GLOBAL EVALUATION LABOUR MOBILITY PATHWAYS PILOT 2016-2019 1 JUNE 2020 TALENTBEYONDBOUNDARIES.ORG Talent Beyond Boundaries Labour Mobility Pathways Pilot 2016-2019 Global Evaluation Report 1 June 2020 Cover: Anas and Marah and their baby boy, at their new home in Niagara Falls where Anas is working as a Tool and Die Maker. Photo: Drew Sommerville, The Westbound Creative. Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 3 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Findings and recommendations ...................................................................................................... 4 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 11 The pilot phase .............................................................................................................................. 11 Approach and methodology ............................................................................................................. 12 Evaluation team ............................................................................................................................. 12 Key evaluation questions ............................................................................................................... 13 Data collection ............................................................................................................................... 13 Data analysis .................................................................................................................................. 14 Final report .................................................................................................................................... 15 Section 1: Results against objectives ................................................................................................ 15 Objective 1: Demonstrate viability of labour mobility ................................................................... 16 Objective 2: Identify and overcome barriers ................................................................................. 66 Objective 3: Build global consensus ............................................................................................. 88 Objective 4: Galvanize others to replicate the model ................................................................... 96 Section 2: Observed impacts on beneficiaries ................................................................................ 115 Candidates ................................................................................................................................... 115 Successful candidates: The TBB Alumni ...................................................................................... 128 Participating employers ............................................................................................................... 135 Other beneficiaries ...................................................................................................................... 137 Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... 139 Appendix 1: TBB’s monitoring, evaluation and learning process framework .............................. 139 Appendix 2: Key informant interviews ......................................................................................... 141 Appendix 3: Pilot phase core planning documents reviewed ..................................................... 149 Talent Beyond Boundaries | Pilot Phase Evaluation 2020 | 2 Acknowledgements TBB would like to acknowledge the core evaluation team for their commitment to this ambitious learning project: Steph Cousins Madeline Holland Dana Wagner Marina Brizar Noura Ismail Sanah Yassin Zeynep Yurdoglu TBB would also like to acknowledge external advisors who generously reviewed and provided feedback on the evaluation methodology and final report: • Dr Claire Higgins, historian and Senior Research Fellow at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Law. • Haitham Kukhun, Former TBB Jordan Country Director and Independent Consultant • Kate O’Malley, Senior Protection Officer at UNHCR in Canberra and evaluation specialist. Thanks also to the following TBB team members who provided feedback, input and assistance throughout the evaluation process: Akanksha Mishra, Anna Robson, Bruce Cohen, David Spear, Edith Muleiro, Gary Slaiman, John Cameron, Laura Lam, Mariam Olleik, Mary Louise Cohen, Ria Pillai, Sayre Nyce, Zeina Hyari for their contributions and feedback to the evaluation. Sincere thanks to all the TBB Alumni and candidates who have advised and provided great insights for this evaluation: Ali Wawi, Ammar Aldoad, Derar Khatib, Fadi Chalouhy, Ibrahim Awad, Osama Chehade, Samer Al-Sayed, Tarek Mulla, Mohammed Hakmi, Mohammed Al-Tameemi, Khalaf Abed, Nabil Maati and Ibrahim Abou Skeini. Thanks also to all of TBB’s stakeholders and supporters who generously gave up their time to participate in key informant interviews for this evaluation. We are grateful for your expert advice and feedback. All key informant names and bios are listed in Appendix 2. TBB would like to acknowledge the generous support of all the partners and funders who made this pilot phase possible, including: Bennelong Foundation, Cameron Foundation, GHR Foundation, Global Innovation Fund, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Journey Fund, Minderoo Foundation, Morris Family Foundation, Neilson Foundation, Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the US State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Talent Beyond Boundaries | Pilot Phase Evaluation 2020 | 3 Summary Between 2016 and 2019 Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) conducted a series of pilot activities to test whether and under what conditions an employer-driven model of labour mobility can provide an additional and viable durable solution for refugees and other forcibly displaced people. This evaluation assesses the impact TBB has achieved through this pilot phase and lessons learned to date. The purpose of the evaluation is to help inform TBB’s future programming as it looks to catalyze and scale labour mobility as a solution for tens of thousands of forcibly displaced people. This evaluation draws on evidence collected via a range of qualitative and quantitative methods including surveys of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon and employers in Australia, Canada and the UK; focus groups and surveys with TBB’s alumni; internal reflections with TBB staff and volunteers; semi-structured interviews with a range of key stakeholders regarding their observations of the program impact; analysis of publicly available reporting and research of TBB’s program; and analysis of other monitoring data gathered during the course of the pilot. Findings and recommendations Through its pilot TBB has demonstrated the viability of an employer-led labour mobility solution to displacement. The model designed by TBB has had a transformational impact on the lives of the refugees involved in the pilot phase and has also generated a range of complementary positive benefits for employers, destination country economies and refugees still living in displacement. This report outlines the results of TBB’s pilot phase and recommendations for future programming. Talent supply and candidate outreach TBB has produced empirical evidence through its Talent Catalog database and employer feedback which, together with evidence of post-secondary education rates in refugee communities around the world, gives a high degree of confidence that the talent supply is sufficient in such communities to support a large-scale labour mobility solution to displacement. TBB can build on the successes of its pilot phase by expanding candidate outreach and seeking to enhance opportunities for talented refugee women, who are underrepresented on the Talent Catalog. Talent Beyond Boundaries | Pilot Phase Evaluation 2020 | 4 Recommendation 1: TBB should increase investment in social media and digital communications to drive candidate registrations on the Talent Catalog. Recommendation 2: TBB should consider its capacity to expand support to displaced candidates living outside Jordan and Lebanon. Recommendation 3: TBB should map women's occupations in the Talent Catalog against in- demand jobs in destination countries to conduct targeted employer outreach. TBB should also set a target for increasing the number of women on the Talent Catalog and conduct targeted social media outreach and women-only information sessions led by female facilitators to meet this goal. Business demand and converting to recruitment TBB identified strong employer demand for international refugee talent during the pilot phase. Forty-three percent of employers presented with the opportunity to recruit through TBB proceeded to reviewing candidate CVs. Just over 50% of employers surveyed for this evaluation felt that the candidates provided by TBB “exceeded their expectations” and 31% felt the candidates “met their expectations” in terms of skills and qualifications. Employers were primarily motivated to engage with TBB as a way of filling skills gaps, but also saw a range of other benefits from hiring