TERMS OF REFERENCE: For the Consultancy Contract of Assessing Internal Trafficking in Ethiopia under the Improving the Protection of Victims of Internal and Transnational Trafficking in Ethiopia Project 77 views

TERMS OF REFERENCE

For the Consultancy Contract of Assessing Internal Trafficking in Ethiopia under the Improving the Protection of Victims of Internal and Transnational Trafficking in Ethiopia Project

1. Duty Station of the Consultancy: Addis Ababa,  Ethiopia
2. Duration of Consultancy: Seven months (August 2024 to February 2025)
3. Nature of the consultancy: Assessing Internal Trafficking in Ethiopia
4. Project Context and Scope:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ethiopia is implementing a project entitled ‘Improving the Protection of Victims of Internal and Transnational Trafficking in Ethiopia’ funded by the U.S.A. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. IOM seeks to contribute to the efforts of the Government of Ethiopia in improving the protection of victims of internal and transnational trafficking through a victim-centered and trauma-informed approach.

The project is designed to achieve the overall goal of improving the protection of victims of internal and transnational trafficking in Ethiopia. To do so, it is working across three key objectives:

• Institutionalize National Referral Mechanisms (NRM) among state and non-state actors and facilitate the identification and referral of trafficking victims by developing SOPs and minimum service standards, training service providers, and setting up victims’ hotlines.
• Support the mainstreaming of priorities to address internal trafficking in the planning and review meetings of the National and Regional Partnership Coalitions, leading to the formulation of government recommendations to address internal and child trafficking in the government of Ethiopia strategic plans and documents.
• Improving comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration services to victims of internal and transnational trafficking through direct assistance in collaboration with international and local NGOs and upgrading CSO shelters to decentralize and enhance the quality of services to VoTs outside Addis Ababa
• The assessment of internal trafficking aims to provide accurate and up-to-date information that will inform the development of sound programmes, policies and regulations to prevent the crime of trafficking, better protect the survivors, enhance the prosecution of criminals in Ethiopia and foster efficient partnerships. This research will especially support the evidence-based decision making by a wide range of actors at the federal and regional level entities responsible for counter- trafficking interventions with a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach. This will particularly be relevant to the work of the National Partnership Coalition (NPC) for the Prevention of the crimes of trafficking in persons, smuggling of persons, and unlawful sending of persons abroad for work.

Therefore, the assessment is expected, among others, to provide in-depth information on the trends, magnitude, protectionrisk factors at individual and community levels, the profiles of the victims and the traffickers, existing interventions, legislative and policy frameworks, institutional capacities, and gaps in response to internal trafficking. The assessment is expected to provide concrete and actionable recommendations to members of the NPC, the NPC secretariate and the similar structures in the regions. The findings of the assessment will be reviewed at different stages by NPC members and IOM experts as well as relevant stakeholders in the country. The NPC will establish a technical committee to monitor and guide the overall progress of the assessment. The final report will be complemented by a policy brief.

To this end, IOM seeks to work with a consultancy firm to conduct a comprehensive assessment of internal trafficking in Ethiopia. The selected firm will review existing evidence and data sets; design a robust research framework and implementation plan; design the methodology and tools; collect and compile data, generate and analyze findings, provide actionable and specific recommendations; guide validation exercises; and write the research reports and policy brief

5.  Organizational Department / Unit to which the Firm is contributing: IOM Ethiopia Protection Unit / Protection in Non-Emergency Settings/ Counter Trafficking/. The assessment will be funded by the project ET10P0556 / PX.0164 |Improving the Protection of Victims of Internal and Transnational Trafficking in Ethiopia

6.  Tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment (with realistic   delivery dates)

A. Deliverable One: The consultancy firm is expected to submit an inception report presenting a literature review, a research framework and methodology, data collection methods and research tools (both quantitative and qualitative) and the implementation plan which will be reviewed and validated by IOM within 45 days of signing the contract. A first instalment (20% of the total payment) shall be paid after the validation of the inception report and research tools by IOM. This deliverable will entail the following activities to the minimum:

• Meet with IOM Ethiopia, the NPC secretariate and the research technical committee, which will be established by NPC secretariate to monitor the progress of assessment, to further clarify the scope and depth of the assignment.
• Complete an extensive desk review of literature, including academic research, legislations, policies, and relevant reports.
• Design sound research framework and methodology, including research questions, research method, sampling frame, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques.
• Develop research tools, including quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and preparation/training of data collectors.
• Prepare the assessment implementation plan with clearly defined activities, timelines, resources, responsibilities, and milestones.
• Incorporating IOM and technical committee feedback as appropriate to finalize the inception report.

B. Deliverable Two: Submit an interim report that documents findings from the assessment (including at least two rounds of draft report where feedback from IOM and technical committee is incorporated) after completing data collection and analysis of the evaluation. Relevant stakeholders will validate the interim report in a validation workshop. The second instalment (40% of the total payment) shall be made after approval of the interim report. As part of this deliverable, among other elements, the consultancy firm is expected to:

• Ensure  reliability,  validity, clarity,  functionality,  bias and  fairness  of  the data
• collection tools, including by pilot testing in a pre-agreed small group from the target population.
• Deploy data collectors and collecting data from primary and secondary sources based on the requirement pre-defined in the methodology. It will likely be expected to include quantitative and qualitative data collection.
• Encode data to the selected software as appropriate and undertake consistency and integrity checks.
• Analyse the data.
• Share preliminary findings of the assessment and regular progress updates with IOM Ethiopia, the National Partnership Coalition secretariate and the technical committee.
• Guide validation exercises among relevant stakeholders and incorporate feedback.
• Write an overall draft report with all the assessment components included.
• Submitting the report to IOM Ethiopia for review and feedback and incorporating the input for second round review

This will be expected to be finalized within three months after the endorsement of the inception report.

C. Deliverable Three: Submit a final assessment report in written and designed format incorporating all standard research contents as well as a policy brief (including at least two rounds where final feedback on the policy brief from IOM and technical committee is incorporated) targeting the National/Regional Partnership Coalitions and counter- trafficking actors. The third and last instalment (40% of the total payment) shall be made after the validation of the final report and the policy brief. This deliverable will entail the following activities to the minimum:

• Preparing  a  comprehensive research  report  and policy  brief  using the IOM
• internal house guide style
• Proofreading the report and policy brief and designing their format as per the applicable house style manual.
• Submitting the final formatted research report, including policy brief, for final review and feedback.
• Incorporating final feedback and comments to improve the research report and policy brief.
• Submit the final research report and policy brief.

This should not take more than a maximum of two and a half months in total.

7. Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

• Understand the scope of the assignment as per the terms of the reference and the requirements of IOM Ethiopia and the National Partnership Coalition secretariate.
• Professional research competence and mastery of migration, trafficking in persons, and mobility in and out of Ethiopia.
• Written and verbal communication with IOM Ethiopia, respondents, and stakeholders throughout the assignment, including excellent research report writing skills.
• Accurately judging the time and resources needed to accomplish a task and delivering results consistent with the agreed terms of reference and the work plan, which will be developed in the inception phase of the research.
• Establishing and maintaining a relationship with stakeholders to understand needs and gain support.
• Identifying key issues and proposing solutions along the way
• Working effectively with people from varied cultures and backgrounds
• Upholding and demonstrating the values of the IOM in the daily consultancy activities.