National Mapping Consultant

Introduction

Established in 1951, IOM is a Related Organization of the United Nations and the leading UN agency in the field of migration. Working closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners, IOM promotes humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It saves lives and protects people on the move, drives solutions to displacement, and facilitates pathways for regular migration, while providing services and advice to governments and migrants. 

IOM is committed to fostering a respectful, inclusive and supportive workplace where all employees can thrive professionally and feel valued. By creating such an environment, IOM aims to better harness the full potential of migration and strengthen its support to people on the move.

IOM invites candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply and provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process when required. Learn more about IOM’s workplace culture at IOM workplace culture | International Organization for Migration

Project Context and Scope

Central Asian countries face complex migration dynamics that require stronger and more coordinated protection systems for all vulnerable migrants. While all five countries have adopted anti-trafficking legislation, broader categories of migrants in vulnerable situations, such as irregular migrants, stranded individuals, and migrant workers facing trafficking, violence, exploitation and abuse, often remain insufficiently covered in policy and practice.

Despite progress in legal frameworks and capacity-building, the identification and referral of vulnerable migrants remain inconsistent. Mechanisms such as National Referral Mechanisms exist across the region but are not fully operational, and implementation gaps continue to limit effective support. Institutional coordination also remains a challenge, with responsibilities spread across multiple agencies and often lacking clear procedures or accountability. This leads to fragmented responses, weak data collection, and reactive rather than strategic approaches. Similar gaps are evident in child protection systems, which are not always adequately adapted to the needs of children on the move. Service provision is uneven, with significant barriers to access for many vulnerable migrants due to legal, administrative, or geographic constraints. While some support services exist, their availability and accessibility vary, particularly in remote and border areas, limiting timely and comprehensive assistance.

Given these challenges, a rapid national mapping is required to identify the most relevant gaps between policy and practice in Tajikistan’s protection system. The mapping will review existing legislation, policies, procedures, tools, service information, referral pathways, and available assessments in order to produce practical and actionable recommendations.

It will examine key questions such as the adequacy of legal frameworks in covering all forms of vulnerability, the availability of clear guidance and capacity for frontline actors to identify and assist vulnerable migrants, the effectiveness of inter-agency coordination and referral processes, and the extent of geographic and thematic service coverage. By identifying bottlenecks and gaps, the mapping will generate an evidence-based foundation to strengthen protection systems and improve outcomes for vulnerable migrants at the national level.

This initiative is closely aligned with a parallel regional assessment covering Central Asia, which analyzes cross-cutting trends and shared challenges across countries. The regional study provides a comparative perspective, while the national mapping offers a more in-depth analysis of country-specific contexts and institutional realities.

The two efforts are mutually reinforcing: insights from the regional assessment, including common challenges and good practices, will inform the national analysis, while findings from the national mapping will contribute to a more nuanced regional understanding. Coordination mechanisms will be established to ensure complementarity, facilitate information sharing, and avoid duplication of efforts.

The mapping will identify priority actions required to strengthen existing frameworks and address operational gaps, including clearer referral steps, improved coordination, and practical guidance for frontline actors. It will inform the development of draft SOPs or guidance materials tailored to the national context, without requiring formal endorsement within the consultancy period.

In addition, the mapping will establish a baseline of existing capacities and gaps, enabling the measurement of progress over time. Overall, it will serve as a critical step toward translating policy commitments into effective, system-wide protection outcomes.

Migrant Protection and Assistance Unit, Enhancing Protection of Migrants from Violence, Exploitation and Abuse in Central Asia, PX0711.

Objectives and Scope of Mapping

The assignment will pursue the following objectives:

• Rapid Review of Frameworks and Tools: Review relevant legal frameworks, policies, existing SOPs, referral pathways, practical tools, and available assessments related to the protection of vulnerable migrants, children affected by migration or trafficking, and trafficking victims/survivors.

• Identification of Priority Gaps: Identify key legal, operational, coordination, referral, service-access, and confidentiality gaps, with emphasis on practical issues that can be addressed through improved guidance and coordination.

• Assessment of PSEA and Sexual Violence Sensitivity: Assess the extent to which existing services, referral pathways, coordination mechanisms, and operational tools are equipped to identify, safely receive, refer, and support individuals affected by sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and sexual violence, including through appropriate confidentiality safeguards, survivor-centred procedures, trained personnel, and referral linkages.

• Targeted Stakeholder Consultations: Conduct targeted interviews or consultations with selected government counterparts, civil society organizations, international partners, and service providers who work directly with the target groups.

