Rapid Market Assessment of the sectors and sub sectors in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor

Free Movement of persons and Transhumance in the IGAD Region: Improving Opportunities for Regular Labour Mobility

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Rapid Market Assessment of the sectors and sub sectors in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor

Background

With a total population of 221 million and a surface area of 5.2 million square kilometres, the eight states [The IGAD region is comprised of Djibouti, Eritrea (membership suspended), Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.] make up the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The IGAD region is endowed with vast amounts of arable land, natural resources, including substantial oil and gas reserves, as well as alternative energy resources. In spite of these, for many years, the region has been affected by a combination of protracted conflicts, political instability, environmental degradation and food insecurity which lead to poverty and underdevelopment of the region.

The IGAD region is characterized by migratory movements driven by multiple political, economic, and environmental factors, making it difficult to establish clear lines between categories of migrants, refugees and forcibly displaced populations. [ ILO (2016) "The access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market", Background paper and draft ILO guiding principles for discussion at the ILO tripartite technical meeting on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market. (Geneva, 5–7 July 2016), International Labour Office, Geneva.] The region generates more refugee movements than any other area in the world; at the same time, high levels of cross border trade and temporary flows across borders are indicative of the socio-economic interdependence of these areas. The countries in the region are also simultaneously origin, transit and destination for migrants and refugees, who are increasingly using the same routes. While data on labour migration is scarce, the majority of migratory movements are within the IGAD region or to neighbouring regions. These flows are based in part on historical and cultural ties, as well as current global dynamics of supply and demand for workers.

Cognizant of these, IGAD and its member states have taken steps to properly manage and address the issue of migration in the region. To this end, among other things, IGAD and its member states have developed and adopted comprehensive migration policy framework, IGAD regional Migration Policy Framework, in 2012 and further developed Migration Action plan (MAP). Both the IGAD Regional Migration Policy Framework and the MAP have identified facilitation labour mobility, transhumance and free movement of persons including the possibility for establishment and residence as there strategic priority.

IGAD member states have also made commitments for achieving greater regional integration among member States, which is expected to bring about the expansion of trade, economics of scale and greater foreign direct investment, all contributing to accelerated economic growth. In 2013, the Summit of the IGAD Heads of State and Government adopted a Minimum Integration Plan to serve as a road map for regional integration, in which the free movement of persons is a key pillar. To this end, IGAD member states have entered into substantive discussions and consultations on draft free movement protocol.

In order to support IGAD and its member states towards free movement of persons and transhumance in the region, the ILO is implementing a three years technical cooperation project titled “Free Movement of Persons and Transhumance in the IGAD Region: Improving Opportunities for Regular Labour Mobility”. The project is being implemented in collaboration with the IGAD and its member states with the financial support of the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to improve opportunities for regulated labour mobility and decent work within the IGAD member states through the development of models of intervention, in the broader context of free movement of persons and labour mobility in the region. In the long-term, the project is expected to extend decent work opportunities to current and potential migrants within the region, as well as contribute to regional integration, strengthen the link between economic growth and job creation, and enhance the social and economic integration of migrants.

The project has two major components: knowledge-building and operational implementation. The knowledge-building component seeks to deepen understanding of migration and labour market dynamics in the region, including the constraints and opportunities for employment creation and causes of skills shortages. The operational component aims to pilot interventions in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor and enhance employment and decent work opportunities across the Ethiopia – Sudan migration corridor.

To this end, the ILO is searching for an international consultant to conduct rapid market assessments (RMA) [**See* *here for the ILO’s guidance in value chain development, inclusive of RMAs in Chapter 1 on sector selection. For an example of rapid market assessments in practice, see here for the ILO’s experience in Afghanistan. ] of sectors with potential for development and employment creation for migrants as well as nationals in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor [Migration corridor refers to migration prone cities, town, and districts which are either a source, transit or destination for migrants along the Ethiopia – Sudan migration route. Specific locations of interventions will be to be decided during the inception phase of the assessment through literature review and further consultation with IGAD and responsible government counter parts in Ethiopia and Sudan]”.

