Consultant (Local Integration)

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

H (no hardship)

FamilyCONS Local

2025-05-01April 10, 2025Requesting office (hiring office): Regional Bureau for Europe

Title of project: Refugee-Welcoming Employer Pledge

Purpose of project (summary): Engage with private sector companies and other relevant stakeholders to pilot the Refugee-Welcoming Employer Pledge with Startup Refugees in Finland, linked to UNHCR’s Refugee Employment Platform Initiative.

II. ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

1. Contract type: Individual Consultant
(An expert who is a recognized authority or specialist in a specific field area engaged by UNHCR under an individual contract in an advisory or consultative capacity)

2. Engagement type

Regular
(Working hours applicable, monthly regular payment of fees as per ICSC NET equivalent)

Suggested Monthly Fee and currency: $US 3623 (all-inclusive)

If part-time, indicate percentage or number of working hours per week: part-time 50%

4. Assignment and/or Mission travel: Applicable

$US1300 (Lump sum for self-arranged travel costs incurred as part of outreach activities with stakeholders).

5. Total budgetary amount allocated for individual contract including fees, travel, DSA, any other costs (indicate currency) : $26 661.-

6. Duration and dates of the contract:

From: 01/5/2025 To: 31/12/2025

7. Position Location (duty station): Home-based, with expectation of frequent intracity and some intercity travel to attend meetings/events with Startup Refugees staff and external stakeholders in FINLAND.

II. DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ENGAGED INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT HOLDER

8. General Background of Project or Assignment, Operational Context:

12.4 million refugees are currently hosted in countries across Europe, among which over 6.25 million are Ukrainians displaced by the war. Although a wide range of public and private channels and formats for job seeking may be available, recent consultations indicate these are falling short when it comes to supporting refugees to secure decent employment. Evidenced particularly by the Ukraine situation, many refugees continue to face barriers related to scarcity of job offers, inefficient information channels, skills mismatching, and lack of access to support services essential to maintaining stable employment. Deficiencies in matching labor supply and demand for both refugees seeking work and businesses with hiring needs evidence the urgent need to develop and strengthen channels that can effectively identify labor and skills needs.
Capitalizing on the private sector’s keen interest in supporting access to employment for refugees displaced by the international armed conflict in Ukraine, the Refugee Employment Platform (REP) initiative aims to enhance decent work prospects for all forcibly displaced and stateless persons with the right to work. The initiative has several components:

1. National Refugee Employment Platforms, which facilitate direct job matching and secure communication between employers and a diverse pool of refugee job seekers. National REPs provide access to employment support services for refugees and a centralized coordination point for all actors across sectors engaged in refugee socio-economic inclusion, offering significant potential for synergies and collaborations. National REPs retain their own unique features while adhering to a series of core essential characteristics. These characteristics include: (1) only forcibly displaced persons signing up or making use of the platform; (2) the use of job matching systems based on the models of HR industry leaders; (3) facilitating easy access to curated wraparound services targeted to refugees’ circumstances; (4) interested/vetted employers uploading vacancies and receiving applications; (5) conveying information on refugees’ work rights/documentation to employers in clear, non-technical language; and (6) the generation of data so as to continually improve understanding of the skills profiles of refugees and the labour needs of businesses. 9 national platforms are currently operating in Europe.

2. A Regional Information Hub for the REP to which all national Refugee Employment Platforms (REP) operating in the region are linked. The Regional site also contains guidance with a regional scope and includes country sub-pages with key information on legal framework, the refugee hiring process, key stakeholders and services supporting refugee employment and additional resources to guide companies (e.g. matching platforms, good practices, reports, etc.) specifically for countries where a national REP is not currently in place. Link to Regional Information Hub.

3. Refugee-Welcoming Employer-Pledge: A UNHCR-led employer recognition/award program for micro, small and medium sized businesses and corporates linked to the Refugee Employment Platform initiative, aimed at enabling visibility and facilitating holistic partnerships (non-financial and financial engagement) with companies. By participating, private sector companies that believe in providing opportunities to refugee talent pledge to create more enabling conditions for refugee employability and/or mobility within the company (e.g in the form of a refugee hiring program, dedicated language training, childcare support or communications campaigns promoting refugee employment across the company’s peer networks, among a range of options). The pledge is the next phase of the REP initiative to be rolled out, and is the focus of this consultancy.

Finland has been prioritised as one of the countries in Europe for the REP initiative due to the potential of the employment landscape in the country, the significant interest from employers in hiring refugees, and the challenges that refugees and employers face during the recruitment journey. UNHCR has been collaborating with Startup Refugees a social innovation that offers asylum seekers, refugees, and other migrants support to find employment, develop their professional skills, and start a business in Finland. Startup Refugees also manage a job matching platform in the country - Match made in Startup Refugees – developed in line with the REP model.

