Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONS Local
Target Start Date2024-04-01
Job Posting End DateMarch 20, 2024
Terms of Reference3. Duration and dates of the assignment:
From: As soon as possible to: for a period of 6 months
Total amount of days/weeks/months to be worked: Payment against products (described in item 9)
4. Location(s) (specify if working from home): Home-based + travel (single trip only)
5. Assignment and/or Mission travel applicable : Applicable
If yes, specify destination(s) and period(s): City within Europe TBC, 2 nights maximum.
6. Suggested fee (daily/weekly/monthly/lump sum) and currency:
Total budgetary amount allocated for individual contract (all-inclusive fee, travel and deliverables): $30 000.
Payment schedule:
Upon signature of contract 10%
Following submission and supervisor certification of deliverables 1 & 2 30%
Following submission and supervisor certification of deliverables 3 & 4 30%
Following submission and supervisor certification of deliverables 5 & 6 30%
7. General Background of Project or Assignment:
12.4 million refugees are currently hosted in countries across Europe, over 5.9 million of these Ukrainians displaced by the war. Particularly as part of the Ukraine response, cities and towns across Europe have risen to the task of providing vital services and programs as part of the initial response and in support of the longer-term integration of asylum seekers and refugees, demonstrating remarkable solidarity, with local authorities and service providers play a vital role in facilitating inclusion.
Long-standing, systemic issues faced by municipal governments have been compounded by the mass influx of refugees from Ukraine, such as housing shortages and access to adequate funding to effectively support multi-year holistic integration and inclusion support for refugees. Municipalities hosting refugees across Europe continue to face saturated housing markets, schools, social services and health care systems, difficulties achieving inclusive labour market policies, limited resources, and technical capacity in their local administrations to address the needs of the more vulnerable population groups, and/or a demographic crisis of shrinking populations leading to crippling labour force shortages.
UNHCRโs strategic engagement with municipalities includes support to local governments to expand their access to resources on multiple fronts and via diverse partnerships to adequately fund long-term integration and inclusion programs and policies, that will also address structural and local development issues constraining the absorption capacities of their cities. Along with the private sector and development actors, UNHCR also seeks to support and accompany municipal administrations hosting refugee populations to ensure they can access and take advantage of as broad array of EU funding sources as possible.
Based on lessons learned from the 2014โ2020 programming period, the European Commission took decisive steps to reduce funding barriers and increase access to financing for local and regional governments prior to February 2022, and following the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive. In its Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion for 2021โ2027, the European Commission encouraged Member States to facilitate access to EU funding for local and regional authorities through specific calls for proposals, and to involve local and regional authorities, together with civil society organizations and social and economic partners, in preparing, revising, implementing and monitoring programs for the 2021โ2027 EU funds.
Despite the improvements for this current planning period and clearer guidance made available, local authorities continue to face difficulties accessing EU funds due to implementation/coordination complexities tied to multi-level governance, competing political priorities at different levels of government, difficulties managing funds efficiently, overly complex and long bureaucratic procedures to access and to manage the funds, low administrative capacities, and constraints related to co-financing and other eligibility requirements. While many of these have been highlighted and documented, municipal administrations continue to express a need for more practical guidance and road mapping for accessing funding sources that might supplement their budgets for refugee inclusion and integration activities and programming. Moreover, guidance for making use of funding in a synergized and coordinated manner could be further developed based on lessons learned from concrete case studies of municipal administrations that have employed innovative practices as part of both the Ukraine response and to earlier refugee cohorts.
8. Occupational Safety and Health Considerations
To view occupational safety and health considerations for specific duty stations, please visit this link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
Specific Occupational Safety and Health Considerations to this assignment (if applicable):
Home-based work, with attendance at event
9. Overall Purpose and Scope of Assignment:
Provide municipal governments currently hosting large numbers of refugees (or with potential to considerably expand their refugee-hosting capacity) with targeted step-by-step guidance and technical support on accessing EU funding and financial instruments, while drawing on specific case studies to develop data-driven and evidence-based recommendations for improved access to funding for municipal governments on refugee integration and socioeconomic inclusion.
Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators (what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of individual contract), performance indicators (timelines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work plan:
The Consultant will work closely with UNHCRโs Regional Bureau for Europe and be supported by relevant focal points from specific country offices, and is expected to fulfil the following key tasks and responsibilities:
โข Provide up-to-date mapping of EU funding and financial instruments currently available to support refugee inclusion and integration (focus on medium and long-term) in Europe (EU and non-EU countries), along with other potential funding pools that can be accessed by Municipal and Regional Governments to support effective socio-economic inclusion of refugees, local development, and promotion of social cohesion between refugee populations and host communities.
โข Support 4 selected local government administrations where UNHCR has prioritized interventions to analyze, identify, test and document possible proposals for overcoming main bottlenecks related to accessing EU funding for refugee inclusion and integration.
โข Provide step-by-step guidance to a selection of municipal governments prioritized by UNHCR to identify and access all relevant and available funding pools by EU institutions and international financial institutions that can complement their local budgetary resources allocated to address their various integration challenges. Document each experience and make recommendations as to the broader applicability of each case study in similar municipal contexts in Europe (both EU and non-EU countries).
โข Based on case studies analyzed and with reference to eligibility requirements, identify potential EU and IFI budget lines beyond those currently assigned that could be leveraged to finance inclusion/integration activities in Europe in the longer-term.
โข Offer dedicated orientation on funding and financial instruments that can support urban development in small and medium-sized cities in Europe by leveraging private resources.
โข Conduct informational sessions on available funding with local administrations and their relevant counterparts at other levels of government to provide up-to-date information on available funding, support eligibility determination, identify gaps in technical understanding, analyze and diagnose factors affecting access to funding, difficulties with programming and implementation of integration measures.
โข Identify opportunities for access to training on EU project development and writing for Local and Regional Governments.
โข Develop policy recommendations to strengthen municipalitiesโ access to financial instruments to enable predictable funding of refugee integration and inclusion programmes in EU and non-EU countries.
Product 1 โ Work plan and timeline, following meetings with relevant UNHCR staff to agree on the needs, process, steps, and outputs (Week 2)
Product 2 โ Report on first municipal case study (Week 5)
Product 3 โ Virtual workshops with 4 priority municipal administrations to support development of funding proposals (Weeks 12-14)
Product 4 โ Preliminary report and recommendations, with specific reference to the currency of existing analyses of barriers to funding based on the findings from specific municipal case studies (Week 14).
Product 5 โ Presentation of results in Municipalities Event hosted by UNHCR (September 2024)
Product 6 โ Report on Policy recommendations to strengthen municipalitiesโ predictable access to financial instruments (End of consultancy)
10. Required level, qualifications, and work experience:
Level of responsibilities required (mark as appropriate) for individual contractors and fellows:
The assignment is for an Individual Consultant
Qualification and experience required (degree required, years of work experience, field of expertise, language required):
โข Advanced university degree in social sciences, public administration, political science, economics, communications, or other relevant technical fields.
โข A minimum of 5 years of professional experience working in related field.
โข Deep knowledge of EU programs (e.g.: AMIF, ESF+, ERDF, ERASMUS+, TSI etc.)
โข Strong experience with EU project development for municipal and regional governments
โข Desired: Experience with bilateral and International Financial Institutions (particularly EBRD, EIB, CEB, KFW) on regional development
โข Understanding of local integration context for refugees in Europe
โข Strong certified experience with preparing and delivering training sessions in EU project development for public authorities.
โข Excellent oral and written communication skills
โข Fluent in English (written and spoken)
11. Monitoring and Progress Controls (report requirements, periodicity, format, deadlines):
a. The final product (e.g. survey completed, data collected, workshop conducted, research documents produced specify): Kindly refer to section 9. for the complete list of products to be delivered.
b. Work on the basis of time employed: Yes
c. If it is to result in a written product specify:
a. Number of pages:
b. Language(s):
c. Number of copies:
Standard Job Description
Required Languages
,
,
Desired Languages
,
,
Additional Qualifications
Skills
Education
Certifications
Work Experience
Other informationConsultancy - Enhancing Access to funding for Municipal Administrations for Refugee Integration & Inclusion Project, starting as soon as possible and for a period of 6 months.This position doesn't require a functional clearance
Home-BasedYes