The World Bank’s Rome Jobs and Labor Mobility Center has launched a request for expressions of interest for the Innovation Challenge on Jobs & Migration. The call aims to build evidence around effective solutions that maximize the economic and jobs benefits from safe, orderly, and regular migration.

The call is open to research centers, think tanks, international organizations, non-profit organizations, and firms with strong, actionable-evidence-generating credentials. It is not open to individuals. Participation from and/or partnerships with developing country research institutes or initiatives is highly encouraged.

We will award up to four contracts with an anticipated size of US$ 200,000 to US$ 350,000 per contract. In addition, the Innovation Challenge will support the studies through feedback sessions that will take place in Rome, Italy, and will provide platforms for dissemination.

Participating proposals study the effectiveness of new solutions (interventions, data/tools, policy actions) which improve cross-border labor mobility and labor market integration of international migrants and refugees, and which have the potential to become sustainable and scalable. Geographically, the focus is on Europe as a destination region from different migration corridors nearby, such as Africa, the Middle East, Ukraine, and Caucasus, but also from further away such as Latin America and Asia.

In terms of methods, we look for proposals that develop and/or use innovative and replicable approaches to rigorously study such solutions, yielding timely and actionable results. Impact evaluations are of particular interest. The call will also consider studies that advance the research frontier by pursuing new ways of data integration, and by developing/applying new tools or methods that support the assessment of results. The timeline to develop and complete the study is 24 months from the award date.

Interested participants must submit their Expression of Interest by January 31^st, 2023, through the following portal https://wbgeconsult2.worldbank.org/wbgec/index.html. Please consider that if your firm is not already a registered World Bank Group vendor, you will need to first go through the steps to register as a potential supplier.

Your Expression of Interest must respond to the following qualification criteria:

1. Show that are qualified in the field of the assignment
2. Show the technical and managerial capabilities of the organization
3. Provide information on the qualifications of key staff
4. Provide information about the solution (intervention, policy action or data/tool) which will be studied and show that it fits the geographical and thematic scope, and that it is possible to develop the study in 2 years.

Find the complete Terms of Reference here: ToR Innovation Challenge on Jobs and Migration.

Should you have questions regarding the submission of your application please contact Harifera Raobelison at hraobelison@worldbank.org