Migration and Trade consultant at International Organization for Migration

Call for Application

Migration and Trade consultant

1. Duty Station of the Consultancy: Home-based with a possibility to travel**
2. Duration of Consultancy: 5 months**
3. Project Context and Scope: **

Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, of the African Union (AU), is Africa’s integrative strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development, aligned with the Global 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),[1] and is a concrete manifestation of the pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity. Africa has a unique opportunity to chart an innovative way forward to further social and economic development, continental and regional integration, democratic governance, and peace and security amongst other issues aimed at repositioning Africa to becoming a dominant player in the global arena.

Numerous progressive frameworks under the pillars of Agenda 2063, have emerged over the years and align strongly to IOM’s mandate, namely, the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence, and Right of Establishment (also known as the Free Movement of Person’s protocol), the Migration Policy Framework for Africa, Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), AU Strategy for Integrated Border Governance (AUBGS) and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement among others. The AfCFTA is expected to be a game-changer for Africa and a key engine of economic growth and industrialization for sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063. The Agreement covers trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition policy and e-commerce, moving the scope of AfCFTA beyond the requirements of a traditional free trade area. The Agreement recognizes the importance of inclusion, in particular gender equality as one of its general objectives and for the development of international trade and economic cooperation. It is further complemented by other regional and continental initiatives.

While trade and trade facilitation are specialized areas, with an increasing notion of the role of human mobility in trade, IOM has a unique comparative advantage and can contribute its expertise and knowledge to strengthen specific linkages between migration and trade through a mainstreaming approach. IOM can harness complementarities with relevant programming areas and consolidate partnerships with other organizations working on trade-related issues including sister UN agencies, relevant trade, and customs actors, as well as with Member States. Apart from cross-border movement, migration is impacted by and in turn affects trade in many ways. This includes investment into diverse economic sectors, labour market skill contributions to countries of origin and destination, usage of remittances as investment economic sectors including the financial markets, exchange of technological know-how, and trade in nostalgia goods and services. Trade and investment are facilitated by people and as such, the free movement of persons is an integral part of the African free trade area strategy.

1. Nature of the consultancy:

The migration and trade nexus has been on the agenda of IOMs work for quite some time, starting from the inaugural workshop in 2004 in collaboration with the World Bank and the WTO2 and a series of additional advocacy and policy initiatives, including a recent think piece from 2019. From the operational perspective, however, not many projects and programmes emerged hampered by the persistent division between migration and trade communities as well as lack of understanding of how these two areas could be meaningfully brought together to create impact and scale. Despite the work conducted so far and the important symbiosis among human mobility, trade and border management, and the relevance of this nexus to socioeconomic development, IOM still has to advance to develop a coherent approach across different thematic domains and needs to conceptualize and articulate IOM’s institutional position and comparative advantage as a key technical agency but also in our coordinating role under the Global Compact for Migration (GCM).

Utilizing the opportunity of the newly active AfCFTA and IOM’s ongoing discussions with UNECA on mainstreaming migration within the AfCFTA national strategies, IOM established an Agency-wide task force to support our engagement in this key development area. Within this context, the consultant will work towards developing the IOM approach, both for AfCFTA specifically and one in which IOM can apply within trade-related agreements and integration processes in other regions and globally. The main purpose of establishing this global approach will be to ensure consistency across IOM, but also enhance compliance with existing international standards and practices, to the extent feasible and relevant, to support IOMs programming across thematic areas.

The consultant will play a key role in supporting the newly formed IOM task force on migration and trade to shape coherence through the creation of a repport on IOMs work and comparative advantage, along with a catalogue of interventions (toolkit) and in which IOM can apply within trade related discourse within AfCFTA and other bilateral and multilateral trade frameworks globally.

The Consultant will be responsible for the following two components of work:

· Component one – Support IOM task force in creating coherence and comparative advantage on migration and trade, in particular for IOM’s entry to support the AfCFTA; IOM internal engagement, internal and external data gathering for coherence (2 months)

i. Undertake analytical studies on key trade policy areas of the AfCFTA Agreement and state of play and emerging issues as it relates to migration and mobility;

ii. Map out the potential areas of convergence and divergence with migration and the implementation of the AfCFTA and in case of divergence in classification propose a harmonization as may be applicable;

iii. Analysis of external partners engagement/position/support to the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and other trade related frameworks, in which to better craft IOMs comparative advantage and methodology of engagement and partnership.

