Vacancy: The International Organization for Migration is searching for a Consultant

Despite the high volume of population mobility, migrant stocks and the notable contribution by migrants to the Countries of Destination (CoD) and Countries of Origin (COO) in the Southern African region, data on international migration are often unavailable, or fragmented and non-comparable between countries. This hampers the capacity of relevant stakeholders to design and develop migration policies and operational responses based on solid evidence and affects the accuracy of national and regional reporting on policy and development progress. Timely, disaggregated and quality data would also serve to inform the United Nations system as a whole, as well as government and other societal partner platforms with regards to internal and policy- related programmatic design, Monitoring and Evaluation, and adaptation for both upcoming and current programmatic interventions.

The need for timely and reliable data to inform migration policies and programming within Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has been evidenced by one of the recommendations emerging from the2017 Ministerial Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) held in Eswatini, which encourages the Member States to “Build capacities to collect and analyse migration data to strengthen evidence-based policy-making.” The 2019 Ministerial MIDSA, held in Namibia, further stressed the importance of enhancing migration data outputs in the region by highlighting the need to strengthen migration data coordination mechanisms and work towards the harmonization of migration data management methodologies in the Southern African region.

In view of the above, IOM Regional Office based in Pretoria is supporting the SADC Member States and the National Statistical Offices in the following areas: (i) strengthening of national coordination and migration data harmonization mechanisms, (ii) regional coordination and capacity building, (iii) establishment of measures to enhance migration data, (iv) enhancing the use of administrative data and, (iv) addressing data gaps on underreported migrant groups.

The Consultant is expected to work under the overall supervision of the Regional Director for Southern Africa in Pretoria, the direct supervision of the Southern African Migration Management (SAMM) Regional Project Coordinator and in close coordination with the Migration Research Division at IOM Headquarters and the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) in Berlin, the successful candidate will be responsible for research and knowledge production undertaken by IOM Regional Office for Southern Africa in the context of the SAMM project. For more information click here.