Job: Livelihoods Consultant

Location: Geneva
Closing Date: Sunday, 01 December 2013

Terms of Reference

Post Title: Livelihoods Consultant

Duty station: Home based, with frequent travel to the field and HQ

Duration of assignment: 3 - 6 months

General Background

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to leadand co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problemsworldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives toensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State.

While UNHCR's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees, our

ultimate goal is to help find durable solutions that will allow them to rebuild their lives indignity. There are three durable solutions pursued by UNHCR for 6.4 million refugees inprotracted situations: voluntary repatriation; local integration; or resettlement to a thirdcountry. While pursuing durable solutions UNHCR additionally tries to increase the self-relianceand livelihood opportunities of refugees.

Context for the Post

The strategic goal of livelihoods programming in UNHCR is to enable the self-reliance of personsof concern, enhancing their freedom and their capacity to accelerate and participate in theachievement of durable solutions.

The challenges faced by refugees and displaced populations in finding decent economic

opportunities have been subject to growing attention in UNHCR operations. Efforts tostrengthen the organisation's understanding of refugee livelihoods and capacity to deliveradequate services and useful livelihoods programs is continuing while the number of operationsthat have shown interest in boosting their capacity and activities in this area is growing everyyear.The national, legal and policy environment in refugee hosting countries places varying degreesof restrictions on refugees' right to work and freedom of movement. In spite of these, refugeesuse different strategies to generate income, mostly through daily labouring jobs in the informalsector. The initial assets that refugees can rely on - such as their skills, access to financial capital,physical health, social networks - are critical in widening their options to access safe andproductive work or engage in income generating activities. In many cases however, these assetsare either insufficient from the start, or have been eroded by years of displacement.Consequently, a significant proportion of refugees are exposed to various forms of economicexploitation, and to arrest and detention by authorities.

The UNHCR livelihoods team is developing a Global Livelihoods Strategy that will better define

opportunities for UNHCR staff and partners and other relevant actors to develop and implementsustainable livelihoods programmes for displaced populations.PurposeUNHCR is searching for an accomplished and highly motivated livelihoods expert to provideassistance and guidance to UNHCR's livelihoods programming in the field. The consultant will beresponsible for assessing and compiling existing socio-economic data, conduct necessaryassessments (contract external agencies, if needed), review on-going livelihoods activities andlocal development plans, map out partnership opportunities, and develop or implementcomprehensive livelihood strategies for field operations.

Scope and focus

The strategic planning process to be undertaken will be conducted in regard to the policyenvironment and social or political processes that enable or inhibit access to work and otherlivelihood opportunities; diversity in the refugee population, in terms of their socio-economicstatus, i.e. the livelihood assets and strategies that households and individual men and womenuse to survive; and the protection challenges refugees face in the settlements.Institutions and existing programmes that support or can potentially support livelihooddevelopment and create economic opportunities in the hosting areas also need to be identifiedand/or formalized.The strategic plan will cover refugees in the settlements/urban areas, as well as surroundinglocal communities who provide a reference as to what to expect in the target area and includeall or aspects of existing on-going livelihoods activities in the various parts of the country.The consultant will ensure the livelihood strategy is developed through a consultative processinvolving the participation and contribution of a Multi-functional Team, representatives of therefugee community, Government, the host community and the public and the private sector, aswell as relevant organizations such as UNHCR's Implementing Partners (IP) and CommunityOrganizations (COs), WFP, FAO, UNDP and other potential partners.

Responsibilities

Outputs:- The current livelihood strategies of refugee and local populations in the target area aredocumented, including:

• The socio-economic profile of the already assessed population verified (mainwealth-group/socio-economic categories of the population characterized interms of household composition; livelihood assets; income sources; food-security status);
• The livelihood assets and strategies of households defined within each wealth-group, with particular attention to the different roles of men and women,capacities and capacity-gaps for accessing employment/self-employmentopportunities.

- The contextual opportunities and constraints for employment/self-employment are

documented, including:o- The actors and institutions operating in or delivering services to the area; theaccessibility of markets for goods and services; the accessibility of vocationaltraining, financial services, and business services providers;- The development processes in the area (review local development plans andidentify planned or potential sources of public/private sector investment; otherprocesses that can affect the markets);- The policies and practices relating to employment, enterprise development,access to land etc., that influence development processes and affect livelihoodopportunities in the area, as well as existing land and environmentalmanagement policies and practices and their potential threats.- Feasible strategies to reinforce and develop displaced populations' capacities, livelihoodassets and outcomes, address capacity gaps, and enhance their access toemployment/self-employment opportunities are formulated.- Implementation and partnership arrangements are recommended.- Baseline indicators are selected, to enable regular assessment of changes in socio-economic profiles, livelihood assets and outcomes of displaced population groups,inclusive of age- and gender-differentials. These should be based on FOCUS indicators,with adjustments (such as proxy indicators), if necessary, to the local environment.