iv. Expert support during IOM internal task force meetings and discussions;

v. Key informant interviews with IOM task force and other internal and external stakeholders;

vi. Desk review of IOM-wide interventions, tools, guidance amongst other related documents aligned to the migration and trade nexus across relevant thematic areas;

· Component two – Toolkit development and assistance with piloting (3 months)

i. Lead in the development of the report on IOM comparative advantage and the IOM toolkit based on data from component one. The focus will be on opportunities in Africa under AfCFTA, though the analysis should also put forward key interventions and positioning that IOM can utilize within other global trade related opportunities;

ii. Assist IOM SLO, Regional Offices in Africa and HQ with Country Office engagement for pilot testing;

iii. Support IOM engagement with partners, i.e. AfCFTA, UNECA, AUC, others when required;

iv. Perform such other related duties as may be assigned.

1. Reporting

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Senior Regional Thematic Specialist, Labour Mobility and Human Development (LHD) at the IOM Regional Office for Southern Africa, in close coordination with counterparts at SLO Addis, LHD HQ and the IOM task force on migration and trade that has been established, and other relevant specialists in IOM regional and country offices, as agreed upon during the inception phase.

1. Tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment

a) First deliverable – Inception report outlining the scope of work and methodology;

b) Second deliverable: A strategic report written in English (maximum 100 pages with annexes) to consolidate global work related to migration and trade across IOM (Vertical/Horizontal) and present IOMs comparative advantage. The final focus of the report will be agreed between the consultant and IOM but should look to include the following elements:

Ø Develop a mapping of stakeholders down to grass roots within the African continent for IOM engagements;

Ø Develop an implementation matrix for collaboration between IOM and key trade partners, private sector and civil society;

Ø Establish effective mechanisms for mobilization of resources for the implementation of IOMs collaboration with partners;

Ø Highlight generic interventions/positioning IOM can pursue in other global trade frameworks;

Ø Develop key messages and tools for communication on the migration and trade interplay.

c) Third deliverable – A toolkit for IOM (field staff) on our approach and entry points for engagement along with possible support in piloting interventions within select Members States in each of IOMs geographic regions in Africa;

d) Fourth delivarable – Identify IOM internal capacity building needs for sustained engagement on the migration trade discourse and design capacity building strategy for institutional development;

e) Fifth deliverable – Electronic copies of presentations and other materials generated for workshops and conferences of relevance to the work within this consultancy;

f) Final deliverable – Final report on the consultancy as per IOM standard form.

1. Payment schedule

The Total fee, inclusive of related costs, not subject to any deductions, will be paid to the consultant as follows.

· 20 % upon the satisfactory completion of deliverable “Clearance of Inception Report”

· 40% upon the satisfactory completion of deliverable “Finalization of Report, Toolkit”

· 40% upon the satisfactory completion of deliverable “Completion of piloting and submission of final documentation”

1. Education, Experience and/or skills required

Education

· Master’s Degree or higher in International Trade, International Development, Political or Social Sciences, Business or migration and trade-related field of studies from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience or

· University Degree in the above fields with 7 years of relevant experience.

Experience

· Extensive experience in design, managing, technical and coordinating support to trade-related discourse and agreements at national, regional or global level;

· In-depth understanding of migration processes and trends in Africa, the Free Movement and AfCFTA discourse;regional integration

· Experience in coordinating activities at global, regional and cross-regional level and across a variety of state, non-state and multilateral actors;

· Experience in formulating development strategies and policies;

· Experience working on/with African Union, AfCFTA Secretariat, RECs and other multilateral institutions on the continent

Skill

· Excellent analytical and organizational skills; ability to think critically and creatively;

· Skilled communicator, both verbally and in writing;

· Attention to detail and highly organized, collaborative, and team-oriented;

· High levels of proficiency with Microsoft Excel; proficiency with PowerPoint and Word;

· Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, tasks efficiently.

Language

· Fluency in English is required for this consultancy service. Working knowledge of French and Portuguese is advantageous.

1. Travel required

This is home-based consultancy assignment but with a possibility to travel which will be coordinated with the immediate supervisor

1. Competencies

Values

· Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.

· Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.

· Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

· Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.

· Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.

· Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.

· Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.

· Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

How to apply

Interested individual consultants are expected to submit the following:

• Financial quotation/proposal relating to this assignment in USD, specifying the daily professional fee as well as the total all-inclusive consultancy fee

• Letter of motivation describing the consultant suitability for the assignment,

• Up-to-date curriculum vitae with three professional referees and

• Two examples of similar works

All applications clearly indicating the position title (consultancy service) in the subject line must be submitted on or before 25 February 2022 via e-mail to pretoriacvs@iom.int.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.