CON 2026 050| Migration Data and Evidence-Building Consultant

Introduction

Established in 1951, IOM is a Related Organization of the United Nations and the leading UN agency in the field of migration. Working closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners, IOM promotes humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It saves lives and protects people on the move, drives solutions to displacement, and facilitates pathways for regular migration, while providing services and advice to governments and migrants. 

IOM is committed to fostering a respectful, inclusive and supportive workplace where all employees can thrive professionally and feel valued. By creating such an environment, IOM aims to better harness the full potential of migration and strengthen its support to people on the move.

IOM invites candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply and provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process when required. Learn more about IOM’s workplace culture at IOM workplace culture | International Organization for Migration

Project Context and Scope

For centuries, Filipinos have moved across the porous maritime borders of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa) to Sabah, engaging in an ecosystem of trade, kinship visitation and employment in the agricultural, industrial and service sectors. This mobility is often driven by survival and necessity. There were significant influxes of Filipinos in the early 1970s, when refugees escaped the civil war in Mindanao, and in the 1980s, when labour migration was promoted as a temporary measure to ease economic hardship. As many migrants were born and raised in Sabah, they have established extensive family networks and regard the region as their primary home, despite their lack of formal residency status. In 2024, the Philippine Government estimated that 550,000 out of 770,000 Filipinos in Sabah were undocumented. The irregular and circular patterns of this movement have left a massive population in a state of legal limbo.

The lack or expired documentation has led to a systematic escalation in the detention and deportation of Filipinos back to the Zamboanga City Port. For those caught up in this process, there are reports that individuals are kept in overcrowded detention centers prior to departure without access to legal counsel. These conditions carry heightened risks for women, who are disproportionately vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation across the various phases of irregular migration and during detention. The abrupt separation from livelihoods and families in Sabah leaves many returnees in acute vulnerability, compounding the protection challenges they face upon return. The intensity of these returns is evidenced by the arrival of over 5,700 individuals in eight batches between March and October 2025, placing immense pressure on local reception and reintegration services.

To foster safer migration pathways and establish responsive reintegration frameworks, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is implementing the project titled, “Promoting Sustainable, Gender-Inclusive Solutions for Migrants with Vulnerabilities in the Southern Philippines.” The initiative is strategically designed to strengthen gender-sensitive, safe migration programs and governance mechanisms. It achieves this by enhancing evidence-based inter-agency coordination, streamlining data management systems, and delivering effective, gender-inclusive protection and reintegration services for vulnerable migrants. Moving forward, the project will collaborate closely with national and regional government units, alongside relevant line agencies, to institutionalize a well-coordinated response. This partnership aims to develop sustainable frameworks for targeted, evidence-based programming that safeguards the rights, dignity, and long-term well-being of returning migrants.

• Conduct desk reviews and consultations with relevant national, regional, and local government agencies including Region IX, BARMM, BaSulTa, as well as their IM focal and frontline workers, to inform the development of migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies. 
• Design and contextualize profiling, screening, and monitoring tools, incorporating gender-responsive, inclusive, and vulnerability-sensitive approaches, as well as protection and safeguarding principles and tailored to Sabah-Zamboanga-BaSulTa migration corridor.    
• Pilot test the draft tools and methodologies to evaluate usability, validate the relevance and quality of collected data, and identify areas for improvement. Based on the pilot test results, refine and finalize the tools and methodologies, incorporating feedback and agreed-upon revisions to ensure that the profiling and screening tool is context-specific, culturally appropriate, gender-sensitive, and aligned with identified protection and safeguarding considerations.
• Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), training materials, and capacity-building plans to support the implementation of validated migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.
• Deliver training sessions to regional government (BARMM and Region IX), LGU, frontline workers, and IM focal on migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.
• Deliver training for IOM personnels and data enumerators on administering the tools and data collection exercises
• Monitor and provide technical guidance, as appropriate, to the initial roll-out of the validated migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.
• Coordinate closely with IOM’s Information Management Teams to enable integration of migration datasets into dashboards and other data management systems.

Expected local travel in project areas specifically in Region IX (Zamboanga City, Sulu), BARMM (Cotabato City, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi), and Manila. All travel costs related to the performance of the consultancy duties shall be included in the consultant’s proposed professional fee. No separate travel reimbursement will be provided by IOM.

