering activities up to 30 November of that year, along with a forecast for the month of December.

7. Specific Clauses

Throughout the course of this assignment, the implementing partner will report on a weekly basis to the ILO for coordination and follow–up. All communication to other relevant stakeholders should be coordinated with the ILO. If it appears necessary to modify the tasks of work or exceed the time allocated, the implementing partner must discuss the circumstances with the ILO and obtain prior written approval. ILO may disclose the draft or final documents and/or any related information to any person and for any purpose the ILO may deem appropriate.

8. Required experience and qualifications

The Implementing partner (organisation):

• Is a not-for-profit organisation.
• Is required to be legally registered to operate in Kenya with a good standing with all statutory laws and regulations. The implementing partner needs to demonstrate that it is meeting the eligibility requirements: (i) a constituent of the ILO and/or an affiliated member of such a constituent, including governmental, employers’ and workers’ organizations and/or (ii) an organization carrying out non-profit oriented work, including: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, research institutions, statistical institutions, educational institutions.
• Should have at least 6 years of experience of providing business development services to small and medium-enterprises in the digital economy in Kenya
• Should have prior experience in supporting innovation and tech-hubs as well as conducting innovation challenges
• Should have a proven track record of accomplishment in creating and executing digital and innovative solutions that have proved to be sustainable in youth employment and decent earning within and without the displaced ecosystems such as Garissa and Turkana.

The technical teams proposed by the implementing partner:

• Should possess a sound knowledge of the current trends in the digital innovation space with a key interest in initiation, skills development management and scaling.
• Should have a proven track record of managing projects in the space of promoting youth employment through innovations for refugees and host communities
• Should have a wide network of digital entrepreneurs, companies, individuals and NGOs within the digital innovation space.
• Knowledge of the local context, culture and language is an added advantage however official language within the area is English & Swahili – Knowledge in any other local dialect is a plus
• Experience handling insecure and fast-changing environments with sound negotiation skills

9. Selection criteria

The selection of the implementing partner will follow a technical and a financial assessment. Only organisations passing the technical evaluation (at least 70 per cent of the technical scoring) will proceed to the financial assessment. For the final selection the technical assessment will count 70 per cent and the financial assessment will count 30 per cent.

Regarding the technical selection, all organisations eligible to apply will be evaluated in the following categories:

1. Proposed methodology (technical proposal) – 50%
2. Experiences and qualifications of the applying organisation – 25%
3. Experiences and qualifications of the team proposed to be in charge of the assignment – 25%

[1] https://www.knbs.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2023-24-Kenya-Housing-Survey-Basic-Report1.pdf

[2]https://www.unhcr.org/ke/sites/ke/files/2025-07/Kenya%20Statistics%20Package%20%20-31%20May%202025.pdf

Tagged as: International Labour Organization, Kenya