Consultancy Title: Development of a Multi-stakeholder response plan to better prepare and respond to COVID’19 impacts
Duty Station: IOM Regional Office in Pretoria, South Africa
Estimated Starting Date: 17 August 2020
- Context and nature of the consultancy
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) had become a pandemic. Since that time, the prevailing socio-economic circumstances and lockdowns in the Southern Africa region have plunged migrants into a dire situation. Many of them have become stranded in transit and destination countries and unable to return as a result of mobility restrictions related to COVID-19 or lack of means, destitute who have lost their means of support and are unable to meet their basic needs or evicted migrants who have lost access to safe shelter. Some of them also in vulnerable situations victims of trafficking, exploitation or abuse, separated or unaccompanied children or with existing chronic conditions including HIV and TB. The dire situation of migrants in the region is exacerbated by the fact that migrants are excluded from national government response plans and don’t benefit from national social protection systems.
The closure of businesses and normal commerce doesn’t impact only the economic survival of migrants but also many vulnerable families in home countries who used to rely on remittances as a key source of financial support for basic consumption needs like food, payment of medical expenses and many returnees migrants also at risk to become IDPs upon return to their countries unless benefit from post-arrival and re-integration assistance.
A regional whole of society, multi-disciplinary and multi- stakeholder approach required in host, transit as well as home countries, for resolving complex humanitarian circumstances faced by migrants (lack of documentation, lack of access to food and medical services, evictions/no shelter, lack of return opportunities) but also for countering pandemic related hate and xenophobia and looking into relevant socio-economic impacts and responses.
IOM has already established a platform comprising of Ambassadors from SADC member states and regional UN agencies and continues to actively engage in overall coordination mechanisms also at the community and national including through migration response task forces established within UNCTs.
Subsequently, the IOM Regional Office for Southern Africa based in Pretoria (RO Pretoria) has developed strategic partnerships with key actors and serves as an organizational focal point for liaison functions with regional bodies such as COMESA, SADC, IOC, Pan-Africa Parliament, NEPAD, APRM etc.
RO Pretoria covers 15 SADC Member States (with the exception of Tanzania which falls under RO Nairobi) and has country offices in 14 of them with the exception of Seychelles. IOM’s work in Southern Africa is aimed at supporting governments in the region improve migration management and governance systems through the provision of policy and operational support including technical and logistical assistance. Its work also includes close collaboration with RECs, NGOs, CSOs, UN Agencies, private sector, academia, migrants, migration affected communities and society at large.
The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has an unprecedented impact on migration and mobility and as countries are embarking on the response and recovery path, it will be critical to integrate the different dimensions of migration, including the health, socio-economic and protection angles, in national and regional plans.
In line with Strategic Priority 1 of IOM Southern Africa Regional Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan_COVID-19, strengthening partnership and coordination structures are required for ensuring a well-coordinated, informed and timely response to migrants in need.
It is within the aforementioned context of the fast-expanding needs of the IOM regional and country offices along with the numerous requests for support from IOM member states and partners the need for a multi-stakeholder response plan to better prepare and respond to COVID impacts in coordination with UN agencies, Diaspora, governments, CSOs, private sector, to identify and address coordination gaps as well as to stream line the resource mobilization strategy required for its implementation.
- Tasks to be performed under this contract:
· Liaise as needed with IOM missions and relevant stakeholders, consolidate received inputs, and integrate all feedback within the regional response plan
· Support the Regional Director in coordinating, consolidating, and preparing presentations, reports, and other materials targeting the donor community in Southern Africa.
· Work closely with the Chief of Mission in South Africa and other relevant country offices to ensure a coordinated and coherent engagement with various stakeholders representations in the respective countries.
· Organize/support stakeholder and donor outreach events briefings hosted by the Regional Office and /or Country offices in close coordination with the Regional Director, concerned IOM Chief of Mission (COMs), Regional Policy and Liaison Officer (RPLO)and other relevant colleagues.
· Compile general background information from various sources on potential traditional, non-traditional partners, current and emerging trends in the region in coordination with the Donor Relations Division (DRD) at IOM Headquarters; and conduct an analysis of priorities to identify potential entry points for migration related programming and partnerships through bilateral, regional and multilateral funding channels.
· In coordination with the Regional Program Development Officer (RPDO), compile relevant reports to demonstrate achievements, draw lessons learnt and enhance visibility of certain multi-country partnerships at a regional level.
