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Position Title : Consultant to conduct qualitative research on the role and impact of Migrant health

Volunteers during health emergencies in Thailand

Duty Station: Home-based

Classification : Consultancy

Type of Appointment : Consultant Contract (3 months)

Desired Start Date : As soon as possible

Closing Date : April 7, 2023

Reference Code : CFA025/2023 (EXT)

Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

1. ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND SCOPE:

Migrants are a large and critical constituent of Thailands economy and society, to which their contributions are tremendous, various challenges render migrant populations in the country vulnerable, not least by the ongoing state of peril in their countries of originespecially the crisis in Myanmar that has been imbuing risks for Myanmar migrants to return toand difficulties in accessing essential services, including health care, which could hinder their right to health, the indispensable fundamental aspect of survival, and also forge the gaps in the countrys disease prevention capabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated migrants pre-existing vulnerabilities and resulted in continued disparities in access to healthcare services for both documented and undocumented migrants due to language barriers, lack of access to information and health resources, health insurance that could accommodate the relevant costs, as well as security concerns. In addressing these challenges, stakeholders such as Migrant Health Volunteers (MHVs) became beneficial as intermediaries to access the migrant communities by overcoming language and cultural barriers and set in place a network of channels to communicate health information, relevant government health policies, as well as informing the migrants right to health and link them to access to health services.

Despite the MHVs essential role, there were merely 4,000 recognised by the Thai Health Foundation who were expected to cater to 3 million migrant workers, equating to one MHV per 750 migrant workers. During the pandemic, the MHV registration under the Department of Health Service Support increased from 4,000 to 7,000. The rise in number during the pandemic implies the increasing demand. However, the ratio of MHV against the number of migrants was still low. With IOMs continued effort to leave no one behind, we believe strengthening the sustainability of MHVs is essential to foster inclusive public health networks as well as serve as the bridge to connect migrant communities, local communities, and public health services, particularly in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery.

Impact of MHVs during and post-COVID-19 pandemic in workplace and migrant community context

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted Thailands socio-economic conditions. With multiple lock-downs and ad hoc policy implementation in workplaces, migrant workers access to health services and information stemmed from their community (non-direct/ public information pages, colleagues, friends and family) and/or their employers. During the outbreak, MHVs were also regarded as an important, effective actor to support migrant communities in overcoming barriers to accessing health services. However, the case studies and analysis of the impact of MHVs in the workplace as well as in rural areas during and post COVID-19 pandemic is not clearly demonstrated. With different context, advocacy actions shall be tailored to provide an evidence-based paper for both government and employers, specifically on the positive impact of MHV in supporting the dissemination of health information, knowledge on disease prevention, and better communication between government, public health personnel, employers, and the migrant populations.

With funding provided by the Embassy of Japan, IOM is seeking a consultant who possesses expertise and a strong connection with MHV network in active MHV provinces such as Tak and Bangkok, to conduct qualitative research on policy, challenges, and the impact MHVs have had during and post COVID-19. Based on the research and policy analysis report from this project, IOM will consider the possibility of designing advocacy actions focused on MHV sustainability that will lead to the better development in MHV structures and strengthen its network, seek improved engagement of relevant stakeholders, advocate pertinent policies, and, ultimately, to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness of an accessible, sustainable, migrant-friendly healthcare system.

2. RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the Project Coordinator and the overall supervision of the Migration Health Officer in Bangkok, the successful candidate will undertake a 3-month consultancy with no more than 35-working days to conduct research on impact of MHV during and post COVID-19 in workplace and migrant community in Tak, Bangkok and greater Bangkok areas. Through desk research, key informant interviews and focus group discussions to gather information from all stakeholders such as employers, government authorities, NGOs/CSOs, and MHVs, the responsibilities of the proposed consultancy are to:

The payment will be disbursed based on the submission of deliverables agreed by both parties as follows:

Note: Consultancy fees are inclusive of bank transfer fees for bank account outside of Thailand.

Deliverables in details:

The consultant will deliver key outputs as described above between April and June 2023 with more specific timeframes indicated below:

Time

Deliverable(s)

Day 1-7

Day 10

Day 11-24

30 April 2023

To be discussed and confirmed

30 June 2023

** Please note that the timeframes specified above are provisional.

3. REQUIRED QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

Education:

Experience:

Languages:

4. DESIRABLE COMPENTENCIES

Values

Core Competencies behavioural indicators

Other

Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation.

Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment and verification of residency, visa and authorizations by the concerned Government, where applicable.

