Enhancing the Americas pledges to the Global Refugee Forum and High-Level Officials’ Meeting Consultancy

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

A (least hardship)FamilyCONS International2025-02-01January 15, 2025The Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is a high-level Forum bringing together governments, international organizations, civil society, the academia, the private sector, and refugees themselves. Its purpose is to drive progress on refugee protection and solutions by facilitating pledges and commitments from various stakeholders. The event is central to engaging the international community on refugee issues and advancing the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).
The High-Level Officials Meeting (HLOM) typically occurs every second year after the GRF. It provides a platform for senior officials and high-level stakeholders (such as foreign ministers, heads of UN agencies, and other decision-makers) to discuss and review the state of global refugee protection, along with the implementation of pledges and the evolution of the GCR.
During 2024, states in the region, with the support of all-of-society approach have adopted the Chile Plan of Action 2024-2034 (PAC), encompassing 100 recommended actions for the protection and solution of displaced and stateless populations in the region. The PAC has a follow up mechanism that is tied to the GRF/HLOM cycles and aims at finding coherence and synergies with the pledges made at the GRF.
In 2023, the Americas region made more than 300 pledges at the GRF, representing 21 per cent of total. Pledges made ranged from strengthening asylum capacity, to enhancing integration opportunities, working on localization and fighting statelessness. Several countries in the region joined the Global Alliance to Fight Statelessness launched by UNHCR. In December 2025, UNHCR will coordinate the HLOM with stocktaking exercise on the implementation of pledges, including through matching pledges. In March 2025, a regional stocktaking exercise will be run by UNHCR for each pledging region. In June 2025, six months before the HLOM, Chile will call for a regional coordination meeting of the PAC with a view to the HLOM. UNHCR acts as a secretariat to the PAC and the Americas Bureau helps states and other stakeholders in the implementation and reporting of the pledges made.
The operational context of working at UNHCR headquarters on the Global Refugee Forum and High-Level Officials Meeting for the Americas Bureau revolves around managing complex logistics, facilitating high-level diplomacy, coordinating across multiple stakeholders, and ensuring the accountability and effectiveness of global commitments to refugees in line with the PAC. It requires a combination of strategic thinking, diplomacy, coordination, and continuous monitoring to ensure that the goals of refugee protection and solutions are advanced on a global scale.

As part of the Americas Bureau team, the Consultant would assist with organizing all aspects of coordination of the Americas Pledges towards the HLOM, and in particular:

• Coordinate with UNHCR country offices the collection and synthesisation of reports, data, and pledges’ progress assessments to ensure that high-level discussions are informed by the latest trends, challenges, and successes in refugee protection and solutions;
• Upon endorsement internally on the matching 2.0 strategy consultation with hosts and donors that made policy and financial/material pledges to be convened in early 2025.
• Liaise with the GCR Team, DIP, DRS and other relevant Divisions on Americas multi-stakeholders’ pledges and act as a focal point for the HLOM;
• Coordinate with the GCR Team in reformulating the current definition and modality of the matching to make it much more fit for purpose. This includes the identification along with relevant operations of new financing sources to support host country policy pledges and consultation with hosts and donors that made policy and financial/material pledges to be convened in early 2025.
• Coordinate the implementation and reporting of the UN Common Pledge in the Americas (16 pledges);
• In coordination with the Regional Stateless Officer, promote regional membership to the Global Alliance to Fight Statelessness and liaise with the Statelessness Unit to that effect;
• Help organizing the regional stocktaking exercise in March 2025;
• Produce presentations, reports and other materials, including communication materials on the Americas Pledges.
• Liaise and coordinate input, contributions and interventions of the Grupo Articulador Liderado por personas Refugiadas y Desplazadas (GARLOS) for the first PAC Follow up Meeting in June 2025 and its linkages to the GRF/HLOM;
• Liaise and coordinate input, contributions and interventions of the Academia, through the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network (GAIN) for the first PAC Follow up Meeting in June 2025 and its linkages to the GRF/HLOM;
• Liaise and coordinate input, contributions and interventions of the civil society organizations (GARPAC, RED LAC FMD, Jesuite Migration Network, RED CLAMOR) for the first PAC Follow up Meeting in June 2025, and its linkages to the GRF/HLOM;
• Liaise and coordinate input, contributions and interventions of the Private Sector for the first PAC Follow up Meeting in June 2025, and its linkages to the GRF/HLOM;
• Liaise and coordinate input, contributions and interventions of the cities of solidarity for the first PAC Follow up Meeting in June 2025, and its linkages to the GRF/HLOM;
• Support the organization of the HLOM in December 2025, on substantive contributions from the Americas region as well as on coordinating logistical and organizational aspects of participation to the event in Geneva.

Candidates shall have a minimum 12 years of working experience in the field of international relations, refugee law and policy or humanitarian action

Required Education:

Degree in Law, Political Science, International Relations

Required Expertise in: Humanitarian work, Human Rights, International Relations

Required Languages: English, Spanish

Desirable Languages: French

 

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Home-Based

No