Ethiopia: Real Time Learner

Background

Progress is being made on including refugees in the national systems of Ethiopia and host communities in refugee responses. The central idea behind these approaches is to ensure better coverage of services for refugees and host communities, more equitable treatment, and investments in longer-term national systems that will remain in place once humanitarian organizations withdraw from the scene.

Examples of strong collaboration with line Ministries abound. In the health sector, ARRA and UNHCR partner with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Regional Health Bureaus on emergency preparedness and response, as well as on the control of major disease burdens such as malaria and tuberculosis. In the education sector, the collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Education, the Regional Bureaus of Education, UNHCR and ARRA has resulted in the adoption of the national curriculum in all schools operating in refugee camps and in the establishment of the Education Management Information System, which will now track progress of refugee and national students in the same way.

Inclusion in national systems benefits host communities as well. The recent installation of the Itang integrated water infrastructure system in Gambella region is a case in point. Rather than rely on an expensive water trucking option, which is temporary by nature, a large scale water infrastructure scheme has been developed together with the Regional Water Bureau and UNICEF to respond to the needs of three refugee camps and two neighbouring towns. This project, once completed, will serve a population of 250,000 and will be managed by a professional public water utility.

Policy and legal reforms are now underway to further support refugee inclusion in national systems and host communities in refugee responses. The revision of the Refugee Proclamation 409/2004, in line with the Government pledges made in September 2016, is a significant step towards creating such an enabling environment. Equally important are the Government’s decision to be a roll-out country for the UNHCR-led efforts to implement the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in line with the UN General Assembly’s New York Declaration and the World Bank’s decision to allocate IDA18 funding to support development interventions in Ethiopia benefitting both host communities and refugees.

Success of the humanitarian-development cooperation will be contingent upon effective joint planning, adequate donor support and an ability of all stakeholders to work side by side, in a complementary fashion, in order to deliver on the Government’s pledges aimed at ensuring a comprehensive refugee response.

Purpose and Objectives

UNHCR will rely on real time learning to document and facilitate reflection on applying a comprehensive refugee response in Ethiopia. The tasks of the Real Time Learner will include:

• Reliably capturing the evolution in thought process among the key stakeholders in delivering on the Government pledges, applying the CRRF at the country level, challenges encountered, and opportunities seized;

• Reliably documenting the experience of engaging with the World Bank (including the programming of IDA18 funds and the implementation of the DRDIP project);

• Documenting progress in implementation, achievement of results with the view to helping inform timely course correction at the country level; and,

• Support in identifying good practice and lessons learnt to be applied in other CRRF countries.

The Real Time Learner will report to the Assistant Representative (Protection) of UNHCR Ethiopia operation, and be based at UNHCR office in Addis Ababa between October and December 2017, with possibility to go on mission to selected sites in-country.

Approach and Responsibilities

UNHCR expects the Real Time Learner to lead on two critical functions:

1. Document the conceptualization and implementation process

2. Conduct document and data review;

3. Develop a list of key guiding questions to focus on for the real time learning; and,

4. Using the guiding questions, solicit, interview and document relevant observations from key stakeholders, including the Government, UNHCR staff, partners, refugees, donors and local observers.

5. Support UNHCR-Ethiopia to select learning-oriented questions and areas of inquiry

6. Identify critical and relevant areas of inquiry for deeper reflection, evaluation and research (including innovations and adaptations); and,

7. Collate and consolidate relevant correspondence and high-level meeting minutes, press articles on the Government pledges, WB IDA18 and CRRF roll-out at the national level, keynote speeches from high-ranking officials, and any relevant studies or report related to the humanitarian-development nexus in Ethiopia.

Key Deliverables

• 2017 Baseline Report documenting the humanitarian-development cooperation in Ethiopia by 15 January 2018.

• Presentation of the report to facilitate strategic reflection process.

Essential Skills and Experience

The Real Time Learner is expected to have:

• Advanced university degree or equivalent in Social Science, Development Studies, Economics, International Relations or related field;

• Minimum 10 years of previous job experience relevant to the function (12 years in case of University degree);

• Technical expertise and knowledge of M&E system design, planning and implementation;

• Experience of humanitarian-development contexts and, ideally, programming;

• Familiarity with national planning and policy formulation processes;

• Excellent data analysis skills, ideally both qualitative and quantitative;

• Excellent English language drafting skills, knowledge of Amharic an advantage; and,

• Strong facilitation and communication skills.

Please send to solutions@unhcr.org an updated P11 and a cover letter (professional references and writing samples can be included), quoting "Real Time Learner - Ethiopia" in the subject line.

Deadline: Friday, 22nd September 2017