Only candidates residing in either the country of the duty station or from a location in a neighboring country that is within commuting distance of the duty station will be considered. In all cases, a prerequisite for taking up the position is legal residency in the country of the duty station, or in the neighboring country located within commuting distance, and work permit, as applicable.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications to the IOM Bangkok Human Resources Unit at e-mail bkkrecruitment@iom.int with rchantarawar@iom.int and abureesirira@iom.int in cc by April 7, 2023 at the latest.

Kindly indicate the reference code CFA025/2023 followed by your full name in the subject line.

Applications should include:

a) Technical proposal (1-2 page)

b) Financial proposal (1-2 page)

c) A curriculum vitae

d) A duly completed IOM Personal History Form which can be downloaded from https://thailand.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl1371/files/documents/IOM%20Personal%20History%20Form%20with%20Declaration.xls

Posting period: From 27.03.2023 to 07.04.2023

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Consultant to conduct qualitative research on the role and impact of ... - ReliefWeb

Provided by News 360 Archive - Polish agents supervise the border with Belarus. - Europa Press/Contacto/Attila Husejnow

The Polish Border Guard on Tuesday denounced an attack allegedly perpetrated by migrants trying to cross the border from Belarus against a patrol that was working in the area.

''The Dubica Tserkevna checkpoint, where Polish officers are stationed, has been attacked by a group of men coming from the Belarusian side,'' the Border Guard said in a statement released via Twitter. ''These foreigners were not happy about the fact that the Polish border is protected,'' it has asserted.

In this regard, Polish authorities have warned that at least 89 people tried to illegally enter Poland from Belarus, of which twelve managed to turn back while the rest were detained.

On the other hand, the Border Guard has detained nine people from Syria who crossed the border by crossing a river and 22 others in the area of the Bialowieza forest.

Poland has been facing a serious migration crisis on its border with Belarus since autumn 2021, when thousands of migrants tried to enter the territory. In total there were about 40,000 attempts to illegally enter the country.

Source: (EUROPA PRESS)

See the original post here:
Poland denounces migrant attack on patrol on the Belarusian border - msnNOW

Even though the fear of accusations of racial motivation and increasing Islamophobia, has seized the UK, like the Covid pandemic; the fault lies in the situation largely within India, which remains in awe of its colonial rulers.

Britains Indian-origin Home Secretary, the Home Minister, Suella Braverman, a great admirer of the countrys blood soaked imperial past, had recently announced boat people coming to its shores across the channel would automatically be disqualified from claiming asylum. The idea enjoys widespread support of ordinary voters, fed up with young migrant men of overwhelmingly Muslim heritage being housed near their homes and at unconscionable cost to the taxpayer.

But, it provoked a storm of protest from thewoke intellectual classthat dominates public discourse in Britain. Such is the influence of their ideology that the countrys leading football commentator invoked Nazism to denounce the policy and protesters have assembled outside the Westminster parliament. The imputation of Nazism to the British government of Rishi Sunak has a delicious irony since the same slanderous abuse is the routine default of segments of the British political class and the media against the government of Narendra Modi.

The government evidently bullied theBBCto suspend the sports commentator, demonstrating that the benighted and besieged broadcaster was basically anunashamed state mouthpiece. It confirmed once and for all that the slanderousBBCdocumentary against Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was part of the wider orchestrated Anglo American campaign to discredit him. Of course provoking Indian Muslims to do their worst has been the imperial strategy since the nineteenth century to destabilise Indian self-assertion.

The suspension of the sports commentator was hastily withdrawn after faux public outrage, though, he has also refused to apologise for his absurd accusation. But it emphatically reaffirms that the allegedly independentBBCis a creature of its political masters in Whitehall.

In fact, the incumbentBBCgovernor was appointed by former prime minister Boris Johnson, a descendant of the Ottoman nobility, after he arranged a massive line of credit for him. Boris Johnsons reckless populism seems to be the divine instrument that might destroy what remains of historic Britain. TheBBCgovernors future is now in doubt though another establishment crony will no doubt be found with ease. Nevertheless, the slander against India and its incumbent Modi dispensation will continue unabated.

This is the same British social class, its academic ideologues and most of its very pedestrian India specialists that had excoriated Indias CAA with abandon. I recall debating an Oxford Indian academic on a flagship BBC Radio programme who effectively demanded the abolition of Indias border controls with its neighbours. Just one dimension of the ideological and informational warfare Britain remains engaged in against the incumbent Indian government though it only adopted a policy proposed by previous governments. Now anugly row over immigrationhas engulfed the country that exposes itshypocrisy and deep fault linesin its own relations with the outside world.

While British academics and its chronicallyanti-India mediaare in permanent chorus, effectively demanding India to legalise the status of all illegal Bangladeshi economic migrants and admit distressed Pakistanis too, Britain is trying to shut its own doors to unwelcome Muslim migrants. Although these asylum seekers are far fewer in number than the tsunami of illegal migrants faced by India they still amount to tens of thousands.

