National Consultant- Assignment to Generate Evidence-Based Insights for the Ethiopia–Kenya Bilateral Labour Agreement (BLA) through a Comparative Labour Market Assessment

Project Context and Scope

The project titled, Regular Pathways for Employment: A collaborative approach between Kenya and Ethiopia for intra and inter-regional migration, aims to enhance regular labour migration pathways between Kenya, Ethiopia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, promoting regional cooperation and safe migration. The project aims to facilitate the Governments of Ethiopia (GOE) and Kenya (GoK) to establish a labour migration governance and cooperation framework to address irregular migration, safeguard migrant workers' rights and strengthen regional partnerships. It also aims to contribute to the establishment of governance and cooperation frameworks for efficient and sustainable channels for regular migration to selected GCC countries.

Kenya and Ethiopia are central to migration dynamics in the East and Horn of Africa region, acting as origin, transit, and destination countries influenced by economic, conflict, and environmental factors. Ethiopians often migrate to Kenya for education, work, or on transit to Southern Africa, Europe and North America, while both Ethiopians and Kenyans seek labour opportunities in GCC countries. In the process, migrants face significant challenges including exploitation, irregular migration, and limited legal protections partly due to inadequate bilateral agreements and weak institutional capacity. The Kenya–Ethiopia corridor is a strategically important economic zone linking northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, characterized by cross-border trade, infrastructure development, mobility of labour, and emerging urban centres. Recent and planned investments in transport infrastructure, energy, logistics, agribusiness, and services are expected to significantly influence labour demand, skills requirements, and employment opportunities across the corridor.

At the same time, there exists persistent challenges including high youth unemployment, informality, skills mismatches, gender disparities in labour force participation, and vulnerabilities related to climate shocks, displacement, and cross-border mobility. Addressing these challenges requires sustained collaborative efforts and coordinated actions between countries and regions to improve governance frameworks and ensure that migration pathways are safe, fair and gender responsive. The GoE is actively engaging in negotiations with countries of destination, including development of Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements (BLMAs); similar efforts are being undertaken by the GoK to increase access to decent employment for their respective migrant workers. Both countries are significant countries of origin for labour mobility to the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

Despite the efforts, critical gaps persist, including absence of structured, inclusive, and gender-sensitive and responsive labour mobility frameworks between Ethiopia and Kenya as well as GCC countries. This has contributed to the proliferation of irregular migration, exploitation of migrant workers, and limited access to dignified work opportunities.

The GoE has identified labor migration as a strategic priority for development as well as fostering regional integration. Discussions with GoK have been initiated in 2023 to pave the ground for possible MoU on labor migration between the two countries. The Ministry of Labour and Skills (MoLS) of the GoE with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) intends to commission a Labour Market Assessment (LMA) to generate evidence on existing and future labour demand and supply dynamics along the Ethiopia-Kenya corridor, to inform targeted policy dialogue, and support technical discussions to frame and realize the envisaged Ethiopia-Kenya Memorandum of Understanding (MoU/BLMA).

The purpose of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive labour market assessment to:

• Identify and analyze labour market dynamics, trends, and constraints in key economic sectors that have high employment and growth potential in Ethiopia.
• Identify current and projected labour demand, skills need in Ethiopia, and employment opportunities between the two countries.
• Analyze Ethiopian labour supply characteristics, focusing on skills, employability, and barriers to labour market participation; and
• Provide actionable recommendations to inform employment, skills development, Ethiopia-Kenya MoU/BLMA finalization and effective stakeholder engagement.

Organizational Department / Unit to which the Consultant is contributing

Regular Pathways for Employment: A collaborative approach between Kenya and Ethiopia for intra and inter-regional migration. Project Code: LM.0615

Unit: Migration Management and Governance Unit (MMGU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Skills in the Government of Ethiopia

Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

• Hold master’s in economics, labour studies, development studies, or a related field.
• Proven qualitative and quantitative research skills.

Experience

• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience in conducting labour market assessments or employment-related assessments at national level and in supporting the development, negotiation, implementation, or review of BLAs, MoUs or LM policies.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting the development, negotiation, or review of BLAs, MoUs or LM policies is an advantage.
• Strong understanding of East Africa labour markets, preferably Ethiopia and Kenya.
• Experience in private sector, value chain, or skills development analysis.

Skills

• Excellent analytical and report-writing skills in English
• Experience working in cross-border or fragile contexts is an asset.

Languages

For this consultancy, Amharic and English are mandatory.

Proficiency of language(s) required will be specifically evaluated during the selection process, which may include written and/or oral assessments.

Required Competencies

IOM’s competency framework can be found at this link. Competencies will be assessed during the selection process.

Values

• Inclusion and respect for diversity
• Integrity and transparency
• Professionalism
• Courage
• Empathy

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Teamwork
• Delivering results
• Managing and sharing knowledge
• Accountability
• Communication

Notes

IOM covers Consultants against occupational accidents and illnesses under the Compensation Plan (CP), free of charge, for the duration of the consultancy. IOM does not provide evacuation or medical insurance for reasons related to non-occupational accidents and illnesses. Consultants are responsible for their own medical insurance for non-occupational accident or illness and will be required to provide written proof of such coverage before commencing work.

Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation.

Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, security clearances.

IOM has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and IOM, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities.

IOM does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, processing, training or other fee). IOM does not request any information related to bank accounts.

IOM only accepts duly completed applications submitted through the IOM e-Recruitment system (for internal candidates link here). The online tool also allows candidates to track the status of their application.

No late applications will be accepted. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For further information and other job postings, you are welcome to visit our website: IOM Careers and Job Vacancies

Tasks to be performed under this contract

The consultant will report to MOLS (Job employment sector) and work closely with the Labour Mobility and Social Inclusion team