Expression of Interest For Ethiopia Refugee-Host Community Endline Surveys

Expression of Interest for Ethiopia Refugee-Host Community Endline Surveys The social and economic inclusion of refugees remains a primary challenge for host country governments and their development partners. Ethiopia hosts over 1 million refugees, making it the host of one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Refugees in Ethiopia are primarily from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan. Each of these countries has or is currently experiencing some combination of long-running internal conflict, border disputes with Ethiopia, recurrent drought or other climate shocks, and economic instability. The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has recognized the importance of refugee economic inclusion and has made ambitious commitments toward a more comprehensive and development-oriented refugee response. In February 2017, Ethiopia became one of the first countries to initiate implementation of the UN-backed Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). As part of this commitment, the government pledged to provide registered refugees with permits to leave camps and settle among host communities, as well as engage in a range of livelihood activities. In 2024, the GoE issued Directive No. 1019/2024, establishing a legal framework for refugees to access work through three pathways toward out-of-camp employment: wage employment, self-employment, and participation in joint programs. Building on these reforms, the GoE officially launched the Makatet Roadmap in 2026, a multisectoral national framework that aims to promote the socio-economic inclusion of refugees and host communities by advancing refugee self-reliance, expanding economic opportunities, and integrating refugee responses into government-led development planning and national service delivery systems. To promote economic inclusion and realize refugees right to work, the World Bank is supporting the RRS through an advisory services and analytics program aimed at supporting the implementation of three key pathways towards out-of-camp employment. The overall goals of this program are to (1) provide analytical support and capacity building to the RRS, (2) implement small-scale interventions that provide work permits for self-employment and wage work, and (3) generate rigorous evidence and research about the take up of work permits and business licenses among refugees, potential sectors of employment for refugees, relevant missing skills among refugees, potential for refugees relocation away from camps, economic impacts on hosting communities, and the unintended effects on refugees and hosting communities of the issuance of work permits and business licenses. As part of this effort, the World Bank has conducted (1) a comprehensive baseline skills survey in a subset of Ethiopian refugee camps in the Benishangul-Gumuz and Somali regions, (2) an establishment surveys among host community members in the areas covered by the studys sample, targeting informal, formal, and household businesses, and (3) supported RRS in the implementation of a randomised experiment, in which refugees, through a public lottery, were randomly assigned to either treatment or control group, where participants in the former group received a comprehensive support package for obtaining work permits and businesses licenses. To support this program, the World Bank is seeking to contract a technical partner to implement comprehensive endline surveys. The results of the surveys will contribute to assess the direct and indirect impact of expanding refugees right to work. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/7350/view.html