Consultant – Regional Refugee Employment Platform

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

H (no hardship)FamilyCONS Local2024-05-01May 1, 20243. Duration and dates of the assignment:

From: 1 May 2024 to: 30 September 2024

Work 100% (fulltime) during above-mentioned period: No

Working Hours: Not Applicable

Total amount of days/weeks/months to be worked: Payment against products (described in item 9)

4. Location(s) (specify if working from home): Home-based

5. Assignment and/or Mission travel applicable : Not applicable

6. Suggested fee (daily/weekly/monthly/lump sum) and currency:
Total budgetary amount allocated for individual contract (all-inclusive fee, travel and deliverables) $US 40 000

Payment schedule:
Upon signature of contract 10%
Following submission and supervisor certification of deliverables 1 : 20%
Following submission and supervisor certification of deliverables 2 : 70%

7. General Background of Project or Assignment:

12.4 million refugees are currently hosted in countries across Europe, over 5.9 million of these Ukrainians displaced by the war. Although a wide range of public and private channels and formats for job seeking may be available, recent consultations indicate these are falling short when it comes to supporting refugees to secure decent employment. Evidenced particularly by the Ukraine situation, many refugees continue to face barriers related to scarcity of job offers, inefficient information channels, skills mismatching, and lack of access to support services essential to maintaining stable employment. Deficiencies in matching labor supply and demand for both refugees seeking work and businesses with hiring needs evidence the urgent need to develop and strengthen channels that can effectively identify labor and skills needs.
Capitalizing on the private sector’s keen interest in supporting access to employment for refugees displaced by the international armed conflict in Ukraine, the Refugee Employment Platform (REP) aims to progressively enhance decent work prospects for all forcibly displaced and stateless persons with the right to work. While many companies have supported innovative multi-stakeholder initiatives for refugee employment in the past, lessons learned have demonstrated that more can be done to better link the job supply and demand side, particularly via closer collaboration with HR industry leaders. The platform will ensure the widest possible dissemination of job/vocational training opportunities for refugees, connect with different job matching sites and employment support services, and serve as an entry point for companies, refugees and other relevant actors engaged in refugee socio-economic inclusion, ensuring a whole-of-society approach both on and offline.
Refugee Employment Platforms (REPs) are designed to be accessible to refugees, asylum seekers with the right to work, subsidiary and complementary protection holders, stateless persons, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The model for the REP has been developed based on the success of diverse pilot national platforms in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Romania, and in close consultation with relevant stakeholders from the public and the private sector, NGOs and refugees. These retain their own unique features while adhering to a series of core essential characteristics. These characteristics include: involving refugees throughout the design, development and implementation phase; the use of job matching systems based on the models of HR industry leaders; facilitating easy access to curated wraparound services targeted to refugees’ circumstances; conveying information on refugee work rights/documentation to employers in clear, non-technical language; and the generation of data so as to continually improve understanding of the skills profiles of refugees and the labor needs of businesses.

National Refugee Employment Platforms facilitate direct job matching and agile communication between employers and a diverse pool of refugee job seekers. They provide access to employment support services for refugees and a centralized coordination point for all actors across sectors engaged in refugee socio-economic inclusion, offering significant potential for synergies and collaboration.

A Regional Refugee Employment Platform is also being created, to which all national Refugee Employment Platforms (REP) operating in the region will be linked. The Regional platform will also contain guidance with a regional scope and include country resource and information pages providing key information, particularly for employers interested in hiring refugees, related to the legal framework, the refugee hiring process, key stakeholders and services supporting refugee employment and additional resources to guide companies (e.g. matching platforms, good practices, reports, etc.) specifically for countries where a national REP is not currently in place.

8. Occupational Safety and Health Considerations
To view occupational safety and health considerations for specific duty stations, please visit this link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
Specific Occupational Safety and Health Considerations to this assignment (if applicable):
Home-based work.

9. Overall Purpose and Scope of Assignment
Research, compile and prepare content for UNHCR’s Regional Refugee Employment Platform, including approximately 40 country resource and information pages.

Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators (what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of individual contract), performance indicators (timelines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work plan:

The Consultant will work closely with UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Europe and carry out the following tasks:

- Undertake an exhaustive search of in-country actors, programs, services and opportunities that can support: a) the employment search and overall socio-economic inclusion of refugees (those of all nationalities and legal statuses); b) the refugee hiring, onboarding and workplace preparation process for businesses.

- Research, compile (and where necessary draft) essential information, including but not limited to:

i) the national legal framework on refugees’ right to work, remain in the country, public instruments supporting refugee hiring (e.g. tax benefits, preferential loans, subsidized employment);

ii) bureaucratic/administrative requirements related to employment and qualifications recognition;

iii) reputable jobs boards/platforms and any other outlets where refugees can find jobs or other employment-related opportunities;

iv) the ensemble of national integration stakeholders who can provide support to businesses and refugees;


v) any available practical tools/guidance or institutional roadmaps (e.g. related to qualifications recognition) and services that can support the swift labor market insertion of refugees;

vi) existing initiatives/networks by the private sector in refugee hiring (e.g. through chambers of commerce or HR service providers);

vii) popular mechanisms to recognize companies investing in ESG, with a focus on social engagement
- Research and compile information to enhance the features of the regional website.
- Ensure accuracy, currency, and integrity of information for inclusion in final resource page.
Where necessary, the consultant will liaise with national stakeholders and country focal points as part of the evaluation of accuracy and currency of information and final selection of resources and key information.

Product 1 Content for First 5 Country Information Pages End of Week 3
Product 2 Content for Remaining Country Information Pages and overall Regional website.
Final revised versions to be delivered by 30 September latest

10. Required level, qualifications, and work experience:
Level of responsibilities required (mark as appropriate) for individual contractors and fellows:

1 The assignment is for an Individual Consultant
Qualification and experience required (degree required, years of work experience, field of expertise, language required):

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, economics, business administration, communications, or other relevant technical fields.

• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience working in related field.

• Comprehensive understanding of private sector priorities in Europe and support needs related to refugee hiring.

• Understanding of local integration context for refugees in Europe.

• Experience working with private sector partnerships and/or non-voluntary organisations.

• Strong drafting/editing skills in English.

• Analytical skills and ability to assess data and analyse information.

• Computer skills, including Internet navigation and various office applications.

• Relevant experience in similar activities, other UN agencies or development.

• Fluent in English (written and spoken)

11. Monitoring and Progress Controls (report requirements, periodicity, format, deadlines):

a. The final product (e.g. survey completed, data collected, workshop conducted, research documents produced specify):
Kindly refer to section 9. for the complete list of products to be delivered.
b. Work on the basis of time employed: No

c. If it is to result in a written product specify:
a. Number of pages:
b. Language(s):
c. Number of copies:

 

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Other information

Consultancy for the Regional Refugee Employment Platform project for the period 01 May to 30 September 2024.This position doesn't require a functional clearance

Home-Based

Yes