Design Thinking Workshops on jobs and livelihoods for refugees and host communities in IGAD member states

Consultancy to prepare and moderate design thinking workshops on jobs and livelihoods for refugees and host communities in IGAD member states

1. Context
The Horn of Africa is characterized by migratory movements driven by multiple political, economic, and environmental factors. In 2022, more than 4.5 million refugees and around 12.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP’s) have fled armed conflict, individual persecution, and natural disasters throughout the IGAD region. In this setting, most member states of the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – that are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda – are at the same time countries of origin, transit and reception of migrants and refugees.

The Strengthening IGAD’s Migration Policy Implementation (SIMPI) project is jointly implemented by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The SIMPI project supports IGAD in implementing its mandate in the area of migration and displacement. The project supports the implementation of the Kampala Declaration, which aims at improving the economic inclusion and livelihood opportunities of refugees in IGAD member states.

The Kampala Declaration on jobs, livelihoods and self-reliance for refugees, returnees and host communities in the IGAD Region (adopted on March 28th, 2019) committed Member states to:

• Advance livelihood opportunities and economic inclusion to improve self-reliance,
• Adopt the action plan to enhance livelihoods and self-reliance,
• Roll out comprehensive national roadmaps and institutional mechanisms through a whole-of-society and multi-sectoral approaches that will involve social partners, private sectors, refugees, and host communities, and
• Find durable solutions for protracted displacement and address socio-economic challenges for refugees, returnees and host communities.

The Kampala Declaration is structured along the following five focus areas:

1. Promote conducive policy and legislative frameworks for economic inclusion, livelihoods and self-reliance to provide access to markets and finance as well as basic rights including right to work and freedom of movement;
2. Engagement of the private sector and civil society in creating sustainable livelihoods and job opportunities,
3. Sustainable return and reintegration,
4. Natural resource management for livelihoods and self-reliance, and
5. Regional coordination, partnership and financing.

IGAD will hold national consultation in each of its seven member states (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda) throughout 2023 and 2024 to follow up on the commitments and the implementation of the regional declaration. As part of these national consultations, a one-day design thinking workshop should take place. This will introduce a new innovative way to solve economic challenges of refugees, returnees and host communities and find joint solutions across several line ministries, refugee-led organisations and potentially also the private sector companies in IGAD member states.

2. Tasks to be performed by the contractor

The contractor is required to plan, facilitate and follow-up on 9 one-day design thinking workshops that are part of the national consultations with IGAD member states on the progress of implementing the Kampala Declaration on Jobs, Livelihood and Self-Reliance for refugees, returnees and host communities. The Design Thinking workshop should introduce the concept and the five steps of design thinking: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.

1. Empathize: Gain a deep understanding of the of the needs, aspirations, and challenges faced by refugees, returnees, and host communities in terms of livelihood opportunities and economic inclusion in the particular country
2. Define: make a problem statement and create a clear, actionable challenge for the ideation phase.
3. Ideate: Brainstorm and generate a wide range of ideas and potential solutions to the defined problem
4. Prototype: Create simple prototypes to test and refine ideas.
5. Test: Gather feedback from stakeholders to refine and improve the prototypes until a final solution is developed. Agree on concrete action points how to test the most scalable, impactful, and relevant solutions after the workshop.

The contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

• Kick-off and virtual planning meeting before each workshop and coordination with IGAD focal points, the national coordinators and GIZ
• Moderation/Facilitation of 9 one-day in-person design thinking workshops in the seven IGAD member states (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda) that aim at finding joint solutions among different stakeholders to advance livelihood opportunities for refugees, returnees, and host communities.
• Of those, 7 will be held in each of the seven IGAD member states (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda). The Workshop with the Somalian government could be held in Djibouti if travelling to Mogadishu is not possible due to security concerns. Participants consists of government experts from line ministries (Ministry of Labour, Refugee Affairs, Interior Affairs, Natural Resource management, Ministry of Education/TVET, Finance or Planning), refugee representatives, and private sector and will be around 20 pax per workshop
• 2 Workshops can be held at the regional level with a small group of government representatives from all IGAD member states in one room and could serve as a follow up or an opportunity to look at cross-border themes. The number of participants would probably be around 35-40 persons.
• Post-workshop Reporting: summarize the outcomes and learnings for each of the 9 national and regional design thinking workshops and identify the most promising solutions and strategies as action points that the government together with other stakeholders could implement
• Online coaching/consultation for focal persons in national governments to advise how to implement the most promising solution and how to utilise key aspects of design thinking in the implementation process.

The Design Thinking Workshop should take place in-person during the National Consultation on the Kampala Declaration in the 7 IGAD Member States, namely Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, and two at the regional level (venue tbc) throughout 2023 and 2024.

Project Management Requirements:

• The contractor is responsible for preparing, implementing and facilitating the workshop
• The contractor provides equipment and supplies for the facilitation of the workshop and assumes the associated operating and administrative costs.
• The contractor manages costs and expenditures, accounting processes and invoicing in line with the requirements of GIZ.
• The contractor reports regularly to IGAD and GIZ in accordance with the current AVB of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

In addition to the reports required by GIZ in accordance with the AVB, the contractor submits the following reports:

• Inception report
• Brief reports with a summary about the main outcomes and solutions of the Design Thinking Workshop after each workshop (around 5 pages)
• A final report, which gives an overview over the whole process and includes the brief country reports

Period of assignment: from 15.08.2023 until 31.12.2024.

3. Personnel concept

The tenderer is required to provide personnel who are suited to filling the positions described, on the basis of their CVs (see Chapter 7), the range of tasks involved and the required qualifications.

The below specified qualifications represent the requirements to reach the maximum number of points in the technical assessment

Team leader

Tasks of the team leader

• Overall responsibility for the advisory packages of the contractor (quality and deadlines)
• Coordinating and ensuring communication with GIZ, IGAD and other stakeholders
• Planning and Facilitation of the Design Thinking Workshops and overall responsibility for the post-workshop deliverables including reporting and virtual consultation hours
• Regular reporting in accordance with deadlines

Qualifications of the team leader

• Education/training (2.1.1): university degree (Bachelor) in sociology, political science, business administration or similar field; and certification in Design Thinking
• Language (2.1.2): C1-level language proficiency in English and B2-level language proficiency in French
• General professional experience (2.1.3): 5 years of professional experience in organisational development and agile management in the international development sector
• Specific professional experience (2.1.4): 3 years in planning and facilitating Design Thinking Workshops and context knowledge of displacement settings
• Leadership/management experience (2.1.5): not applicable
• Regional experience (2.1.6): 2 years of professional experience in projects in Eastern and Horn of Africa
• Development cooperation (DC) experience (2.1.7): experience to work with regional organisations and governments, private sector, refugees and local communities (please provide at least 2 previous relevant project descriptions/references)
• Other (2.1.8): not applicable

Key expert 1

Tasks of key expert 1

• Supporting the team leader in facilitating/moderating the Design Thinking Workshop

Qualifications of key expert 1

• Education/training (2.2.1): university degree (Bachelor) in sociology, political science, business administration or similar field; and certification in Design Thinking
• Language (2.2.2): C1-level language proficiency in English and B2-level language proficiency in French
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 5 years of professional experience in organisational development and agile management in the international development sector
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 3 years in planning and facilitating Design Thinking Workshops
• Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): not applicable
• Regional experience (2.2.6): 2 years of professional experience in projects in Eastern and Horn of Africa
• Development cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): experience to work with regional organisations and governments, private sector, refugees and local communities (please provide at least 2 previous relevant project descriptions/references)
• Other (2.2.8): not applicable