Strengthen national and local systems to support the effective socio-economic integration of returnees in the Western Balkans is a regional project funded by European Commission and implemented in coordination with World Bank and Council of Europe. The sub-regional project is implemented in Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia and is administered by UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub.

This project aims to enhance the capabilities of the Western Balkan authorities to implement holistic solutions to economic and social empowerment of returnees. By tackling the root causes and negative drivers of migration of Roma & Egyptian and vulnerable populations, the project is contributing to implementation of the broader social inclusion agenda in the Western Balkans.

While, UNDP will primarily address local level challenges, the ultimate objective of the project is to translate the tested models into national regulation and public policies and programmes for sustainable reintegration of vulnerable returnees.

Key pillars where the project will base its implementation include:

Output 1- Local returnee integration strategies are developed with selected municipalities foresees development of local reintegration strategies, aiming to  improve the livelihoods and social wellbeing of returnees and the broader community, tackle local governance issues, capacity and institutional bottlenecks and gaps of service providers and business ecosystems, which hinder the effective implementation of  reintegration policies.

Output 2 - Elements of local returnee integration strategies are implemented in selected municipalities, including innovative activities on livelihoods and skills building, etc aims to demonstrate new approaches to economic empowerment and social cohesion, which will form the main pillars of local reintegration strategies.

Output 3- Significant number of urgent administrative issues faced by returnees are addressed will seek to identify and develop innovative approaches to public service provision, by developing and utilising a number of digitalized tools and laying the ground for introducing integrated case management. 

A mapping conducted in 9 municipalities of Albania at early 2021, highlights that asylum-seeking and emigration is a relatively new and little-studied subfield in the country. The phenomenon escalated in the early 2010s, reaching a maximum in the year 2015 when around 67,000 Albanian citizens applied for asylum, primarily in Germany. In 2015, Albania was among the top countries (fourth after Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq) as regards the number of asylum-seekers. Despite fluctuations, during the period from 2010 to December 2020, around 210,000 Albanian citizens applied for asylum for the first time in EU countries. However, EU statistics show that, in 2018, only 2.1 percent of asylum applications from Albanian citizens were accepted by the host countries. The rest have either returned or presumably will return to Albania in the near future.

During the three years 2015–2017, Albania was top of the list of countries for the number of returnees from EU countries. Some of the Albanian asylum-seekers and emigrants (mainly Roma and Egyptians), after returning to the home country, have tried out to applied for asylum or emigrate two or three times in various EU countries – becoming, therefore, a group that is neither re-integrated in the home country nor accepted in the host country.

As regards the Roma and Egyptian communities, accurate numbers and their share returnees in are difficult to calculate in Albania as, at the border crossing points and upon arrival, data on the ethnicity of returnees are not collected. Germany, the only EU country providing data on the ethnicity of asylum-seekers, reported in 2011 that around 11 percent of Albanian asylum-seekers belong to Roma and Egyptians minorities, while the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) estimated that Roma represented 6–10 percent of asylum-seeker flows into Germany, which shows that the dimensions and intensity of the migration of Roma and Egyptians from Albania had increased and that these migrants were over-represented in the population of migrants from Albania.  

However, in spite of the high share of the Roma and Egyptian population in the total number of asylum-seekers and emigrants from Albania, these flows do not have a marked Roma/Egyptian nature. At local level data on Roma and Egyptian returnees neither are sistematically collected from local institutions, nor is conducted any profiling of the Roma and Egyptian returnees and their individual or family needs for reintegration. Meetings with stakeholoders and beneficiaries in Municipalities of Berat, Fier and Devoll, have revealed that local institutions do not recognise Roma and Egyptian returnees as a specific group for service provision and therefore they remain either invisible or are treated as all other Roma and Egyptians.

As such, UNDP in Albania has contracted a national consultant, who is conducting an assessment of institutional and individual capacity bottlenecks for accessing quality local services by Roma returnees in the three municipalities of Devolli, Berati and Fieri, to identify the institutional challenges for Roma returnee’s reintegration in their home country and possibly in their hometown.

In addition, UNDP in Albania has commissioned the conduction of the assessment of the local economic development potentials in the three target municipalities (Devoll, Berat and Fier). The assessment will map out the prospective local supply and value chains, which can generate quality jobs, assess the employability level of returnees and the needs of potential employers. The analysis will highlight the existing gap between demanded skills by the employers and the skills level of the unemployed. The analysis will particularly focus on the skills gaps of the vulnerable population, Roma and the returnees.

