Consultant (Developing the Migration Profile for the Kingdom of Lesotho)

Call for Applications

Position Title: Consultant (Developing the Migration Profile for the Kingdom of Lesotho)

Type of Contract: Consultancy

Duration of Assignment: 120 days

BACKGROUND In recent years, as migration has risen to the top of the global policy agenda, demands for reliable data have significantly increased. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the number of international migrants (i.e. Persons living in a country other than where they were born) reached 244 million in 2015 for the world as a whole, a 41 per cent increase compared to 2000. Data from the 2020 United Nations Migration Stock show that Southern Africa was home to as many as 6.4 million international migrants (UNDESA 2020). Migration now affects most countries around the world, and governments are increasingly realizing the importance of reliable migration statistics to address the challenges and maximise the benefits of human mobility for development.

The inclusion of migration and human mobility in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) further highlights the need for reliable data to measure progress towards the targets. Countries will be asked to collect more and better data to monitor progress on how migration policies affect their development prospects, and to ensure that nobody is left behind, including migrants. Very often, migrants are not adequately counted, and important aspects of their lives are not fully recorded. The Kingdom of Lesotho (Lesotho) has dynamic and complex migration patterns but like many other countries, issues of data availability and lack of a coordinated approach to migration management between relevant agencies hinder the country’s capacity to understand its migration dynamics and hence design appropriate migration and development policies. IOM Lesotho, through its institutional mandate, is supporting the Government of Lesotho, partners, national and international organizations to effectively manage migration in order to maximize its positive impacts for all concerned. Specifically, within the context of the Southern Africa Migration Management (SAMM) project “Improving the Migration Management in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region” funded by the European Union, IOM has the specific objective to strengthen and ensure informed decision-making processes in the management of mixed migration through stronger mechanisms to generate timely and up-to-date data and statistics on migration. This initiative aligns with the recommendations of the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) held in Eswatini and Windhoek in 2017 and 2019 respectively urging the member States to prioritize the collection of timely and reliable migration data for policy and programming purposes, which also been emphasized in the objective one of the Global Migration Compact (GCM) and Sustainable Development Goal target 17.18 which calls to increase the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data.

In response to growing calls for better data on migration, the Government of Lesotho has solicited support from IOM Development Fund (IDF) to strengthen coordination role of the Bureau of Statistics and establish data management practices that will enable production and sharing of reliable data. Together with support from the SAMM Project, funded by the European Union and with support from IDF fund, under a project called ‘Lesotho Migration Profile: Supporting Evidence-based Migration Related Policy Making and Planning in Lesotho’, a migration data eco-system analysis that was carried out in the first phase of the project, revealed a need for an integrated data management system that will facilitate better data management and sharing to ensure production, availability, dissemination and utilization of reliable migration data in Lesotho.

OBJECTIVES The overall objective of this assignment is to support evidence-based policy making and promote the mainstreaming of migration into the policy planning process by making current existing migration data available to government and other stakeholders through the development and dissemination of a Migration Profile. The process to develop a Migration Profile will strengthen the capacity of relevant stakeholders to coordinate and operationalise the migration data sharing framework. The specific objective of this assignment is to develop a detailed Migration Profile in line with the IOM template and regional guidelines

SCOPE OF WORK, DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINE The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Head of Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Lesotho working closely with the Project Manager in close coordination with the Migration Data Working Group (MDWG), and with technical support from the Regional Migration Data Hub. Inception Phase ▪ Develop an inception report which outlines proposed work-plan, data collection methodology and instruments, draft Migration Profile template, proposed strategies to ensure the ownership of the process by the government, ▪ Present the inception report to stakeholders at the first technical meeting to receive inputs and feedback ▪ Revise the inception report based on feedback from stakeholders, MDWG and findings of the from the integrated data management systems requirement analysis Development of Migration Profile ▪ Collect data and other information and analyse them ▪ Facilitate and lead a five-day workshop on analysis of administrative data from key ministries ▪ Develop the first draft of Migration Profile and present it to the MDWG and the National Consultative Committee on migration members at the Second technical meeting ▪ Revise the draft by incorporating inputs, feedback and additional information obtained from the technical meeting ▪ Produce the second draft of Migration Profile and provide inputs to the presentation to be made to the MDWG ▪ Revise the draft and produce the final draft of Migration Profile by incorporating inputs, feedback and additional information and data which could be collected ▪ Present the final draft to the Technical Working Group members for validation and the National Consultative Committee on migration.

The international consultant will work with the MDWG throughout the development of Migration Profile DELIVERABLES

1. Inception report
2. Validated Migration Profile
3. Data/Policy Brief (max. 4 pages summary with some graphical tables and charts) TIMELINES No Activity Duration/Deadline 1Submission of inception report By 9 September 2022 2 Submission of final inception report By 16 September 2022 3 Support administrative data analysis By 7 October 2022 4 Submission of first Migration Profile draft By 7 November 2022 5 Submission of second Migration Profile draft By 7 December 2022 6 Submission of final Migration Profile draft By 20 December 2022 7 Submission of policy brief By 6 January 2023

REQUIREMENTS ▪ Advanced degree in Demography, Development economics, Migration studies or other relevant disciplines ▪ Proven experience in statistical research on migration and data assessment ▪ Experience working with governmental institutions and facilitating meetings and workshops is preferred. ▪ Knowledge of Migration Profile Concept ▪ Knowledge of statistical methods and migration data sources required ▪ Confident use of statistical analysis software and social research methods ▪ Abilities to work under pressure and meet deadlines ▪ Strong analytical, writing, editing and communication skills

PAYMENT ▪ 20% upon submission of inception report ▪ 25% upon submission of the first Migration Profile draft ▪ 25% upon validation of the Migration Profile ▪ 30% upon completion of all activities and approval of all deliverables including policy brief.