Research Consultant - Skilled Migration for Refugees

Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) envisions a world where forcibly displaced people can use their skills and talents to move to secure futures. We work with governments, employers and partners to overcome the barriers that often prevent refugees from accessing skilled migration pathways. TBB seeks to be a catalyst for systems change in skilled migration, laying the groundwork for this solution to scale to serve millions of displaced people.

TBB is currently seeking a qualified research consultant to conduct data analysis and produce a report on the barriers to skilled migration for refugees. The objective of the research is to further map host country-level challenges preventing refugees from working internationally, focusing on the specific challenges facing Syrian refugees, identifying lessons learned from previous attempts to overcome them, and highlighting possible ways to overcome barriers that have not yet been attempted. In doing so, this report hopes to play a role in unlocking some of the persistent challenges that have prevented labour mobility from becoming a commonly utilized complementary pathway for refugees alongside the three formally recognized durable solutions to displacement. This research will seek to answer the following questions: 

1. What are the key host country barriers in 2021 facing Syrian refugees wishing to access labour migration?
2. What are the ways in which actors have sought to overcome, successfully or unsuccessfully, barriers to labour mobility for Syrian refugees? What lessons can be learned from these experiences? 
3. What can be done to improve support to refugees who pursue these pathways?

Applicant Requirements

• Familiarity and experience with: research methodology design; migration, refugee, and/or immigration law research; quantitative and qualitative research; research publication writing and production;
• Familiarity with refugee livelihoods contexts in Jordan and Lebanon
• Experience in authoring high quality publications;
• Lived refugee experience is preferred 
• Arabic language written and spoken fluency preferred

Key Deliverables 

• One English-language report of 30 to 35 pages in length.
• One shorter briefing paper. 
• Participation in stakeholder dialogue and dissemination activities. 

Areas of Investigation 

• Labour mobility 
• Refugee relocation 
• Immigration processes (specifically skilled visas)
• Refugee livelihoods 

Duration & Location

This work will take place from November - December 2021. The position is based remotely.