First deliverable: Submission of inception report outlining frameworks, workplans, and implementation approach for the consultations, tools and methodologies development, training, and data collection (First Instalment Payment: 30%)

November 2026 – Draft inception report and conduct preparatory meetings with IOM team (IOM PTRU, MMU, Information and Management Team, Data Management and Data Hub, etc) and government partners (DSWD IX, MSSD, LGUs, relevant offices and agencies, and other key regional/national stakeholders, etc).

November 2026 — Conduct desk research/review of available data and indicators, assessment and studies on trends, risks and vulnerabilities, including assessment tools utilized by IOM (IOM Flow Monitoring Toolkits, Intersectional Gender Analysis Toolkit, Protection Information Management Toolkit, etc) and the government counterparts (DSWD, DOH-BOQ, etc) in documenting, profiling and screening of REFS and analyze data gaps to inform the design and development of migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.

November 2026 — Submit and present an inception report outlining analytical frameworks, workplans, and implementation approach for the development and contextualization for profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies; development of SOP and training materials; and delivery of training sessions for government partners, frontline workers, IM focals, as well as IOM personnels and data enumerators.  

Second deliverable: Development and contextualization of migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies, as well as activity designs and materials for training to support the implementation. (Second Instalment Payment: 40%)

November 2026 – Conduct consultation sessions with IOM teams, government counterparts (e.g. DSWD/PCPD, MSSD, LGUs, etc), IM focals, and frontline workers in development of contextualized, gender-sensitive, and culturally-appropriate profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.  

December 2026 – Incorporate recommendations, feedback, and suggested indicators from consultation, ensuring gender-sensitivity, vulnerability, inclusivity, and integrating protection and safeguard principles.

December 2026 – Draft activity designs, SOPs, and training materials to support the delivery of capacity-building activities for government counterparts, IM focal points, frontline workers, IOM personnel and data enumerators on the implementation of migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.

January 2027 – Orient IOM personnel and data enumerators on the administration and utilization of the profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.

January 2027 – Pilot roll-out of data collection following the agreed methodologies and utilizing the tools developed.

January 2027 – Refine and finalize the profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies, training activity designs and materials, and SOPs based on findings and identified areas of improvement from the pilot roll out.

Final Deliverable: Delivery of training, technical inputs to IOM Information and Management Team, and submission of final reports. (Third Instalment Payment: 30%)

February 2027 – Present the results of the pilot roll out and finalized profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies to the stakeholders.

February 2027 – Deliver training sessions to key government counterparts (DSWD IX/PCPD, MSSD, etc.), LGUs, IM focal, frontline workers, IOM personnels and field enumerators on the utilization and administration of the finalized profiling, screening, and monitoring tools and methodologies.

February 2027 – Work with IOM Information Management Team to integrate the final data sets of the migration profiling, screening, and monitoring tools to IOM dashboard.

March 2027– Submission of final report incorporating key recommendations in enhancing data base, including copies of finalized tools, training designs, data sets, and stories captured during the consultancy engagement.

March 31, 2027- End of Contract

Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

• A minimum of master’s degree in Migration Studies, Political or Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Peace and Development, or other similar disciplines is required

Experience

• At least five years of specialized experience in the field of gender, migration management, peace and development
• At least two years of experience in providing policy or programming advice and technical assistance gender sensitive and culturally inclusive data management and evidence-building on circular migration and mobility.

Skills

• Strong background and demonstrated knowledge in gender, reintegration, and social inclusion
• Excellent analytical skills and organizational skills, with proven capacities in community organizing, capacity-building, and stakeholder engagement and networking
• Prior advocacy or research experience migration management, reintegration, and gender-responsive planning and programming in fragile contexts in BARMM and Region IX is preferred.

Languages

For this consultancy, fluency in English and Filipino is required. Knowledge of another BARMM local language is desirable.

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 - all IOM staff members must abide by and demonstrate these five values:

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: Respects and promotes individual and cultural differences. Encourages diversity and inclusion.
• Integrity and transparency: Maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
• Professionalism: Demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.
• Courage: Demonstrates willingness to take a stand on issues of importance.
• Empathy: Shows compassion for others, makes people feel safe, respected and fairly treated.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Teamwork: Develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
• Delivering results: Produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner. Is action oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
• Managing and sharing knowledge: Continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
• Accountability: Takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own actions and delegated work.
• Communication: Encourages and contributes to clear and open communication. Explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

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.

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