Result of Service

The project is a joint project of ECA and AUC, leveraging on each institution’s strength and focusing on 6 thematic areas, namely:
i. Promoting Economic Empowerment of Migrant Women: Identifying and supporting migrant women’s engagement in economic activities.
ii. Towards improving migration statistics and “Good Legal Identity” of migrants in the East and Horn of Africa
iii. Support to the AU Technical Assistance Facility on Migration Governance with 2 technical experts
iv. Support to Combating Irregular Migration among AU-HoAI Member States and Countries that Lie Along the 3 Irregular Migration Corridors from the Horn of Africa
v. Support to Cross-border Infectious Disease Surveillance and Data Collection on Migrants’ Health in Africa
vi. Enhancing free movement of persons and pathways for labour mobility and skills portability in Africa

The project’s objective is implemented through several components led by the ECA and AUC. The interventions hinge on close collaboration between the African Union Commission (AUC), and ECA, in cooperation with Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU Member States and relevant stakeholders such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization on Migration (IOM), to support the implementation of the project’s activities.

Under the overall guidance of the Chief of the Social Policy Section, Gender Poverty and Social Policy Division and the direct supervision of the AUC, Head of Division for Labour, Employment & Migration based at the African Union commission (AUC), the successful candidate will substantively support the coordination and implementation of the project

Work Location

Addis Ababa

Expected duration

11

Duties and Responsibilities

BACKGROUND
International migration has recently received much attention because of the demographic, economic, social, political, and cultural implications in countries of origin, transit and destination. Human mobility across borders has been on an exponential increase since the Second World War. Globalization has opened further avenues for migration. First, distances are no longer barriers. Second, information is widely available, and people can easily know where opportunities are available. Thus, globalization has increased the interconnectedness of nation states and therefore has increased migration flows. According to Laing (2015), the world is experiencing an era of unprecedented human mobility, a period in which people are on the move than ever before. More than 1 billion in a world of 7 billion are on the move. Of these, 250 million are international migrants and 750 million are domestic migrants.
With these growing numbers in migration, the responses have been varied. Some countries of origin actively promote emigration as a source of remittances and have even established official programs of diaspora involvement in development. However, in other countries of origin, especially where governance issues have led to collapse of economies and resulted in the exodus of citizens as economic refugees, they perceive migrants as opponents or indifferently. The responses of recipient countries have varied mainly on the level of restriction to entry and rights of migrants once in the country. In host countries, local citizens have taken sides on either being pro-migration on or anti-migration. Thus, the emotive nature of migration has resulted in the issue being politicized and influenced public policy in most countries. According to Collier (2015) Migration policy has been fought over through using competing values rather than competing evidence.
Evidence suggests the rise of larger scale irregular migratory flows, including the numbers of migrants returning to their countries of origin, and with it, the focus on reintegration initiatives, as well as the diversity of actors involved in migration management and governance. Sustainable reintegration is a key aspect of the migration process, and part of comprehensive migration management. In view of this, several frameworks have shaped the overall African approach to migration issues. The Migration Policy Framework for Africa which was adopted in 2006 and revised in 2018 aims to assist governments and RECs in the formulation of their own national and regional migration policies in accordance with their own priorities and resources. The overarching principle that guides the ECA and AUC work on migration is contained in the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development in Africa beyond 2014 that emphasizes the commitment to reinforce and establish bilateral, regional, and global partnerships on migration to progressively reduce barriers on movement while upholding the fundamental human rights of all migrants and make migration an instrument of mutual development for the benefit of migrants and countries. At the level, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular migration – GCM sets out 23 objectives and affirms that migration is a source of prosperity, innovation, and development, but can also give rise to risks and challenges in origin, transit, and destination countries.

II: JOB RESPONSIBILITIES– DELIVERABLES AND OUTOUTS
Reporting directly to the AUC, Head of Division for Labour, Employment & Migration at AUC, the Consultant, Migration Governance is responsible for providing support to AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in establishing robust migration governance systems, specifically policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation, and the establishment/strengthening of robust institutional mechanisms for managing migration and working in other thematic areas of migration. During this period the Consultant will be expected to produce the following outputs in line with the overall objectives of the project.

· Develop strategic and annual activity work-plans, technical proposals, and budgets in line with the assigned portfolios.
· Participate in resource mobilization initiatives in line with the strategic plans of the Migration Unit.
· Participate in the identifying and providing technical assistance to Member States and RECs on migration and mobility.
· Identify and supervise consultants commissioned to undertake assignments for the Centre.
· Participate in the research activities of the Migration Unit.
· Contribute to the compilation of briefing notes and strategy documents on migration.
· Organize regional and continental workshops, seminars and conferences on migration.
· Participate in relevant regional/continental working groups to ensure coordination of work-plans, implementation strategies and evaluation plans for applicable activities.
· Monitor performance and prepare progress reports against annual work-plans and recommend changes to activities, projects, and individual/team performance as appropriate to achieve and programme objectives.
· Participate in designing monitoring and evaluation systems and the monitoring and evaluation of activities under his/her purview.
· Perform other duties as assigned by the Head, Division of Labour, Employment & Migration. The consultant is expected to work concurrently on these outputs.

Qualifications/special skills

A Master’s degree in migration, political/social science, international relations or other related disciplines
• Project management in migration.
• Providing training/technical assistance to governments in the area of migration.
• A deep understanding of the African migration landscape.
• Demonstrable experience in lecturing at university level or training/technical assistance to governments in migration. migration.
• Proven experience interacting with international and regional public partner agencies.
• Proven track-record of working and liaising with high-level government and donor officials.
• Demonstrable experience in supervising and leading teams of consultants, and delegating tasks and authority.
• Demonstrable experience in drafting technical documents for executive level consumption and/or peer review.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.