Individual Consultant on the Solutions Initiative for Sudan and South Sudan, Home-based

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a short-term consultancy on the Solutions Initiative for Sudan and South Sudan within the UNHCR Regional Bureau for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes (EHAGL).

The successful candidate will work within the Solutions Initiative for Sudan and South Sudan Coordination Team in the Regional Bureau for EHAGL.

UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Short-Term Consultant on the Solutions Initiative for Sudan and South Sudan
Duty Station: Home-based
Duration: 5 months (01 Mar – 31 Jul, 2022)
Contract Type: Individual Consultant
Closing date: 31 Jan 2022
Start date: 01 March 2022

Context

Both Sudan and South Sudan have made major advances to address daunting political, security and socio-economic challenges. The two countries lead each other’s mutually reinforcing peace processes. Complementing the peacebuilding efforts and taking advantage of the political openings, efforts are being made to revive both economies. To support South Sudan through its debt crisis, the World Bank is providing technical support to the public finance management (PFM) reforms. The IMF has provided South Sudan with about $52.3 million USD in November 2020^[1] and about $174.2 million USD in March 2021^[2] to support the Government’s poverty-reduction agenda. As part of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, Sudan is working with the World Bank and IMF to reduce its debt burden. On June 29, 2021, the Executive Boards of the World Bank and IMF have determined that Sudan reached the HIPC decision point, making it eligible to receive debt relief of about $23.3 billion USD. This will be complemented by other debt relief initiatives anchored to the HIPC initiative that will bring total debt relief to more than $50 billion, representing over 90% of Sudan’s total external debt.^[3] In both countries, support from the World Bank Group and the IMF also critical economic reforms.

Alongside the peace processes and economic reforms, a comprehensive approach to the durable solutions of forcibly displaced persons in and from South Sudan and Sudan is required. Given that forcibly displaced persons constitute a significant portion of the populations of both countries, one cannot meaningfully address the peacebuilding efforts and economic reforms without addressing the protection and solutions of refugees, IDPs, stateless persons, returnees and their host communities. The successful implementation of both peace agreements includes the sustainable return and reintegration of refugees and IDPs, which requires addressing the socio-economic issues associated to it. These issues cannot be addressed in isolation from the various economic and institutional reforms that are taking place in the context of the economic reforms and debt reduction processes. The pursuit of durable solutions for forcibly displaced persons in both countries requires close collaboration and coordination between humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding actors, under the leadership of both governments.

The Solutions Initiative for Sudan and South Sudan aims to galvanize a stronger collective response to create enabling conditions for durable solutions (voluntary repatriation, local integration and other local solutions, and resettlement/complementary pathways) as well as to strengthen asylum by addressing the humanitarian, development and peace-related needs in communities affected by forced displacement in and from Sudan and South Sudan. In line with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and important pledges both countries made at the first Global Refugee Forum, the Solutions Initiative supports the operationalization of the durable solutions-related provisions of the two countries’ respective peace agreements, which include provisions on durable solutions. It also complements collective efforts to revive the economies of both countries, which include undertaking critical economic and policy reforms. By creating enabling conditions for durable solutions, the Initiative will also contribute to addressing some of the drivers of forced displacement.

At the core of the Solutions Initiative is a political process led by the governments of South Sudan and Sudan with the support of IGAD, UNHCR, EU, and other stakeholders. A flagship activity of the IGAD Support Platform and building on the Somali Situation-focused Nairobi Process, the Solutions Initiative is aimed at generating and sustaining the political commitment to pursue durable solutions for South Sudanese and Sudanese forcibly displaced persons and displacement-affected communities in a comprehensive manner. The Solutions Initiative includes a political process that will culminate in an IGAD Heads of State Declaration, which will establish and reaffirm principles, best practices, and concrete commitments on the part of IGAD Member States to take a common and people-centered approach in support of durable solutions for forcibly displaced persons in and from South Sudan and Sudan.