The RMA should specifically aim at

1. Identifying the sub-sectors and value chains that are active in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor and most able to create sustainable enterprise and employment opportunities for migrants and nationals with high prospects for improving the working conditions and incomes for the target groups.

2. Developing initial hypotheses of the opportunities, bottlenecks and constraints in these sub-sectors and value chains that prevent these from growing and generating decent employment for migrants and nationals in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor.

The RMA should collect sufficient information to enable the project team to

1. make an informed decision about the potential and relevance of the identified sub-sectors and value chains on employment creation and, decent work for migrants and nationals, and to ascertain whether interventions to develop these sectors to be more inclusive of these target groups would be feasible;

better target entrepreneurship and enterprise development interventions for the two target groups (migrants and nationals in the Ethiopia-Sudan migration corridor) based on market demand and economic opportunities for employment, particularly through value addition initiatives;

develop initial hypotheses about the underlying constraints in the market systems and identify possible sectoral interventions that can help migrants and nationals in the corridor to access and better exploit economic opportunities in the sub-sectors and value chains with strong potential for inclusive growth and systemic change.

Develop initial hypothesis about possible cross border interventions within existing national legal and policy frameworks and provisions of the draft protocol on free movement persons

Scope

The assignment will consist of the following components:

1. Preliminary research, including a literature review of secondary data sources

2. More detailed field research and analysis to collect primary data (disaggregated by sex and age group as much as possible), mostly through key informant interviews (including public, private institutions and civil society).

3. Preparation of a Rapid Market Assessment Report including analysis relevant to each sector and each target group.

4. Presentation of findings in a half-day meeting to the ILO and project partners in Ethiopia.

The international consultant is expected to work with national consultant(s) to develop a work plan for the field research, including defining data collection sources and analysis tools (questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, case studies, etc.) as well as jointly organise and conduct interviews and focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders. The ILO can provide contacts of national consultant(s) with whom the international consultant can directly work with but preference will be given to international consultants who have an existing network of national consultants who they could tap for this exercise.

Deliverables

• Inception Report: the consultant is expected to produce an inception report explaining his/her understanding of the ToR and, detailed methodology, draft outline of the report and key resources/materials and data sources to be examined in the assessment.

• Submission of research tools and procedures: In due course of the assignment, the consultant is expected to submit all his research tools, methods and procedures in long listing, short listing of sectors, sub sectors and conducting actual field work to the ILO in advance and get clearance;

• First Draft Report: the consultant will submit the first draft to the ILO for comments and inputs. The ILO will share the first draft to key stakeholders and partners for their inputs and consolidate the same;

• Second Draft Report: the consultant shall incorporate initial comments from ILO and major partners and submit the second draft;

• Presentation: once the second draft is up to the standard and expectation of the ILO, the consultant will present the second draft in a regional tripartite (plus) validation workshop;

• Final Report: the consultant shall incorporate the comments from the validation workshop and submit the final report one week after the validation workshop.

Time frame

The consultancy is expected to take 35-40 working days between January 2017 and February 2018.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge and significant experience working in market systems development

• Experience conducting primary and secondary research

• Knowledge and experience on migration issues and the free movement agenda

• Knowledge or experience of working in the horn of Africa particularly Ethiopia and/or Sudan

• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and analysis

• Ability to write high quality reports

• Excellent communication and coordination skills; ability to facilitate focus group discussions and interact with stakeholders at all levels

• Fluency in English

To apply please send your C.V. along with a brief technical and financial proposal not more than 4 pages to Amare Negash negasha@ilo.org by 17^th December 18:00hrs Addis Ababa, Ethiopia time citing "Consultancy for RMA in Ethiopia-Sudan" as the subject. If short-listed, you may be asked to provide a writing sample as well as to be available for an interview during the second week of January 2018