Published on 19th April 2017

INTRODUCTION

Atina in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and NGO Macedonian Lawyers Association started with the implementation of the project Building Together: Community Monitoring and Advocacy which is financially supported by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to improve the position of refugees and other migrants, especially children and women in local communities in Serbia and Macedonia. During the project KAS, Atina and MLA will develop participatory community-based mechanisms for continuous monitoring and advocating for the implementation of effective integration and protection policies and services for migrants, especially women and children.

The expected outcomes of the projects are that: Local Monitoring and Advocacy Networks are able to monitor local policies and protection practices in regards to integration of migrants; Local policies and services for migrants (especially children and women) are improved; similar initiatives gathering CSOs and institutions are implemented in Macedonia, Serbia and the region.

RATIONALE

The migrant and refuge crises in Europe from 2015 became the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War. Since the breakout of the crises over 1 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in search of better opportunities. The main countries of origins of the migrants are: Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. With its central geographical position, Macedonia and Serbia played a crucial role within the Balkan Route of movement of migrants toward Western European countries.

The crises posed a serious challenge to both countries in terms of facilitating their journey and accommodating their temporary residence. With this being the case, both countries establish temporary registration centres in August 2015 as entry points where migrants and asylum seekers had their data recorded with the possibility to stay in the country for 72 hours.

However, the situation changed dramatically in October/November 2015 when the main countries of destination (Austria, Germany and Sweden) reversed their welcoming policies for the migrants and began to negotiate with Turkey for stemming the influx of migrants through Greece and the Balkan route further on. Finally, after months of negotiations the EU and Turkey struck a deal for stemming the flow of migrants from Turkey and in early March 2016 the Balkan Route was effectively closed which left the migrants in limbo.

The situation left several thousand of migrants in the temporary centres in Macedonia and Serbia who were left with two options: apply for asylum or head back to Greece and return to their home destination.

As was the case with other countries in the region, the Governments of Serbia and Macedonia were initially overwhelmed with the large influx of new arrivals. While Serbia and Macedonia had recently established reception and asylum systems, the implementation of the asylum law has been deficient and services inadequate, the more so as these systems were designed for much smaller numbers. In an effort to better cope with the situation and prompted by international actors and national NGOs, in the autumn of 2015 both Macedonia and Serbia adopted emergency plans in case of mass influx of migrants, with the support of international actors. However, the plans focus on the immediate priority of increasing accommodation capacity and winterizing shelters and, as UN Women observed, while referring to the need of special assistance for vulnerable groups, they are weak in addressing protection and gender concerns.

Recently, there have been some promising developments at the policy levels in both countries. For instance, in Macedonia, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) have been developed for processing unaccompanied children (November 2015), and for other categories of vulnerable refugees and migrants, including the elderly, pregnant women, single parents (April/May 2016), while SOP for the prevention and response to SGBV in the refugee crisis are currently under consideration. The Serbian government adopted the “National Strategy for Gender Equality for the period 2016-2020”, which includes women refugees as a vulnerable group at risk of discrimination. A new draft Law on Asylum and Temporary Protection is currently being considered, which should improve the asylum procedure.

Migrants’ protection is a complex issue involving a wide range of aspects which need to be addressed by adopting a multidisciplinary and intersectoral approach. Dominant discourse in policy debates emphasises migration aspects, transnational collaboration and national actions, leaving out human rights and protection aspects and the most relevant actors in protection of migrants, especially the most vulnerable ones – local communities.

SCOPE OF WORK

Lead Expert for Comprehensive analysis of the position of migrants in Serbia and Macedonia is responsible to organize the implementation of the analysis and to submit final version of it in time. One of the main roles of this Expert is to supervise development of products/reports which will be part of this Comprehensive analysis and done by two National Experts, one from Serbia and one from Macedonia. Specific responsibilities of the Lead Expert for Comprehensive analysis of the position of migrants in Serbia and Macedonia are:

1. To supervise the work of the Expert team

The Expert team consists of Lead expert and two National experts. As a leading member of Expert team for development of analysis of migrants’ position, Lead Expert will be responsible to compile and provide inputs of overall methodology of the analysis. Also, the responsibility of Lead expert is to on regular basis report to Project manager, to participate at the Expert team meetings, to coordinate the work of two National experts, to monitor all their activities and to supervise it and to submit final versions of the products/reports in time.

1. To conduct consultations with the Expert Team members

The Lead Expert has to ensure information sharing and regular communication with the Expert Team and to provide comprehensive consultations to National Experts in Expert Team in activities they are responsible with specially with development of detailed research methodology, development of desk research, implementation of ten focus group interviews, conducting ten in-depth interviews with migrants, including woman and children and finalisation of the baseline research and the case studies.

1. To develop final version of the Comprehensive analysis

The Lead Expert will be responsible to gather and compile products/reports from National experts and to finalize and to submit final version of the Comprehensive analysis of the position of migrants in Serbia and Macedonia.

OBLIGATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONSULTANT(S):

• Get to know all the relevant legal framework and documents related to the research process;
• To coordinate and supervise activities of the Expert Team;
• Toensure information sharing and regular communication with the Expert Team;
• Monitor activities of the Expert Team;
• Finalise final products the Expert Team;
• Submit final version of the Comprehensive analysis of the position of migrants in Serbia and Macedonia

The assignment should take place from 28 April to 30 August, 2017.

BUDGET:

Association Atina will negotiate number of days of engagement with the selected consultant(s) on the basis of the financial offer (gross amount) that will classify the following:

*Add columns as needed depending on the number of activities needed to perform the assignment

            Subtotal                                               Euro__________

            Other costs (specify)                             Euro__________

            TOTAL                                                Euro__________

The total costs should cover all preparatory work regarding data collection, communication costs between Project team, consultants and organizations (e-mail, telephone, fax, mail).

BIDDING PROCEDURE

Interested consultant(s) should develop and submit the bidding proposal in English language to respond to above mentioned specific tasks no later than 26 April, 2017. The bidding proposal should include:

1. Description and contact details of a consultant applying;

2. A clear description of the methodological approach;

3. A detailed Budget Proposal (in the required form);

4. CV of expert involved emphasizing relevant experience;

5. Witting sample of the similar assignments.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Project team will make decision on the selection of the most successful bidder, subject to the available budget, on the following four criteria:

• University degree in the relevant field
• At least 3 year of relevant experience
• Experience of the candidate in performing similar projects or programs;
• An example of previous work as a reference of previous experience is desirable

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BID

All bids need to be submitted no later than Wednesday 26 April, at 17:00h in electronic version, to the email mirko.rudic@atina.org.rs. A selection will be made no later than 27 April, 2017 and the selected consultant will be contracted no later than 27 April, 2017.

Only selected candidate will be informed.