TheBritish Nationality and Borders Bill, is adesperate last throwof the dice, opening a much larger can of worms that will hinder its effective implementation. The trickiest is the inability to send asylum seekers, arriving on boats across the English Channel, back to France. Such a measure is only allowed between EU members and asylum seekers can be deported to the EU country where they first arrived.

However, it is to be noted that the issue hasprompted bitter acrimony between France and Italywhose sea borders are closest to the oceans where asylum seekers initially arrive and between Greece and the rest of the EU as well. But Britain cannot deport asylum seekers back without the consent of the EU decision making apparatus and France cannot unilaterally agree to accept their return.

The somewhat bizarre agreement to deport them temporarily to Rwanda only pertains to modest numbers and the costs of sending them there are unsustainable. Besides, the British National and Borders Billspolicy might fall foul of theEuropean Court of Human Rights, which will oblige Britain to rescind its treaty of accession to it. There is a fear that such a British response might jeopardize the Northern Ireland Protocol painfully negotiated recently by Rishi Sunak to much national jubilation.

The asylum issue is areal hot potatothat none of Britains political parties appear able to handle. Rishi Sunak and his cynically ambitious Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, have identified illegal migration as an issue on which decisive action might shore up electoral support for the Conservative Party. Theyre threatened with consignment to political oblivion at the impending general elections of 2024 without some major gimmick.

Unfortunately, thesolutions are improbablewhile the electorate continues to simmer with rage at the arrival of thousands of able bodied young Muslim men to the country and costing huge sums of money to house in four star hotels. Yet, there was no protest when Ukrainian war refugees were recently admitted to the UK though the generosity of the country appears to be flagging, much like elsewhere in Europe.

The arrival of large numbers of able-bodied young Muslim men, demanding asylum, is another reason that causesdeep uneasefor reasons not far to seek. Since the 1990s and it seems even decades earlier, exclusivelyPakistani Muslim grooming gangshave been gang raping enormous numbers of underage, mainly white girls though Sikhs and Hindus are also targeted.

It has scandalously transpired that the authorities, including the incumbent Labour Party leadership, were aware of the egregious crimes being committed but looked the other way. One Prime Minister even dismissed the sexual assaults as consensual liaisons, occurring with the consent of the girls, some as young as twelve years age. Worse, investigations were hindered and the families of some complainants threatened with violence by associates of the accused, who suffered no resulting official sanction.

The fear ofaccusations of racial motivationand increasingIslamophobia, which has seized Britain, like the Covid pandemic, seems to have dictated the allowing of mass gang rape to continue indefinitely without a drastic response from the authorities. Shockingly, despite the prosecution of some most have gone scot-free the persisting estimated annual number of rapes by grooming gangs is over twenty thousand and almost certainly much higher since rapes are invariably underreported.

Thehypocritical perfidyof the British political class and establishment is exposed. Yet, no inconsistency is perceived in relentlessly harassing India with totally incoherent and fabricated but politically consequential accusations of human rights violations.

The fault lies in the situationlargely within India, which remains inawe of its colonial rulersthough Britain is now merely a totally compliant vassal of the US. It is also encountering a pretty catastrophic predicament from which escape is highly problematic. An indebted Britain is close to bankruptcy and the population facing extortionate levels of taxation, eye-watering levels of energy bills, accompanied by high levels of inflation for essentials as well as unaffordable housing.

The effective marginal rate of taxation, above the second tranche of twenty percent below 50271, has reached approximately eighty-five percent and even higher if alcohol, fuel and tobacco are configured in it. Monthly winter fuel bills have risenfrom approximately 140 to 530.Inflationlevels on essentials are higher than the fraudulently contrived official retail price index and is nearing 18-20 percent and rents in London are rising rapidly owing to grossly mismanaged housing policies. In addition, there arefew signs of economic growthto service current levels ofnational debtand productivity rises that might help to do so are basically nil.

Yet, in anirony of ironiesBritain is simultaneously experiencing a vexatiouslabour shortagethat improved wages are failing to remedy. The current labour shortage was the inevitable result ofBrexitwhich many wished though the referendum was won with a wafer thin slim majority on the back of Boris Johnsons shamelessly jingoist campaign. His arguments lacked substance or concern for the predicted hugely negative economic outcomes that have duly occurred.

But it proved effective in inflamingLittle Englander xenophobiaamong the disadvantaged in the northern part of the country. Oddly, Britains labour shortage is accompanied by almost three millionvoluntarily unemployed workersbetween the ages of 18 and 65. Neither are they registered as looking for work or seeking the benefits to which the registered unemployed are entitled. This is an issue affecting other countries, including the post-pandemic USA.

