Consultancy for Research on Durable Solutions in Syria

• Who is the Danish Refugee Council?

Founded in 1956, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading international NGO and one of the few with a specific expertise in forced displacement. Active in 40 countries with 9,000 employees and supported by 7,500 volunteers, DRC protects, advocates, and builds sustainable futures for refugees and other displacement affected people and communities. DRC works during displacement at all stages: In the acute crisis, in displacement, when settling and integrating in a new place, or upon return. DRC provides protection and life-saving humanitarian assistance; supports displaced persons in becoming self-reliant and included into hosting societies; and works with civil society and responsible authorities to promote protection of rights and peaceful coexistence.

About the Middle East Durable Solutions Platform (ME DSP)

ME DSP was established by the Danish Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee and Norwegian Refugee Council in 2016, amid what was then the world’s largest displacement crisis, to improve policy and programming approaches in support of durable solutions for communities affected by displacement in and from Syria. The scope of the work changed as the context shifted, and a strategy revision in 2021-22 led to an expansion of ME DSP’s geographic focus to include other forcibly displaced populations in the Middle East, while the operational focus shifted from predominately research to applied research, strategic policy engagement and capacity building. ME DSP is hosted by the Danish Refugee Council, and its current operating model is to work through topic-specific alliances of International NGOs and locally led NGOs, including NGO fora in the region.

• Purpose of the consultancy

The Danish Refugee Council based in Middle East Regional Office seeks proposals from a consultant to support ME DSP’s policy work. The focus of the consultancy should be on identifying strategies to mitigate the impact of the geopolitical context related to Syria on the aid response, pertaining especially to the absence of prospects for sustainable investment primarily from traditional donor governments in resilience, early recovery and development programming in government-controlled areas. The study should aim to find entry points for policy influencing for more effective and sustainable programming while benchmarking what is and is not achievable in the Syria context, using analytical frameworks from a wide array of disciplines.

• Background

The Middle East is both the source and host of some of the largest numbers of forcibly displaced people worldwide. Until the 2022 outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Syrian crisis countries held global records for displacement numbers: the highest number of registered refugees (Türkiye), the highest number of registered refugees per capita (Lebanon), the highest internally displaced population (Syria) and the largest displacement crisis (Syria).

Displacement in and from Syria has become protracted, with the estimated number of internally displaced persons in Syria, and refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, relatively unchanged for several years.

Progress for displaced populations in and from Syria ultimately depends on a political solution to the conflict, as the prerequisite for universal human rights protection and economic investment.

As things stand, the government of Syria is unable to finance large-scale reconstruction projects while its allies are either unable or unwilling, and public statements of governments in traditional donor countries indicate that they will not invest in development in Syria as long as the current government stays in place.[1]

The UNSG Special Envoy-led peace process is not advancing so a political solution is currently out of the question, leaving the Syrian crisis at an impasse. ME DSP contends that the absence of a strategy to navigate this impasse is one of the core problems in the Syrian displacement crisis response.

There is no common vision among policy-makers, neither in hosting countries, traditional donor countries, nor among UN actors as to how the repercussions of the impasse can be mitigated, and they have yet to devise a plan or response architecture that takes these realities into account.

Essentially, because of a lack of political progress, response actors struggle to craft a displacement response strategy which takes the indefinitely stalemated nature of the crisis into account. As such, ME DSP is commissioning this consultancy to identify entry points for improvement and benchmark what is possible in this context.

• Objective of the consultancy

The objective of this consultancy is to produce a report based on (a) different analytical framework(s) than the ones that aid response actors tend to use to gauge what space there is to improve the response inside Syria, taking into consideration the geopolitical context.

Indicative lines of inquiry for the study:

• What can international aid actors learn from strategies to working in a context like the Syria context found outside of the humanitarian and development communities, for instance in international diplomacy and commerce?
• What can international aid actors learn from other foreign actors working in government-held areas in Syria?
• What can international aid actors learn from local actors working in government-held areas in Syria?
• How can lessons learned inform improvements in the international aid response to the Syrian displacement crisis?
• How can lessons learned inform policy influencing related to the Syrian displacement crisis?

• Scope of work and Methodology

Scope:

The study should focus on government-held areas in Syria.

Methodology:

The Consultant is free to suggest a methodology for this study. To ensure that the overall direction of the research is triangulated with ME DSP, it will be discussed with a Research Reference Group[2] (RRG) during an inception workshop. The Consultant will use the conclusions of the inception workshop to draft the plan and, if applicable, tools. Once the final draft of the report has been written, it will be discussed during a validation workshop before it will be finalised.

• Deliverables

The duties and responsibilities of the Consultant are:

-to propose a methodology for the study and put together a plan with a timeline for the finalisation of the below list of deliverables;

-to make a plan for implementing the methodology and, if applicable, drafting the necessary tools for validation by the RRG;

-to prepare for and deliver the inception workshop where the research plan will be discussed;

-to produce a final draft of the report for sharing with the RRG;

-to prepare for and deliver the validation workshop where the final report is presented and where the messaging on key findings and conclusions are discussed.

The Consultant will submit the following deliverables:

• Research plan and methodology;
• Research tools, if applicable;
• Inception workshop;
• Draft report;
• Validation workshop;
• Final report.

The Consultant will provide the documentation by email/ PDF.

• Duration, timeline, and payment

• The total expected duration to complete the assignment will be no more than 40 working days based on the following estimates;

Research plan and methodology

5 working days

Inception workshop

3 working days

Research phase

15 working days

First draft report

10 working days

Validation workshop

3 working days

Final draft report

4 working days

Total

40 working days

• The consultant shall be prepared to have the final draft of the report ready by 6 December, so that the Consultant completes the assignment no later than 20 December.

The development of the report will take place over the course of October to December. The ways of working and deadlines for deliverables will be decided together with the consultant and RRG, but the final deadlines will be as above (final draft of the report by 6 December and final version of the report by 20 December).

Payment will be made in three instalments and based on the successful completion of deliverables:

1. Research plan and methodology.
2. Draft report.
3. Final report.

4. Proposed Composition of Team

For the purpose of this consultancy and the nature of this work, ME DSP prefers a team of minimum 2-3 individuals with a history of doing research on Syria.

• Eligibility, qualification, and experience required

Due to the scope of this research and the available timeframe, consultant teams (of minimum 2-3 individuals) are preferred, but individual consultants can apply.

The lead consultant should have the following qualifications, and team members are expected to have solid research/ thematic/ regional expertise:

• Master degree in international relations, development, political science and/or similar
• Minimum 6 years’ proven experience in conducting similar assignments
• Demonstrable experience related to forced migration and durable solutions in Syria
• Strong knowledge of the region and the socio-economic and political dynamics affecting it, more specifically on displacement trends and programming in Syria
• Strong analytical and writing skills with proven experience in producing high quality research with ability to present complex information in a simple and accessible manner
• Fluency in written and spoken English

Documents to be submitted:

• A technical proposal outlining the consultant’s own understanding of the required scope of work
• Updated CV/s of the consultant/s that clearly spells out his/her qualifications and experience
• A financial proposal showing daily rate
• 2 examples of similar work completed in past
• 2 reference contacts

• Technical supervision

The selected consultant will work under the supervision of ME DSP’s Coordinator

• Location and support

This consultancy is home-based, the Consultant will provide her/his own computer and mobile telephone.

• Travel

The consultant is not expected to travel for this consultancy.

• Submission process

Refer to the RFP letter invitation.

• Evaluation of bids

Refer to the RFP letter invitation.