• Practical Recommendations and Draft Guidance: Develop concise recommendations and draft SOPs or guidance materials to strengthen identification, referral, assistance, coordination, and confidentiality practices.

Scope of Work: This is a national-level assignment focusing on Tajikistan’s internal frameworks and practices. It will cover:

• Relevant national-level institutions, policies, procedures, referral mechanisms, and services related to migrant protection, child protection, and counter-trafficking in Tajikistan.
• Key sectors involved in identification, referral, assistance, and coordination, including migration, law enforcement, social protection, child protection, health, civil society, and relevant international partners.
• Available documentation and existing assessments, including anonymized case information where available and appropriate.

• Assessment of the capacity of identified services and referral pathways to respond to disclosures and assistance needs related to sexual exploitation, abuse, and sexual violence, including confidentiality safeguards, referral readiness, staff capacity, survivor-centred approaches, and availability of specialized support services. 

• The assignment may include targeted consultations with beneficiaries, returned migrants, migrant community members, family members of migrants, or trafficking survivors, where feasible and ethically appropriate. Such engagement will be voluntary, based on informed consent, and organized in coordination with trusted service providers or civil society organizations. If direct beneficiary consultations are not feasible due to sensitivity, protection risks, or time constraints, beneficiary perspectives will be captured through migrant community representatives, NGO outreach workers, service providers, anonymized case information, and existing assessments.

  In summary, the mapping’s scope is deliberately comprehensive within the country: it covers the legal/policy environment, the operational tools and practices, and the available services, all through the lens of protecting vulnerable migrants, children, and trafficking survivors from exploitation, abuse, violence, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and sexual violence. The mapping will assess not only the existence of services but also their capacity to provide safe, confidential, survivor-centred, and appropriately coordinated responses to such cases.

  The ultimate objective is to use this detailed picture to inform very practical outputs (like SOPs) that will improve daily practice.

Methodology

• National Legislation and Policies: Collect the texts (and any available analyses) of laws, regulations, and policy documents related but not limited to migrant protection, child protection, social protection of vulnerable population, and anti-trafficking. This includes documents such as: the Law on Combating Trafficking in Persons (2014) and its implementing decrees; the Law on Migration or relevant immigration acts; labor laws governing migrant workers; the Law on Special Social Services (which underpins assistance to vulnerable groups, including any standards for trafficking victim care); child rights and child protection laws; and any national strategies or action plans (e.g., a National Action Plan on TIP, National Children’s Rights Strategy, etc.). If available, also review bilateral agreements or regional agreements that Tajikistan is party to, that affect migrant protection (like labor migration agreements with destination countries, or regional cooperation frameworks via the CIS or Almaty Process).

• Existing SOPs, Guidelines, and Tools: Gather any formal SOPs, referral mechanisms, or guidelines used in practice. For example, Standard Operating Procedures for the identification and referral of TIP victims if formally endorsed; guidelines for border officials on dealing with vulnerable individuals; procedural instructions circulated within ministries (like an internal memo detailing how police should handle cases of child trafficking, etc.) and tools like screening forms or databases. Also collect training materials or manuals that reflect the current practices and advice given to frontliners (for instance, training curricula for police or social workers on trafficking or child protection, which often summarize procedures).

• Previous Assessments and Reports: Importantly, leverage the wealth of existing research relevant to this mapping. This includes prior national evaluations or studies – e.g., evaluation reports of past projects (such as IOM’s 2025 evaluation of victim identification efforts), NGO reports on service gaps, government or donor assessments, and international reports like the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for the country or UN Committee observations on child rights. The consultant will also use findings from the regional assessment and the 2017 IOM regional vulnerability study (which has country-specific insights) to inform the context. Another key resource will be IOM’s Migration Tracking/Displacement Tracking Matrix (MTM/DTM) data: any available country-specific MTM reports or datasets, such as Baseline Mobility Assessments or flow monitoring data that shed light on migration patterns, will be reviewed for relevant statistics (e.g., number of returnees, profiles of migrants). Government statistics on trafficking cases, migrants in vulnerable situations assisted, or hotline call data will also be collected if accessible.

The consultant will use a streamlined but participatory methodology combining: (a) desk-based review of available documents and data; (b) targeted stakeholder consultations with government, civil society, international organizations, service providers, and, where feasible, migrant community representatives or beneficiaries; (c) concise analysis of priority gaps; and (d) validation of findings and recommendations through selected consultations. The methodology will be practical and proportionate, while still ensuring that the perspectives of vulnerable migrants, trafficking survivors, children affected by migration or trafficking, and communities are reflected through ethically appropriate direct or indirect sources.

