Senior Migration Research Consultant Seefar

Position description Summary

• Scope:
  Estimated effort of 25-35 days, depending on proposal and seniority
• Based:
  Wherever you like, with preference for EU/MENA timezones.
• Supervises:
  Field Consultants
• Reports to:
  
  MEL Officer
• Travel:
  Mission travel is optional and must be included in your budget if proposed

Seefar is committed to using the highest standards of evidence to guide its programming. This assignment involves producing a flagship report that sets out the state of the art on irregular migration from Federal Iraq. The report will be published as a public good, supporting more targeted interventions to reduce irregular migration. It will advance the donor’s interests in reducing irregular migration, the Government of Iraq’s five-year national plan (2025–2030) to promote safe, orderly and regular migration pathways for Iraqis, and Seefar’s mission by strengthening informed decision‑making among people considering irregular migration and by challenging harmful community norms around irregular migration.

Seefar Foundation is a social enterprise with a simple mission: to transform the lives of vulnerable people. Through programmes rooted in technology, psychology and behaviour change, we help people build the skills and confidence they need to make a positive contribution to their communities. It’s how we support governments in finding solutions to challenges around irregular migration, poverty, human trafficking, violent extremism, access to justice, and more.

A number of interventions are currently underway, or about to begin, that aim directly or indirectly to reduce irregular migration from Federal Iraq to Europe. However, formative research for Seefar’s own programming indicates that understanding of current irregular migration trends and dynamics remains limited, increasing the risk of poorly targeted programmes or policies.

Although major agencies (including IOM, ICMPD, Seefar, and various NGOs) and the Ministry of Migration and Development hold substantial data on irregular migration and return, this information has not been recently consolidated into a single, accessible report that decision‑makers can readily use. The objective is therefore to produce a highly usable knowledge product that prioritises decision‑relevant insights, enabling practitioners and policy making communities in both Iraq and Europe to immediately apply findings.

• What are the main places of origin and routes for irregular migration from Federal Iraq to Europe? What are the key destinations and how are these decided? How have these patterns shifted in the past year(s), e.g. in response to visa restrictions in transit countries?
• What are the profiles (and subprofiles) of people who migrate irregularly or seriously consider it? Describe this in terms of their demographics (location, gender, age) and psychographics (how people think and behave). Why do some people who fit this profile not migrate?
• How is the decision to migrate made and how does this vary by population segment? Moving beyond push and pull factors, deliver a rich description of the psychological processes leading to the decision to migrate.
• What is the role of influencers? Break down the people and channels that shape decision‑making online versus offline (family, friends, teachers)? What is the actual role of malinformation?
• How do smugglers win customers? Roughly, how are agreements set up, what is the cost of travel?
• How do local communities view irregular migration? How have they responded (or not) with locally‑derived solutions?

The report should briefly consider the following cross‑cutting areas: (1) How should we think about climate change in relation to irregular migration? (2) What should we know about the relationship between irregular migration and trafficking in persons? (3) What opportunities are there for improved programming, in particular interventions rooted in social and behaviour change.

• Literature review. An exhaustive review of public reports from the last three years that offer insight into irregular migration from Federal Iraq, including research, project evaluations (where…