Regional Consultant Accountability to Affected People (AAP) at UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Duration : 5 months

Contract Type : Individual Consultant Level B

Fees : Between US$ 6,400 – US$ 8,100 monthly (depending on

years of relevant experience

Start date : 02 August 2019

Organisational context

• This consultancy is in support of a new Partnership between the Government of the Netherlands, IFC, ILO, UNHCR, UNICEF, and the World Bank. Eight countries and the respective UNHCR Country Operations are included in the Partnership agreement: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.
• The Partnership aims to develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises through the involvement of development actors in a results-based and country-led approach. The Partnership provides a platform for demonstrating the benefits of innovative approaches that can enhance impact on the ground – including, but not limited to, by fostering synergies and strategic coordination across the partnering organizations on three thematic focuses: protection, education, and employment.
• In preparation for the multi-year partnership and funding cycle, the Government of the Netherlands has made seed funding available to each partner agency for the preparation of activities and collaborations to be adopted during the multi-year partnership.
• The Partnership encourages the participating institutions to create, test, and scale innovative approaches to forced displacement and leverage their respective comparative advantages to pilot new ways of working, develop enhanced financing modalities, and use cutting-edge technologies.
• The allocation of the seed funding will ensure the timely and relevant preparation, research, and set-up of programmatic strategies and capacities for the design, implementation, and scaling of the multi-agency and multi-year Partnership.
• Under the Dutch Seed Funding, the Division of International Protection (DIP) has committed to provide technical, policy and human resource support to its operations to ensure the full capacity of UNHCR to prepare for its engagement. The seed funding is allocated with the specific objective to support the Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) Policy roll out to the operations targeted by the Partnership.

The position

The position is needed to support and strengthen the implementation of UNHCR's Accountability to Affected People (AAP) framework in East Africa, with special focus on four operations (Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Sudan). The regional Accountability to Affected People (AAP) consultant will be based in Nairobi, Kenya and will provide direct support and undertake field missions within Kenya and to Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.

The position will focus on strengthening the durable solutions and social protection measures in the region and within country operations. It will seek to align strongly with regional and national initiatives in East Africa since the adoption of the New York Declaration. This will include the IGAD supported Nairobi Declaration and Plan of Action on durable solutions for Somali refugees and reintegration of returnees in Somalia (IGAD, March 2017); the Djibouti Declaration and Action Plan on education of refugees, returnees and members of host communities in the IGAD region (IGAD December 2017); the Kampala Declaration and Action Plan on jobs, livelihoods and self-reliance of refugees, returnees and host communities (IGAD March 2019. At the national level, the position will support and align with national plans that have been developed to support the implementation of the CRRF in Ethiopia such as the CRRF Road Map for the implementation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Government Pledges and the practical application of the CRRF, and the 2018 Refugee Proclamation. In Uganda, the position will support the Roadmap for the implementation of the CRRF in Uganda 2018 – 2020. In Kenya, the position will support the “Kalobeyei integrated socio-economic development programme. Phase one: 2018-2022 Comprehensive refugee and host community plan in Turkana West”.

The position will focus on the four core actions on AAP as emphasized in UNHCR’s Policy on Age, gender and Diversity (AGD Policy, 2018) and strengthening linkages in between gender equality and AAP related work, including through its integration into proposals that will be submitted for the next funding cycle of the Partnership July 2020-June 2021 (submission in October 2019).

The focus of UNHCR's AGD Policy is to put the people we serve first. The updated policy consolidates the existing commitment to an AGD approach, AAP, and commitments to women and girls. More specifically, it includes four specific areas of engagement on AAP 1) participation and inclusion, 2) communication and transparency 3) feedback and response mechanisms, and 4) learning and adaptation.

The consultant is needed to strengthen and support operational level AAP targeted actions across sectors and in activities emerging from the partnership with IFC, ILO, WB and UNICEF.

Specifically, the regional consultant will support the engagement of the operation in delivering on the AAP component of the AGD policy. S/he will work in collaboration with the regional gender equality consultant to strengthen linkages between the two inter-linked areas of work.
Duties and responsibilities

UNHCR has embarked on a process of bringing cohesion to existing Accountability to Affected People (AAP) initiatives and related policies. The focus has been the consistent implementation of our AAP (and PSEA) commitments through standardization, programmatic tools, capacity strengthening, and ongoing technical AAP support in operational contexts. To do this in the context of the Partnership, UNHCR will engage a regional AAP consultant to provide support to the 4 operations in: capacity-development and programme and monitoring support; information and analysis; and coordination and advocacy on AAP in accordance with UNHCR’s AAP framework, existing global standards, and the evolving humanitarian environments we work in.

Activities include but are not limited to:

• Capacity Development
• Capacity development to UNHCR operations and partner agencies, local NGOs and CSOs working on AAP with PoC and host communities through targeted support and workshops. This will include:
• Basic foundational training for UNHCR staff and key partners on AAP concepts and its translation into humanitarian action
  • Learning through exchange and cross-fertilisation with government and local stakeholders on context-specific AAP mechanisms related to: Participation and inclusion, communication and transparency; inter-agency feedback and response mechanisms, and organisational learning and adaptation of programmes
  • technical guidance and capacity building support for the establishment and promotion of feedback and response systems, including for confidential complaints
  • Linkages between gender equality and AAP
• Develop tools for learning that can also be used by other operations to ensure progress on the implementation of the AAP core actions included in the 2018 AGD Policy.
• Consolidate a set of good practice sources and examples that staff and partners can use for the operationalization of AAP
• Support capacity development requirements on AAP as required under the regional and national frameworks on CRRF.
• Information and Analysis
• Support processes for the collection and analysis of sex, age, and disability disaggregated data.
• Support operations in analysing AAP measures included in the projects submitted under the Partnership
• Identify AAP related challenges included in the inter-agency country proposals for each of the 4 operations (already submitted in May 2019) and provide actionable recommendations and support to address these challenges.
• Review inter-agency country proposals and make recommendation on (inter-agency) feedback and response mechanisms to be put in place (including PSEA)
• Support operations in developing AAP responsiveness of programmes and activities through analysis of (RBM) indicators in order to identify areas of progress and existing gaps.
• Programme and Monitoring Support
• Support UNHCR operations and partner agencies under this initiative with the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation plan to enable measurement of the impact of AAP mechanisms and systems from the onset up to 4 years of implementation of the multi-year projects under the Partnership. This includes suggesting and agreeing on inter-agency AAP indicators.
• Strengthen linkages between gender equality and AAP, and strengthen implementation of the four core actions on AAP within the Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity (2018).
• Promote the use of contextualised AAP-related tools and other resources in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects.
• Conduct missions to each country under this project to assess and support AAP sensitivity and inclusiveness of project implementation and support field operations with the development of an AAP action plan building on the Self-Assessment Tool already developed for the roll-out of the AGD Policy.
• Support country operations to develop proposals for a new cycle of the Partnership to start in July 2020 (July 2020-June 2021 cycle with submission of proposals in October 2019).
• Enable and support the localisation agenda and sustainability of the initiative by including and supporting NGO’s/CSO’s working at the local level on AAP.
• Coordination and Advocacy
• Provide technical support and advice to UNHCR and partner agencies, NGOs and CSOs working on AAP in humanitarian preparedness and response, including through assessments of projects and activities, identification of gaps, recommendations and capacity development efforts.
• Identify opportunities to promote the issues, concerns, and ideas raised by displaced and local communities of diverse ages and backgrounds; including through activities and events by partner agencies under this Partnership.
• Identify strategic alliances with partner agencies and other key actors to strengthen advocacy on AAP and support operations to put in place efforts that ensure continuity of advocacy efforts.
• The consultant will produce the following key deliverables:
• Liaise with operations to develop an AAP baseline through applying the Self-Assessment Tool on the implementation of the AAP components of the Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity (2018).
• Support field operations with the development of AAP action plans.
• Develop a mapping of existing data with the purpose of strengthening AAP related data collection and analysis where required.
• Develop a mapping of operational level AAP actions in the four operations, in order to identify progress and gaps and provide support on AAP inclusive implementation.
• Support AAP in the implementation of activities developed and funded under the project.
• Strengthen linkages between gender equality and AAP areas of work, including through integration in activities.
• In order to support localisation and sustainability, gather information on existing NGO’s CSO’s working on AAP mechanisms with persons of concern and host communities.
• Support AAP inclusiveness of inter-agency project proposals. Extend technical support to other key stakeholders including the Government and identified NGO’s/CSO’s working on AAP with persons of concern and host communities
• Monitoring and Evaluation plan to enable measurement of the impact of AAP mechanisms and systems from the onset up to 4 years of implementation of the multi-year projects under the Partnership, including inter-agency AAP indicators.
• Conduct brief workshops for all staff at the operational level aimed at providing clarity on AAP concepts.
• Collaborate with the Gender Equality consultant to conduct one regional capacity development workshop for UNHCR operations and partner agencies (UNICEF, WB, IFC and ILO).
• Develop four brief country level analysis reports for each operation, which will include highlights on the following:
• Overview of progress and gaps on AAP, including in information analysis and identification of existing promising practices.
  • Potential actionable opportunities for work on AAP related to the AGD policy 2018’s core actions, including its linkages to gender equality.
  • Identification of relevant AAP stakeholders (including government agencies, NGOs, community based organizations, and women’s associations or groups).
  • Specific entry points for strengthened AAP integration in activities planned under the Partnership.
• In addition to the above, the consultant will produce the following:
• Timeline and detailed work-plan for the duration of the consultancy.
• Brief mission reports from missions undertaken.
  Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

Education (Level and area of required and/or preferred education)

University degree in International Development, Cultural Studies, Human Rights, International Social Work, Social Science, Political Science, International Law or other clearly related disciplines.

Work Experience

• Minimum 6 years of relevant professional experience working in the fields of humanitarian programming, including operational experience, with advanced university degree (minimum 8 years of experience wih BA)
• The following qualification and experience is desirable:
• familiarity with UNHCR and/or previous experience working with UNHCR or other humanitarian organisations
• experience working on humanitarian issues in the East-Africa region

Key Competencies

(Technical knowledge, skills, managerial competencies or other personal competencies relevant to the performance of the assignment. Clearly distinguish between required and desired competencies)

• Proven knowledge of the subject area and experience working on AAP and PSEA in operational settings and in headquarters.
• Ability to work and plan at strategic as well as operational levels. Capacity to develop strategic frameworks to guide policy and decision makers as well as concrete guidance adapted to field practitioners. Capacity to illustrate concepts with examples.
• Facilitation and communication: excellent communication and facilitation skills; ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders and develop consensus; excellent English drafting skills essential
• Coping with pressure: ability to work productively in a fast-paced environment and to travel extensively, including to remote locations.

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in UNHCR in Nairobi, Kenya
Conditions

The consultancy is for five months and the start date is 02 August 2019. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00 am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week). Travel to Nairobi shall be paid plus US dollars 50 per day as living allowance if place of hire is outside Nairobi.