· Assist with gathering data/information that would contribute to developing new tools to enhance the partnerships and communication with the field, tracking of new trends and fundraising opportunities for migrant response plan.
· In collaboration with the Regional M&E officer, ensuring broad buy – in and ownership among internal stakeholders for measuring progress and reporting on the regional multi-stakeholder action plan.
· Ensure coherence and links between the action plan and other strategic institutional frameworks including the Migration and Sustainable Development Strategy.
· Identify strategic partnerships and priorities for the region as well as for each of the SADC Countries as a guide to action plan development, Develop a resource mobilization strategy for securing the required resources for implementation of the response plan as well as making better use of, and maximizing, existing resources
· Coordinate with the COMs / HoOs on the optimization of their resource mobilization efforts in coordination with the RO Pretoria on political, thematic and strategic issues to enhance the collective efforts based on the regional strategy for Southern Africa;
· Perform such other related duties as may be assigned.
- Tangible and measurable output of the work assignment, deliverables with timeline
· Regional mapping of key stakeholders’ location (government counterparts, UN, NGOs, Diaspora associations, CSOs, traditional and non-traditional donors) within the region establish with a database of Focal Points. Due date: 25 September 2020
· A Regional Response Plan including a resource mobilization strategy developed in coordination with IOM (RD, RPLO, RTSs, RPDO, COMs in the Southern Africa region) and other key strategic partners.
o First draft – 23 October 2020
o Revision and Validation – 27 November 2020
o Final draft – 15 December 2020
· Final report outlining the SWOT analysis of the existing IOM structures and partnerships, including donor outreach with recommendations towards enhancing strategic partnerships and optimization of opportunities – 15 December 2020
The expected duration of the assignment is from mid-August to end of December 2020.
- Reporting, supervision and coordination
Under the overall supervision of the Regional Director for Southern Africa, and direct supervision of the Regional Policy and Liaison Officer (RPLO), the Resources Mobilization Consultant will work in coordination with Chiefs of Missions in the region and Regional Thematic Specialists (RTSs) to provide support with regard to multi-stakeholder engagement in the regional action plan, resource mobilization functions including engagement for both traditional and non-traditional donors, according to IOM institutional guidelines.
- Qualification of the individual consultant
- Academic background
- Master’s degree in International Development Studies, International Relations, Political or Social Sciences, Business Administration, or related fields from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience; or
- University degree in the above fields with seven years of relevant professional experience.
- Experience
- Sound knowledge, understanding and past success of developing response plans resource mobilization strategies for UN Agencies, intergovernmental organizations and private sector actors.
- Solid understanding of the development cooperation landscape in Southern Africa and experience in donor engagement work in Middle Income Countries would be an advantage.
- Good understanding of results-based management (RBM) concepts
- Experience preferably in an international or non-governmental organization, and experience working in the field of migration
- Ability to apply resource mobilization and partnerships building theory to specific Institutional contexts
- Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
- Experience in liaising with other international organizations and networking/partnership building
- Experience writing papers, briefings, articles and with own work published an advantage
- Competencies
Communication (including writing and presentation skills)
- Proven excellent drafting skills in English
- Excellent oral communication and presentation skills
- Strong analytical skills, and a proven ability to process large amount of information
Organization
Teamwork
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to work in teams
- Initiative taking and ability to work with minimum supervision
- Ability to work in a multicultural environment
Technical Competencies
- Computer/software literate, preferably knowledgeable in Microsoft Office including Excel
- Experience in the use of database applications and statistical analysis tools.
- Experience in compiling and managing databases
- Languages
Proficiency in English, both written and oral, is required. Proficiency in French and/or Portuguese is desirable
The consultant will be paid on instalment basis as detailed below:
· 30% upon submission of regional mapping of key stakeholders’ /database
· 30% upon completion of draft Regional Response Plan and Resource Mobilization Strategy
· 40% upon submission and approval by IOM of final Regional Response Plan and Resource Mobilization Strategy andfinal report outlining the SWOT analysis of the existing IOM structures and partnerships
Interested individual consultants should submit their applications to IOM Human Resources Unit through [email protected] with clear reference of the advert in the subject line by July 31 2020. The application should include a cover or motivation letter indicating the consultant’s all-inclusive fees (in USD) as well as brief statement on previous similar experience and the CV. Only shortlisted individual consultants will be contacted.