Labour shortages had prompted Germany to import a million Middle Eastern refugees with fanfare and contrived claims to national humanitarian concerns. It has not proved an unalloyed success, with aspike in sexual and other crimes committed by the migrantsand a backlash among native Germans. Britain is not viewing the current surging arrival of refugees as a solution to its own labour shortage, caused by the departure of east Europeans in the aftermath of Brexit.

In fact, thereal underlying reasonfor Brexit was the fear that millions of Muslims, first entering the EU as refugees, would eventually be legally entitled to settle in Britain once they acquired citizenship in EU member countries. Foreign labour is irresistibly drawn to Britains flexible labour market and less integrated society that allows communities to easily create space for their cultural practices, often with relatives already settled in the country.

Britain is thus beset bycomplex challengesto which there are no immediate answers that also threaten a future of long-term economic stagnation and a burdensome national debt that is dramatically impoverishing its population already. The inexplicable paradox is that ever-faithful India might just ride to the rescue and resume the Dominion status the duo Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi negotiated and misrepresented as independence in 1947.

It is hoped that afree trade treaty with Indiawill reverse Britains inevitable economic and political decline. The subterfuge is to recreate the 1932 Imperial Preference that sought to rescue Britain on an earlier occasion at the expense of its colonies.

Some in Indias Ministry of Commerce almost hastily signed theIndo-UK FTAafter Diwali last year, imagining it would be some sort of coup despite the serious pitfalls being pointed out by others, including myself.

However, wiser counsel has prevailed since Indias economic policy is in the hands of three exceptionally capable economists. It might be added in passing that the idea India should sacrifice its emerging high-tech sectors in exchange for temporary work visas for Indian students in the UK and some gains in clothing exports is testament to folly.

The prime minister was once also inveigled into raising the temporary student work visa issue with his counterpart during a visit to the UK by some self-interested local amateur. It is embarrassing that such a minor question was not left to Joint Secretary level negotiations. Onclothing exports at the expense of Bangladesh and Vietnam, the wider implications have evidently not been thought through. Outcompeting Bangladeshs clothing exports would negatively impact womens employment in that country and catalyse more religious militancy and increased infiltration into India. So much for joined-up policy making!

Excerpt from:
From BBC, refugee crisis to FTA: Hypocritical perfidy of British ... - HinduPost

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the worlds leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew talks to All Else Failed author Dana Sachs about the the unlikely volunteers at the heart of the migrant aid crisis in Greece.

Find more Keen On episodes and additional videos on Lit Hubs YouTube Channel!

Dana Sachsis a journalist, novelist, and cofounder of the nonprofit Humanity Now: Direct Refugee Relief, which supports grassroots teams providing aid to displaced people. A former Fulbright Scholar, she is the author of three works of nonfiction,The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam;The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam; andAll Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid Crisis(forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press in March 2023), as well as the novelsIf You Lived HereandThe Secret of the Nightingale Palace. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including theWall Street Journal,National Geographic, andMother Jones. Sachs lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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Dana Sachs on the Volunteers at the Heart of the Worst Human ... - Literary Hub

dYdX, one of the most popular decentralized crypto trading platforms, announced the launch of its private testnet on the Cosmos blockchain. The testnet brings the DeFi crypto exchange one step closer to transitioning to a completely decentralized model from its current hybrid decentralized model.

According to a blog post by dYdX, the DeFi exchange recently achieved the third out of five milestones with the finalization of the private testnets launch. The launch is slated for 28 March 2023 and is expected to last between 2-3 weeks. The third milestone covers several objectives including Advanced order types, Dynamic funding rates, and documentation for Validators, among other things.

The decentralized trading platform plans to launch a fully public testnet by the end of July this year, thereby expanding the number of validators testing the changes. The DeFi exchange is anticipating the complete transition to Cosmos from Ethereum by September 2023, which is when its mainnet will go live.

Antonio Juliano, founder, and CEO of dYdX told Bloomberg that the end game is full decentralization for his crypto exchange. The Cosmos mainnet will help eliminate centralized entities that are currently involved with the exchanges operations. The move towards decentralization is also expected to help with the current regulatory landscape in the United States as authorities step up the crackdown on crypto.

I think the end state for everything in DeFi has to be full decentralization. The middle ground doesnt really work indefinitely.

News of the testnets imminent launch has sent native token DYDX soaring. The token has gained more than 12% since the announcement earlier, going from $2.1 all the way up to $2.4 at the time of writing.

Originally posted here:

dYdX Up 12% Following The Announcement Of Cosmos Testnet - Ethereum World News