Senior Socio-Economic Adviser 87 views1 applications

Short Term Consultant (STC)

Terms of Reference – Senior Socio-Economic Adviser

Background

Currently, Ethiopia is one of the largest refugee hosting countries in Africa. At the end of 2018, the total refugee population hosted in the country was more than 900,000, displaced by droughts/famine, conflicts and civil wars in the region and beyond.

 Since the outbreak of the civil war in South Sudan in 2013, close to half a million South Sudanese refugees have sought asylum in Ethiopia.  Equally important is to take note that most of the Eritrean, Somali, Sudan and South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia are in a protracted displacement situation. Most refugees are hosted in Tigray Regional State and the four Emerging Regions of Ethiopia (i.e., Afar Regional State, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, the Gambella Regional State and Somali Regional State).

 The Emerging Regions are those Federal States that are underserved and located in the periphery, i.e. bordering the countries that are producing asylum seekers/refugees, characterized by harsh weather conditions, poor infrastructure, low implementing capacity, high levels of poverty and very poor development indicators with poor provision of basic services. There are instances where refugees are getting better basic services compared to the communities that are hosting them.

 Ethiopia is a State party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and its 1967 Protocol, as well as to the 1969 Organization of African Union (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. Based on the international and regional refugee instruments/conventions, the Government of Ethiopia has also enacted the 2004 Refugee Proclamation (Proclamation No. 409/2004) and the new refugee legislation which is even more progressive, that was enacted by the Federal Parliament in January 2019.

 Notwithstanding the ever-increasing number of asylum seekers crossing boarders into the country, Ethiopia maintains an open-door policy for those who seek refuge in its territory and allow humanitarian access and protection. Furthermore, the Government of the Ethiopia is taking perceptible actions or steps to ensure the safety and dignity of refugees, as well as increasing self-reliance.

 In September 2016, Ethiopia alongside the United States, co-chaired the Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis. The main tenets of the New York declaration are to: (i) ease pressure on host countries, (ii) enhance refugee self-reliance, (iii) expand access to third-country solutions, and, (iv) support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity. The Government of Ethiopia announced nine significant pledges, relating to the betterment of life of refugees and service delivery to the same group. The New York Declaration also emphasizes the need to engage development actors in a sustainable response for refugees and host communities, the ‘Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework’ (CRRF). CRRF promotes inclusion of refugees in the delivery of national services and national development plans and programmes, supporting these priorities where possible. The CRRF also aims to bring on board partners into the refugee response, including those who have been less involved, by mobilizing their respective areas of expertise and interest to contribute to a broad-based response.

Organizational Context 

The roll-out of the CRRF in Ethiopia requires intensive efforts, including consultations with a broad range of internal and external interlocutors at national, regional and district levels – in particular, the various government offices that need to be involved as part of the CRRF roll-out.

The CRRF in Ethiopia aims to address the protracted refugee situation and provide support to local integration of refugees in the country. Special attention has been given to the implementation of the pledges made by the Government during the Leaders’ Summit. The CRRF will build on and complement existing strategies, coordination and funding mechanisms, incorporating both humanitarian and development actors. In particular, concerted efforts are being made to consolidate the partnership with development actors with a view to bridging the gap between humanitarian and development interventions.

Against this background, the World Bank is hiring a Senior Socio-Economic Adviser to provide technical assistance to the Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and  support the roll-out of the CRRF.

Duties and Responsibility 

The Senior Socio-Economic Adviser (the Short-Term Consultant) will work under the overall guidance of the Deputy Director General of the Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and under the direct supervision of the World Bank Task Team Leader. The Consultant will support ARRA on  trends and policy formulation on refugee and host community socio-economic development aspects. In particular, the Consultant will:

Advise ARRA management on policy and development approaches related to socio-economic aspects

• Provide advice and guidance on refugee-related socio-economic development issues to ARRA leadership at the Addis Ababa and field levels to ensure that development considerations are properly taken into account, in particular those related to the operationalization of the nine pledges, and the National Comprehensive Refugee Response Strategy (NCRRS) and its plan of action;
• Advise ARRA Senior Management in areas of socio-economic inclusion, enhancing enabling environment and facilitate engagements with development initiatives and livelihoods and job creation coordination;
• Monitor the emerging trends and policy debates on refugee and host community related to socio-economic development issues in Ethiopia and in the Horn of Africa and share with Senior Management, as appropriate;
• Reflect the government positions on policy, advocacy and programming issues as they relate to the protection, resilience and solutions of refugees with medium-term economic and social development programs;
• Ensure that development projects and interventions impacting refugees and host communities are designed and implemented in close collaboration with ARRA and in a manner that ensures that protection issues are fully and adequately addressed;

Contribute to strengthening the knowledge base and capacity on socio-economic development within ARRA

• In coordination with other relevant staff, advice on research program, undertake policy analysis and provide inputs to various CRRF-related reports and analytical activities related to socio-economic development issues;
• Advise on socio-economic development-related capacity building efforts within ARRA and deliver capacity building and training activities for ARRA, other governments entities and partners;
• Advise on choice of indicators for M&E plans and systems, covering both macro and micro-economic status and performance;

Support ARRA management on dialogue and coordination

• Liaise and facilitate dialogue with relevant government, non-governmental and development partners including the private sector on all socio-economic on all socio-economic development-related issues affecting refugees and host communities;
• Contribute to policy dialogue and operational engagement with the various Government of Ethiopia entities, UN agencies, development and humanitarian partners, multilateral, private sector, and donors; Ensure good communication and coordination among ARRA teams, donors, UN Agencies and other partners;
• Contribute to national, regional and woreda-level CRRF-related inter-agency initiatives on socio-economic issues;
• Perform other related duties as required.

Proposed Outputs

• Develop work plan for activities in FY2019/2020 (Oct. 2019 to June 30, 2020)
• Submission of timely and high-quality outputs as agreed in the workplan that reflects all feedback provided by the World Bank and ARRA
• Produce bi-monthly email reports (1 page) on progress related to the workplan and any other relevant issues related to socio-economic development-related activities to be submitted to ARRA and WB.
• Series of capacity-building and training events for ARRA staff to assume responsibility for socio-economic related aspects in a sustainable way.

Duration:                                           

• Until June 30, 2020

Job Requirements

Minimum Qualification

• Advanced Degree in the field of Social Sciences, preferably Economic and/or Development Studies.

Work Experience:

• At least ten years of development experience, which includes working within the Government of Ethiopia, an international development agency or an international financial institution on local economic development and area-based development projects;
• Demonstrated experience working with national, regional or local governments on development planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
• Good understanding of the development context in Ethiopia, including the country’s governance structure;
• Prior experience in advising senior government officials (desirable);
• Strong understanding of processes of the World Bank, the African Development Bank or any other international financial institutions; and
• Experience of working on synergies between the humanitarian-development nexus.

How to Apply

Please submit your CV, motivation letter and list of references to [email protected] by end of day, October 25, 2019. Only short-listed candidate will be contacted.