Both above mentioned assessments, with their findings and recommendations, are laying the ground to develop the local reintegration strategies/action plans for Roma Returnees in the three targeted municipalities, a process that has recently been initiated. The reintegration local action plans are envisaged as tools in the hands of the three targeted Municipalities to recognise and address the particular needs for reintegration of Roma and Egyptian  returnees, by encompassing components of support in improving employability of returnees; implementation of innovative programmes in supporting business start-ups and productive partnerships with local businesses; promotion of social cohesion by organizing community-based programmes; addressing urgent administrative issues faced by returnees; and strengthening capacities of public service providers and local NGOs. Municipalities will be supported by UNDP in implementation of local action plans, while local coordinators will act in this process, as a mediating body between local institutions and Roma- Egyptian communities to ease the reintegration processes of returnees.

In the framework of Municipal action plan’ implementation, a local platform will be established in each Municipality, which will act as a mechanism that promotes engagement of the local actors and beneficiaries in implementation and monitoring the Reintegration Local Action Plans. The mandate and scope of work of local platforms will be conceptualised in parallel with the design of the Local Action Plans for Roma and Egyptian reintegration. The platform will also serve to harmonise the work of local institutions for the prevention of emigration/asylum seeking reasons, and/or as a case management mechanism to address the reintegration processes of Roma and Egyptian returnees, within the scope of Local Action Plan that will be developed. The platform is envisaged to be hosted by the Municipality and will meet the support of local coordinators.

As such, the objective of this assignment is to support the implementation of the local reintegration strategy/action plan in the Municipality of Fier and to monitor the progress of implementation.  The assignment is also to support the operations of the local platform designed to facilitate the integration of returnees.

The project is seeking to recruit a Local Coordinator in Fier, to:

• Primarily support UNDP in the implementation and monitoring the progress of the Local Action Plan for reintegration of Roma and Egyptian Returnees in the Municipality of Fier and facilitate the operation of the local platforms; and
• Assist the Municipality in implementation of Roma and Egyptian Inclusion local plan and initiatives.

3. Description of Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Project Coordinator and in collaboration with the Municipality structure (particularly Departments of Social Services) the local coordinator will be responsible to cover different aspects of the Local Action Plan for the re-integration of Roma and Egyptian Returnees and facilitate the operation of the local platforms, by mediating with the local returnee’s community/ies, and by coordinating and collaborating with UNDP consultants and local service providers/actors/beneficiaries involved in project implementation. To comply with his/her duties, local coordinator shall also need to cooperate with local institutions in sectors of education, health, employment, housing, social services as well as with the local business sector.

Local coordinator will have ad hoc travel to Tirana. Travel will be needed too, to reach different Roma and Egyptian settlements.

Education:

Minimum of High School Diploma (Bachelor’s degree in social studies or related fields would be an advantage).

Work experience:

• 3 years’ experience in supporting project implementation on behalf of I/NGOs in Roma and Egyptian communities and/or cooperation with Municipalities to address Roma and Egyptian social inclusion issues is required;
• Experience in mediation and consulting of Roma and Egyptian community members;
• Good understanding of challenges facing Roma and Egyptian minority, especially in the targeted region;
• Fluency in written and spoken Albanian. Fluency in spoken Romani language is considered a strong advantage.
• Proficiency in using the computer programs (word, excel, power point etc)

Evaluation Procedure

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would consider both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:

• Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
• And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70

• Criteria A: Three years of experience in supporting project implementation on behalf of I/NGOs in Roma and Egyptian communities and/or cooperation with Municipalities to address Roma and Egyptian social inclusion – max of  20 points
• Criteria B: Experience in mediation and consulting of Roma and Egyptian community members - max of 20 points
• Criteria C: Educational background– max of 10 points
• Criteria D: Fluency in written and spoken Albanian. Fluency in spoken Romani language is considered an advantage – max of 10 points.
• Criteria E: Proficiency in using the computer programs (minimum of word, excel, power point) – max of 10 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30

Application Procedure 

Interested applicants are advised to carefully study all sections of this ToRs and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications described. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials. 

The application should contain: 

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application. 
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability & Detailed Financial Proposal - please fill in the attached form. Download Here (kindly use Firefox browser)
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Download Here (kindly use Firefox browser)

• Financial Proposal in ALL*- Specify a Total Lump Sum in Albanian Lek for the tasks specified in this announcement. The attached template may be used - Download Here (kindly use Firefox browser) Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). 

• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport. 

*Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application. 

How to Submit the Application: 

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below: 

• Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs); In the P11 Form make sure to include Email Addresses of the Persons who are willing to provide References on your past experience in working with them.
• Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded; 
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement); 
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;” 
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above); 

• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system. 

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process. 

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.