The IAGCI invites tenders to evaluate the Home Office Country Information Products on Statelessness
The tender is to review the coverage of Statelessness issues in Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) produced by the Home Office's Country Policy and Information Team.
Background
As well as focusing upon individual Country Policy Information Notes (CPINs), the Independent Advisory Group for Country Information (IAGCI) examines the way that particular ‘cross-cutting’ themes are dealt with across all of the countries that the Home Office issues reports on. In the past such ‘cross-cutting’ reports have been commissioned on gender issues; sexual orientation and gender identity; children and return issues.
The issue of statelessness has not yet been the focus of an IAGCI cross-cutting report. Statelessness is a slightly different theme from previous cross-cutting issues since there are several reports focused exclusively at particular contexts of statelessness whereas other reports do not consider it at all.
At its second meeting this year, to be held in the summer, the IAGCI will consider the way that statelessness is covered in each of the countries about which there is a recent report. The IAGCI will also consider more general recommendations for the provision of statelessness country information. This will be informed by expert knowledge of the wider situation of statelessness, how it arises and which groups are most likely to be affected. As with other reviews the aim will be to ensure that CPINs contain the most up to date, relevant and useful information to inform accurate decision making, in this case, on claims of statelessness.
The person(s) commissioned to undertake this project will be an experienced researcher with expertise on protection issues pertaining to statelessness and some knowledge of asylum and human rights issues. They will not be expected to be an expert on all countries concerned, but some expertise in at least some of the countries will be an advantage.
Description of work
The review should aim to provide a brief assessment of the coverage of statelessness in each CPIN regarding:
-
Completeness - the extent to which relevant available information on statelessness has been reflected in the CPIN. Additional publicly-available sources should be identified where appropriate
-
Accuracy and balance - whether relevant information from source material has been accurately and appropriately reflected in the CPIN, noting any specific errors or omissions
The review should provide a brief comparative summary, noting the strengths and weaknesses of the different reports.
In addition, the review should identify information on statelessness that is not covered in any of the reports but is nonetheless relevant to supporting decisions made by the Home Office. This may involve recommendations for new reports on populations likely to experience statelessness about whom no report currently exists, recommendations for information that could usefully be incorporated into other CPINs, which do not currently have a section on statelessness or other ways of ensuring the necessary information is available to decision makers.
While there is room for individual discretion in the way the researcher approaches the task and prepares a review, it would be helpful for the IAGCI if some specific guidelines were followed:
- The CPIN should be reviewed in terms of the situation in the country up to the stated ‘cut off’ date for inclusion of information in the report
- A template for the report format will be provided to the reviewer. All suggested changes should be provided as part of the review paper
- Any suggestions for additional information (or corrections to information in the document) must be referenced to a source document for the Home Office to be able to use it. If no published source is available to support the suggested information, the reviewer may supply a letter providing the information for use as a source document
The reviewer will be requested to attend the IAGCI meeting at which their review will be considered. Representatives from the Home Office will also attend the meeting to provide responses to comments and recommendations made in the review.
Reviews commissioned by IAGCI may be used as source documents for future CPINs and other country of origin information products.
How to apply
Researchers interested in completing this review should submit:
- a letter demonstrating their expertise with respect to issues related to statelessness, human rights and asylum
- their cv
Payment for this work will be set at £5,000. Expressions of interest should be submitted to [email protected] by close of 17 February 2022.
We are only able to accept expressions of interest from individuals and not from institutions or consultancy groups.
Successful bids will be notified by 24 February 2022 and completed reviews are due by the close of 24 April 2022.