Scope of Work for Cost Estimation – Methodology to Define and Classify “Underserved Youth”
Extended Call: February 2026
Background
Junior Achievement Europe (JA Europe) is the largest non-profit organisation in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. Through its network, JA implements experiential learning programmes that foster employability, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship skills.
To strengthen inclusion and ensure equitable access to opportunities, JA Europe plans to develop a data-based methodology to define and classify “underserved youth” and identify underserved areas across its network. The approach will build on earlier analytical work (e.g., the Re-Power project on school dropout risk) but will expand to a broader set of socio-economic, educational, and geographic indicators.
Scope of Work
To design a robust, flexible, transparent, and replicable methodology for up to 50 countries across Europe, Asia and Middle East that:
- Defines the concept of underserved youth in measurable, data-based terms.
- Identifies and classifies Local Administrative Units (LAUs) as underserved or not underserved across seven European countries.
- Combines multiple socio-economic, demographic, and educational indicators relevant to youth opportunities and inclusion.
The selected specialist will:
Work Package 1:
- Review Existing National Approaches – Collect and analyse local definitions, classifications, and methodologies currently used in the seven participating countries to identify underserved youth.
- Develop a Methodological Framework:
- Review and propose a comprehensive, operational definition of “underserved youth” aligned with JAs global framework.
- Propose and document a list of quantitative indicators reflecting the multidimensional nature of being “underserved” and ensure comparability and data availability across all countries (preferably from Eurostat, OECD, national statistical offices).
- Design a composite classification model to aggregate indicators and assign “underserved” status at the LAU or equivalent level.
- Produce a dataset classifying each LAU or equivalent.
- Test the approach on a sample of countries.
Work Package 2:
- Develop clear data tracking and visual representations (e.g., maps, dashboards, infographics) of the results using tools already available in the network (ActivityInfo, PowerBI).
Activities/ Deliverables
The table below outlines overall activities, deliverables, and timeline however applicants are invited to propose changes aligned with different research approaches proposed.
| ACTIVITY | RESPONSBILITY | TIMELINE |
| 1. Review Existing National Approaches Collect and analyse local definitions, classifications, and methodologies | Contractor (In collaboration with JA Network) | By end of January 2026 (2 weeks – 1 month) By end of February 2026 (1 month) |
| 2. Develop the methodological framework: | Contractor (In collaboration with JA Europe) | |
| 3. Develop clear data tracking and visual representations | Contractor (In collaboration with JA Europe) | By end of March 2026 (1 month) |
Timeline
The duration of activities have been extended to start by mid-February 2026 and end by 30 April 2026
Elements of the proposal
A submission must, at a minimum, include the following elements:
- Background and Experience: Information about the contractor’s expertise in data analysis, regional statistics, or socio-economic research and working with Eurostat datasets, LAU/NUTS classifications, and EU social indicators.
- Past Experience: Evidence of previous experience in similar evaluation projects, along with references from previous clients or organizations. A description of at least three (3) similar projects completed by the bidder within the past three (3) years. Include personal references with contact information for each.
- Budget: A comprehensive breakdown of costs.
Evaluation Criteria
The following criteria will be used in reviewing and comparing the proposals. The weight to be assigned to each criterion appears following each item.
- Responsiveness of the proposal to the submission requirements set forth in the RFP (30%).
- The technical ability, capacity, and flexibility of the bidder to perform the contract in a timely manner and on budget, as verified by, e.g., the quality of any demonstration, client references, demonstrated success in projects with similar requirements and any other contracts (40%).
- The total cost of the proposal solution based on disaggregated level of effort (30%)
Deadline
Respondents to this Request for proposals must submit their proposal no later than the 10th February 2026 and should be sent to offers@jaeurope.org including RFP – Evaluation Services in the subject line. In the body of the email, please copy in: “I hereby consent that my personal data is processed by JA EUROPE AISBL for recruitment or contractual purposes” so that JA Europe has your written consent to follow up on your application. Only selected applicants will be contacted.
In case more information is needed, please contact Bojan Pavlovic (bojan@jaeurope.org).
Annex 1. Project Log frame
| DESCRIPTION | PERFORMANCE INDICATORS | |
| Impact | The outcomes defined have been associated with longer term impact such as lower rates of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET), higher wages and greater job, career or life satisfaction | |
| Outcomes | 1.1 Youth improve drop-out rate at end of the year | % Participants who complete the school year (proxy for early school leavers) |
| 1.2 Youth improve school attendance | % Participants who decrease unexcused absences from class (absenteeism) | |
| 1.3 Youth improve sense of belonging | % Participants who report change in personal feelings about being accepted by their peers | |
| 1.4 Youth improved instrumental motivation towards school | % Participants changing expectations in their schooling as being of long-term benefit as result of the program | |
| 1.5 Youth improved their self-efficacy | % Participants reporting change on individual’s belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviours necessary to produce specific performance attainments | |
| 1.6 Youth improved non-cognitive skills relevant for the job market | % Participants reporting change [or progression] in at least one non-cognitive skill | |
| 1.7 Youth improved technical skills relevant for the job market | % Participants reporting change [or progression] in at least one technical skill | |
| 1.8 Youth improved career readiness | % Participants reporting change [or progression] in at least one career readiness indicator | |
| Outputs | Youth completed the programme | Number of participants completing the programme Disaggregation: age; gender; underserved communities; Number of training hours |
| Youth’s satisfaction at the end of the programme | Net Promoter Score (NPS) | |
| Volunteers mentored youth in the programme | Number of volunteers providing mentoring activities Disaggregation: gender; role in the programme; Number of volunteering hours | |
| Volunteer’s satisfaction at the end of the programme. | Net Promoter Score | |
Data protection statement
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Declaration
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