The Solutions Initiative includes a government-led whole-of-society approach to the operationalization of the political commitments, with the active participation of UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector, and displacement-affected communities. A comprehensive approach to solutions requires addressing a wide range of issues and needs in refugee- and IDP-hosting and return areas. Building on their comparative advantages, humanitarian, development and peace actors will need to work on various interventions, including: (i) strengthening legal, institutional and policy frameworks; (ii) enhancing protection, social cohesion, security and rule of law; (iii) supporting community-driven area-based programs aimed at building resilience by supporting education, health, WASH, livelihoods, HLP (housing, land and property), and environmental rehabilitation; (iv) addressing lifesaving needs using humanitarian programs; and (v) strengthening registration, data and evidence to inform solutions. Gender and climate change mitigation/adaptation are cross-cutting areas of focus. Both Sudan and South Sudan have developed durable solutions strategies and action plans with the support of UNHCR and IGAD.

The position

The objective of the consulting assignment is to inform the operationalization of the solutions strategies by undertaking a lessons-learned exercise covering previous solutions-oriented initiatives and activities in countries affected by Sudanese and South Sudanese displacement situations**.** The Solutions Initiative is not the first collective effort aimed at promoting solutions in South Sudan and Sudan. Over the last two decades, there have been a number of solutions-oriented activities in both countries, including the post-CPA repatriation efforts in South Sudan, the Transitional Solutions Initiative in eastern Sudan and durable solutions efforts as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Darfur. It is critical that the Solutions Initiative is informed by lessons from these and other solutions-oriented activities.

The scope of the consultancy includes producing a document summarizing key lessons from previous solutions-oriented activities in South Sudan and Sudan, including the post-CPA repatriation efforts in South Sudan, the Transitional Solutions Initiative in eastern Sudan and durable solutions efforts as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Darfur. In addition to Sudan and South Sudan, the consultancy will also cover neighboring countries hosting refugees from Sudan and South Sudan (CAR, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda), with a particular focus on activities directly benefiting areas hosting Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Coordinator for the Solutions Initiative, the consultant will

perform the following responsibilities:

• Undertake a desk review of relevant documents on selected solutions-oriented activities (including advocacy/policy dialogue and analytical activities) that have taken place in CAR, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda over the last 20 years. In South Sudan, this will include UNHCR’s support of South Sudanese refugees’ participation in 2011 referendum and the repatriation program.

• Develop an inception report, which also includes questionnaire to guide the phone/zoom interviews.

• Conduct phone/zoom interviews with key informants and stakeholders.

• Prepare a draft of lessons learned from previous solutions-oriented activities to present to the UNHCR multi-functional team (MFT) on the Solutions Initiative. Work with the UNHCR Solutions Initiative MFT to develop a user-friendly repository of relevant materials and documents.

• Conduct a virtual workshop with external stakeholders in both countries – including RC/HCs, UN missions, development actors, ReDSS, IGAD, WB, EU, other members of the Core Group of the IGAD Support Platform, etc. – to present the draft lessons learned report and seek inputs.

• Based on the feed-back of the UNHCR MFT, finalize the lessons learned exercise.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

The ideal candidate will possess the qualification and experiences listed below:

• Advanced University Degree in Law/International Law, Political Science, Social Science, Development, Economics, International Relations or related field.

• Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience, which includes managing, researching, or evaluating development programs and initiatives.

• Experience with donor and stakeholder coordination.

• Previous work experience on socio-economic issues in refugee-hosting areas is a plus.

• Excellent policy and development programming skills.

• Strong and up-to-date knowledge of community-driven development (CDD), state-building and peacebuilding in fragile and conflict-affected situations.

Location

This position is home-based.

Conditions

Under this contract the Individual Consultant is expected to work about 5 months and is expected to produce: (i) an inception report; (ii) draft lessons learned reports, which will be revised based on feedback from internal and external stakeholders; and (iii) final lessons learned report. The consultant is also expected to consult virtually with a series of internal and external stakeholders during the preparation of the report.

[1] https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/11/11/pr20338-south-sudan-imf-executive-board-approves-disbursement-to-address-covid-19-pandemic

[2] https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/03/31/pr2194-south-sudan-imf-execboard-approves-us-174-2m-emergency-assistance-address-covid19

[3] https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2021/06/29/joint-statement-on-sudan-by-david-malpass-and-kristalina-georgieva-on-behalf-of-the-world-bank-group-and-the-imf

Closing date for the receipt of applications: 31 January 2022

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).