Startup Refugee’s expansive national network of 5000 members including companies, and private and public sector organisations, makes for an ideal scenario for piloting the development and implementation of the Refugee-Welcoming Employer Pledge.

9. Occupational Safety and Health Considerations

To view occupational safety and health considerations for specific duty stations, please visit this link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel Specific Occupational Safety and Health Considerations to this assignment (if applicable). N/A

10. Purpose and Scope of Assignment:

Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators (what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of individual contract), performance indicators (timelines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work plan:

Working directly with Startup Refugees and in coordination with UNHCR’s Multi-country office in Stockholm and UNHCR’s Bureau for Europe, the consultant will engage with private sector companies in Finland and other relevant stakeholders to pilot the Refugee-Welcoming Employer Pledge. The consultant will be required to undertake the following:

• Building on a selection already developed by UNHCR and taking into account the local context and related opportunities, develop a set of activities companies can engage in to enable and facilitate refugee employment beyond direct hiring (e.g. support for childcare, language learning, housing), along with types of pledges/commitments that can be made (e.g. 3% of refugee representation across staff). Design Key-Performance Indicators to with clear minimum criteria.

• Identify and tap into factors motivating local companies to support refugee employment and related enabling support, such as linking to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria and the related The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), incentives/tax reduction, unavailability of nationals for jobs, promoting change in corporate culture.

• Identify other relevant labour market stakeholders that could be included in the certification process (e.g. Ministries, chambers of commerce, labour unions, diversity charter) to achieve greater buy-in / attract greater interest of the business community. With UNHCR’s support, approach these actors to secure their participation as certifying parties.

• Develop promotional/information material with clear materials and instructions for companies on how to apply, details of application and selection process, and visibility material for the certification program with logos of all actors involved (UNHCR, Startup Refugees, along with any others identified)

• Building on Startup Refugees existing network of private sector alliances, identify and conduct outreach with prospective companies (corporates, SMEs), presenting the pledge and means of contributing, fostering their buy-in and encouraging them to apply.

• Undertake administrative activities associated with launching official round of calls for expressions of interest, receiving, and assessing company applications, organizing selection committee including Due Diligence Review and formally notifying companies of outcome.

• Lead Selection Committee proceedings comprised of representatives from Startup Refugees, UNHCR and other relevant stakeholders.

• Ensure that all activities will be in line with the recent integration reform, including bigger involvement of municipalities along with the labor market inclusion mandate. Also, ensure either complementarity or cooperation with national entities responsible for labor market inclusion.

• Organize Recognition Ceremony for selected companies.

• Potentially arrange invitations and logistics for engagement meetings/ small-scale events in different cities and towns throughout Finland.

• Produce a final report on the pilot, summarizing lessons learnt and recommendations, to facilitate future replicability across other countries where National REPs are operating or planned.

KEY DELIVERABLES
1. Work Plan & Implementation Timeline for 2025 (Week 2)
2. Set of Activities/Pledges + Company Engagement and Outreach Plan (Week 6)
3. Certification Seal/Logo & Visibility Material (Week 9)
4. Progress report on Outreach conducted with Private Sector (Week 14)
5. Report on Results of Selection Committee (Week 28)
6. Recognition Ceremony, with participation of at least 10 selected companies
having made substantive pledges (Week 33)
7. Final Report (including guidance for replicating in other national contexts) (Week 35)

III. CANDIDATE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS, SELECTION CRITERIA

11. Required qualifications, language(s) and work experience:
Degree:
Required: Business Administration, Communications, Economics,
Social Sciences or other relevant fields.

Field of expertise, competencies:
Required/mandatory:

- A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the employment sector / private sector engagement in Finland or similar national contexts.

- Understanding of challenges relating to refugee integration and socioeconomic inclusion of refugees in Europe.

Desirable:

- Experience working with private sector partnerships and non-governmental organisations.
- Experience supporting companies on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and/or Corporate Sustainability Reporting / strategy development.
- Experience with UN organizations

12. Minimum years of work experience (NOTE: candidates with less years of experience cannot be short-listed or recommended):
Language: Required - Finnish, English Desirable: N/A

IV. EVALUATION, MONITORING, SUPERVISION

13. Monitoring and Progress Controls
(Measures put in place to ensure the quality of work the individual contract holder delivers, e.g. report requirements, periodicity, format, deadlines, performance indicators, milestone discussions, survey completed, data collected, workshop conducted, research documents produced specify etc.)

Monthly update meetings with Startup Refugees and UNHCR focal point(s).

 

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Other information

Consultancy (Reintegration) for the period 01/05 to 31/12/2025 for the Refugee-Welcoming Employer Pledge.This position doesn't require a functional clearance

Home-Based

Yes