Mobility and Livelihoods Consultant – UNHCR Rwanda

Background

UNHCR Rwanda’s long-term vision aims that by 2030 “All refugees in Rwanda, including
potential new influx, are living safe, dignified and productive lives across the country outside of camps and supported by government-led services and programmes.” This would mean some refugees are resettled, some may have returned home, while those who remain in Rwanda live in former refugee camps-turned-villages, some in urban areas, and all are included on par with nationals in development planning. The long-term vision is aligned with the inclusive 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which has a principled commitment that ‘no one will be left behind.’

The study aims at providing factual and objective information on refugee mobility including
cross-border movement to the country of origin for livelihoods, family ties, social interaction, community relationship, and health and education purposes among others. Findings will be helpful to identify appropriate options for durable solutions particularly self reliance and voluntary repatriation in the context of shrinking resettlement opportunities.

This information could also form the basis of future discussions with the Government of
Rwanda, UNHCR Leadership in the relevant country operations (e.g., DRC, Regional
office/Kenya) and HQ for facilitating and support durable solutions including voluntary and
spontaneous return to DRC.

Global research shows that, ‘many refugees, who in theory do have the right to work, are
unable to integrate into the local economy due to linguistic, social, political and cultural
barriers. This is particularly the case for women refugees. In case of the Congolese Refugees living in the camps in Rwanda, there is also an issue of reluctance by them to choose local integration pathway to be settled in Rwanda.

The consultant will undertake the following:

• Assessing the extent to which refugees are mobile by nature of business/purpose including moving out of the camp and return to the camp; level of spontaneous return to DRC, the motivations and reasoning underlying spontaneous/voluntary return to their country of origin and any trend of their coming back to Rwanda;
• Capturing broad trends with regard to spontaneous return and seasonal mobility, networks and means of communication used, modalities and routes of return;
• Documenting the experiences of returnees once back in DRC in terms of positive factors favouring reestablishment in areas of return, and negative factors which pose challenges and inhibit reintegration;
• Assessing the extent to which refugees are willing to return home and the underlying factors affecting the decision.
• Providing recommendations on ways in which refugees could be better supported for durable solutions including economic inclusion in Rwanda and spontaneous movement within and outside Rwanda as well as return to DRC, if any, based on study findings
• The geographic scope of the study will primarily be the camps hosting Congolese Refugees in Rwanda. However, to capture the dynamics of mobility, selected urban centres will also be targeted as well as selected locations within DRC (subject to agreement and security situation) Target populations:
• Congolese Refugees in Rwanda in camps and urban areas (with special focus on high mobility refugees), covering 2-3 camps and urban areas
• Recent Returnees in DRC (to be agreed with the consultant/study team, during contract negotiation/inception meetings)
• Potential Returnees (currently based in Rwanda) Methodology:
• Desk review of available information, policy and legal provisions, mobility data available at camp/immigration level, other studies and assessment including
• Participatory assessment, economic studies/livelihoods assessments, vulnerability assessment, intention surveys etc.
• Extensive field work applying participatory/ethnographic methods of research, accompanied by sample surveys among the refugees.
• Structured discussion and informal Interviews with community leaders, local population, district and other government authority, UNHCR and camp management
• Use of snowballing method for case studies
• Following UNHCR’s Age, gender and diversity (AGD) policy and core protection principles in data collection and its reporting The consultant will be providing evidence-based policy analysis to UNHCR Senior Management as well as the counterpart government to help implement the CRRF roadmap by closely working with the UNHCR Livelihoods, Protection, CRRF and Solution Team, based in the country and regional office/HQ.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Education: Master’s degree or equivalent in experience, in project management, social sciences, economics, development studies, anthropology, refugee studies, law or related fields.
• Experience: 10 years of professional experience in research, particularly in participatory/exploratory/qualitative research methods; M&E, labour market, entrepreneurship economics, refugee livelihoods/economies, protection or any relevant field of study.
• Strong analytical and report writing skills
• Experience of Rwanda/DRC and EAC Refugee Situation would be an added advantage;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, excellent communication and facilitation skills (written and oral, in English & Kinyarwanda);
• Demonstrated capacity to capture lessons learned from experience and write documents that are practical and concise.