Call for Proposals: Young People's Perspectives on Upcoming Election

Nepal enjoys a demographic dividend with 40.3 per cent of age 16-40 years according to the 2011 census. These young people are a major resource for the country’s development, who can contribute to social change and economic growth with their creativity, and innovation. However, young people are also often sidelined in political decisions, based on a proclaimed lack of ‘knowledge and experience’.

Though, young people often have contributed to important changes in the Nepal’s political history, their interests tend to be underrepresented in formal institutions and processes. Dialogues and discourse on what the country’s youth want and expect from the political parties during election campaigns and after in terms of policy reforms have largely been missing.

Against this background, FES Nepal invites proposals from (a team of) researchers to explore the aspirations and expectation of young Nepalese from federal elections.

The study will explore the aspirations and expectation of young people from the upcoming federal elections. In doing so, the study will take an intersectional approach to understand the perspectives of young people coming from diverse backgrounds.

For the study, the role of youth in election will be studied in two dimensions: their general attitudes towards politics in Nepal and their policy expectations as voters. The following questions could be considered (among others):

What are young people’s attitudes towards politics?

• How do young people see politics in Nepal?
• Do they aspire to become actively involved in politics?
• If they are involved in politics: What is their motivation? If not: What keeps them from getting engaged?
• What would need to change to make engagement in political parties and politics more attractive?

What are young people’s policy expectations?

• What do young people look for when they cast votes? What do they expect parties to deliver?
• What do young people expect from their candidates?
• What are the issues that young people want to see addressed by political parties?
• What do they consider as most pressing issues?  
• How important are substantial policies for their decisions in elections? (vis-á-vis party affiliation)
• Do young people feel the necessity of policy debates and discussion during the campaign?
• In what ways do such discussions influence/impact their vote/choice?
• Where and how should they be conducted to reach young people?  

The study should be based on emprical research. Based on the findings the research team should write a report that reflects major findings and formulates recommendations for young people, political parties, and other relevant stakeholders. The research approach needs to consider intersections of gender, class, caste, ethnicity, and religion.

The overall length of the final report should not exceed 25 pages (between 5000 and 6,000 words).It should be accompanied by an executive summary of one page or less.

The paper should be addressed to a non-academic audience and focus on contributing to policy debates and exchange of experiences. The main target group of the study are decision makers, policymakers, as well other relevant professional circles.

• Experience in conception, design, and implementation of empirical research projects
• Experience in academic and/or policy-oriented writing
• At least a Masters’ degree in social science or relevant field
• Previous work and/or proven knowledge on issues relating to young people is a plus
• Ability to successfully work remotely
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Compliance with FES style sheet (will be provided), publication guidelines and academic standards

Interested individual(s) are required to send:

• Written outline of the proposal including a detailed description of the research approach and proposed empirical methodology
• Budget plan with breakdown of costs, expected daily fee and estimated number of working days (subject to negotiation and FES regulations)
• CV and examples of relevant work experience (including at least one writing example in English)

FES Nepal is committed to promote social justice and aspires to increase diversity among individuals and service providers we are working with. Therefore, we encourage applications from people regardless of gender, ethnical, religious or caste background. FES Nepal especially invites applications from teams with diverse backgrounds.

Please send an offer for the project alongisde the required documents via email to deepika.dhakal(at)fesnepal.org by 5 August 2022, 5 pmNepal Time. The proposal should be valid until 30 Aug 2022.

Please note: The successful proposal will be chosen based on the quality of proposal (40%), qualification and proven relevant previous experience (30%) and costs (30%).

Please find attached the detailed call here.