Individual Contractor

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Description

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• Stateless persons can face problems enrolling in schools because schools can require parents or caregivers to provide legal documentation or to arrange for the Village Head to visit the school and guarantee that the concerned individuals live in their stated villages.
• Many schools are located in remote areas and a number have been closed because they have too few students. As a result, some stateless students have to travel to other villages/towns to attend schools. This causes additional expenses, such as travel and accommodation costs, especially for the secondary or higher education level students.
• Stateless persons suffer restricted freedom of movement and are required to obtain travel passes when travelling beyond their provincial areas. Further, those who hold ID no. (0-00 undocumented persons, Art. 38 paragraph 2 of the Civil Registration Act) are unable to travel.  This can impact on the ability of students to access education opportunities outside of their provincial areas.
• Stateless persons are ineligible to apply for the government’s education loan (that covers secondary school level (grade 10-12), vocational certificates, diploma or bachelor’s degrees), which impacts on access to higher level education.  As a result, access to employment opportunities for stateless persons that require higher levels of education (and can result in higher levels of income) can be restricted. 
• UNHCR is aware of reports of stateless persons who have completed education requirements not receiving graduation certificates due to their lack of 13-digit ID no. and ID cards. In some cases, where legal documentation has subsequently been received, schools have still refused to issue the certificate and instead required that students commence their studies again. 
• Even though Thailand has an Education for All Policy with five basic education subsidies (education facilitation fees, textbooks, education materials, school uniforms; students’ capacity building activities) provided by the government, in reality – families (including Thai) still have to pay school fees and other costs depends on school’s requests. Stateless families are disproportionately affected by poverty and UNHCR understands that they have struggled to cover education expenses. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many stateless students drop out of schooling because their families cannot afford related costs.

• Assess the situation on access to education for stateless persons in Thailand from primary level to tertiary education level;
• Identify gaps in education policy as well as limitations of stateless persons in accessing education services in Thailand; and
• Inform advocacy and guide efforts of stakeholders, including UNHCR and UNICEF, to support the RTG in strengthening access to education for stateless children and young adults.

• Identify and propose a suitable sample of stateless persons (including their parents and caregivers) and stakeholders (e.g. RTG officials, civil society organizations, academia, education providers, other relevant service providers and UN agencies) with whom to conduct interviews and consultations; 
• design survey questions to guide interviews, facilitate the consultations, document inputs and contributions, and summarize the gathered data and information; and
• conduct interviews and consultations with stateless children, parents, caregivers, education providers and other relevant service providers as well as site visits. 

• Summary of key findings from the interviews and consultations with stateless persons and other stakeholders; 
• Draft report which looks at the situation – including challenges and successes – faced by stateless persons in accessing education and the related uniqueness of the statelessness experience. 

• A final report shall be prepared by the individual Contractor provider building on the findings of the desk review, the input from interviews with stateless persons and stakeholders, and analysis of the gathered consultative information. The final report should present the key findings and clear recommendations to further strengthen access to education for stateless children in Thailand with a focus on making the education system more inclusive as well as targeted approaches to accelerate progress for stateless children. 
• Regular consultations with both UNHCR and UNICEF will be important throughout all phases of the preparation and validation of the final report, including during the development of the report outline, the analytical framework used to assess the collected inputs and contributions from stakeholders, complemented by actionable recommendations in the short and medium term. The report produced in English and Thai languages, will contain a 5-page Executive Summary, and shall be cleared by UNHCR and UNICEF via a Steering Committee established to oversee the research.
• The individual Contractor provider is expected to present findings and participate at a workshop with relevant RTG officials and other concerned actors to discuss findings and follow up.

• Master’s degree in the fields of Social Sciences, Law, Human Rights, Public Policy or other similar fields;

• At least seven years of professional experience in conducting and coordinating research related to statelessness, human rights, public policy, education policy, and access to rights of marginalized population including ethnic minorities;
• Knowledge of statelessness, law on nationality, civil registration and access to rights issues in Thailand;
• Knowledge of the SDGs, UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Thailand; 
• Strong analytical skills, including ability to collect data and information from varied sources;
• Ability to travel to the remote areas within Thailand; and

• Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills in English and Thai. 

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