Activities:

- Review of secondary information (relevant existing reports/studies and previouslivelihoods assessment).- Institutional mapping of relevant organizations and institutions, highlighting whatorganizations are doing and for whom, including both existing and planned programmesthat could be directly or indirectly supporting refugee livelihoods.- Key informant interviews, if necessary, with relevant stakeholders from local/nationalinstitutions related to training, employment, finance, enterprise, agriculture, etc;- community leaders; knowledgeable persons in the communities; representatives oftrade groups, cooperatives, and special interest groups; UNHCR staff members; stafffrom partner organizations.- A series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with household-members from each of theidentified wealth groups; and with special interest groups (e.g. groups of women,persons from similar trades, youth, etc) to verify the wealth of information andsuggested livelihoods activities. A sufficient number of FGDs will be conducted with eachrepresentatives of each of the wealth groups, to allow for systematic verification andcross-checking of information and ensure consistency in the data collected andaggregated for each wealth group. Other Participatory Rural Assessment methods mayprove useful e.g. transect walks; seasonal calendars; etc.

- Data analysis - using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework; and analytical tools such as

SWOT analysis.

• Verify existing information on livelihood assets and strategies of differentwealth groups, and of men and women within these; identify strengths andweaknesses in terms of capacities and capacity gaps (internal factors).
• Analyse the opportunities and threats related policies, institutions, andprocesses (external factors); this includes opportunities/threats in the formaland informal employment markets, supply and demand of goods and services,oincluding financial services. Opportunities may be found in terms of emerging'market niches'.
• Identify means of enhancing strengths and opportunities, and of addressing orpreventing weaknesses and threats. Formulate actionable recommendations.

- Prepare a summary of key findings and recommendations, including new and on-going

projects, and present them in a restitution meeting/workshop, gathering keystakeholders in the assessment and programming process.- Draft a comprehensive report; submit for review and incorporate comments into a quality final report.

Qualifications (academic, experience)

- Advanced University degree (Master Level minimum) in Development studies,Development economics, Agricultural economics, Labour economics, Socio-economicstudies, or other related field. Additional areas of experience could include povertyreduction; economics, business administration or management.

- Minimum of 10 years of relevant practical field experience within one or more of thefollowing areas: Socio-economic and/or household economy assessments; risks andvulnerability assessments, Market assessments, rapid and participatory rural Appraisal.

- Experience also in livelihood programming in terms of: cooperatives and/ormicrofinance, employment promotion, entrepreneurship building, private sectordevelopment, local economic recovery/poverty-reduction strategies, agriculture/livestock/natural resource management, urban and rural small businessdevelopment; Vocational and Technical Education and Training (VTET); IncomeGenerating Activities; Value chain analysis; Cash assistance.

- Knowledge about latest development in the livelihoods sector, and in-depth knowledgeof at least 2 technical sub-sectors in livelihoods (e.g. microfinance, vocational trainingand technical education, business development, technology, entrepreneurship building,cash assistance, community contracting, employment services, agriculture/ruraldevelopment).

- Demonstrated experience in conducting assessments for planning and/or evaluationpurposes. Familiarity with established assessment and analytical tools is desirable in theexpert's specialty (e.g. Household economy approach; Sustainable livelihoodsframework; Market analysis: EMMA; Mifira; Socio-economic profiling; SMARTmethodology, UNHCR SENS guidelines, Evaluation of Access and Coverage methods ofSQUEAC/SLEAC).

- Familiarity with community-based and participatory approaches.

- Experience in working effectively with UN organisations, international and nationalNGOs, and with government authorities at national level; familiarity with the FAO, IFAD,ILO and the UN System approach relating to decent work, and with priorities andapproaches of workers' and employers' organizations representing rural men andwomen would also be an asset.

- Fluency in English required. Knowledge of another UN language will be an asset.

Skills:- Excellent analytical and communication skills in English- Demonstrated publications record, covering research, technical, and policy areas;-- Ability to work as a part of a multi-cultural and international team;- Excellent networking skills with private and public sector institutions;- Extensive computer skills including excel, word and power point.

Duration

Approximately 3 – 6 months per assignment/deployment (with multiple deployments possiblewithin a year)Enquiries/How to applyPlease send an email with your CV and cover letter before 1 December 2013 tolivelihoods@unhcr.org.

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