1. Desk Review of Documents and Data: A comprehensive desk-based review will compile and examine all relevant existing documentation, including:

• UNFPA GBV Survivor Services Mapping: The consultant shall review and incorporate findings from UNFPA's existing GBV survivor services mapping as a primary source of information concerning specialized survivor support services. The consultant shall use the mapping to avoid duplication, identify service linkages, validate information where necessary, and assess how migration, child protection, anti-trafficking, and other protection actors connect with available GBV services and referral pathways.

  • International Standards/Best Practices: To form the benchmark for analysis, the desk review will include key international guidance documents. For example: the UN Trafficking Protocol and recommended practices for NRMs; UNICEF/IRC guidance on protecting children in migration; and IOM’s own frameworks like the Guidance for the Protection, Care and Assistance of Vulnerable Migrants or the IOM Handbook on Direct Assistance for Victims of Trafficking. This will help in evaluating whether Tajikistan’s frameworks meet international norms and where adjustments might be needed (e.g., does the national law enshrine the principle of non-punishment for victims? Is there a policy for providing a reflection period? Are the SOPs gender- or child-sensitive as recommended?). The desk review phase will result in a synthesized baseline summary (to be included in the Inception Report and later the mapping report), listing what frameworks exist and highlighting known gaps from literature. It will also identify any contradictory or overlapping guidelines that need clarification during field inquiry.

• As part of the service inventory, the consultant shall assess services against common protection criteria, including accessibility, confidentiality, referral functionality, survivor-centred practices, staff preparedness, and capacity to safely respond to SEA and sexual violence-related cases.

2. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs):

• The consultant will conduct semi-structured interviews with a broad range of stakeholders who have first-hand knowledge of how protection of migrants, children, and trafficking survivors works in practice. Anticipated KII participants include:

  • Government Officials: from key ministries and agencies – for instance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Ministry of Health (for healthcare access issues), border guard service leadership, and any national coordination committee/secretariats. Interviews with these officials will clarify official procedures, government perspectives on challenges, and planned reforms.

  • Service Providers and Local Authorities: frontline officials such as shelter managers (both state-run and NGO-run shelters), coordinators of crisis centers or trafficking victim support centers, managers of migrant resource centers, and local government social service departments. These interviews will yield insights into day-to-day operations, caseloads, and common obstacles encountered in assisting people.

  • Judiciary and Law Enforcement: judges or prosecutors who have handled trafficking cases (to discuss how victim protection is ensured during trials, etc.), and law enforcement representatives from specialized units (like anti-trafficking police, juvenile police, or immigration enforcement) at the operational level. They can speak to how cases are identified and processed, and any legal/procedural hindrances they see.

  • Civil Society and International Organizations: NGOs that work with migrants or trafficking survivors (for example, organizations running hotlines, legal clinics, or advocacy groups for migrant workers) and international agencies (IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, local Red Crescent, etc.). These stakeholders often have a holistic view of the system gaps and can provide case examples. They might also have data (like number of clients assisted, types of problems) that will feed into the mapping. For child-specific matters, organizations focusing on children’s rights or child protection will be included.

  • Migrant Community Representatives: where feasible, interviews will be sought with leaders or members of migrant communities or diaspora groups (e.g., an association of migrant workers from a neighboring country, or a community leader in an area with many returnees). Their perspective can highlight issues not visible to authorities, such as informal barriers or abuses that go unreported.

• A flexible interview guide will be used, tailored to each type of informant. For example, government officials will be asked about formal processes and coordination, whereas NGO staff will be asked about case experiences and practical gaps. It’s recommended that Interview questions also assess institutional capacity to handle cases involving sexual exploitation, abuse, and sexual violence, including existing protocols, confidentiality measures, referral procedures, survivor-centred practices, and perceived service gaps. At least 15-20 KIIs are expected, covering all key sectors and including multiple regions if possible (not just capital-based officials). Interviews will be conducted in the preferred language of the informant (with translation if necessary). All interviews will be conducted with informed consent, assuring anonymity in the report if requested.

3. Focus Group Discussions and Community Consultations: To supplement KIIs and capture practical and user-oriented insights, the consultant may organize a limited number of focus group discussions or group consultations, subject to feasibility, time, resources, and ethical safeguards. One possible FGD may be held with frontline service providers, such as social workers, NGO case managers, shelter staff, or migrant resource centre staff, to collectively map current referral processes and identify points where procedures work well or break down. Another consultation could be held with beneficiaries or community members, such as returned migrants, family members of migrants, or members of communities heavily affected by migration, to understand how services are perceived, what barriers are experienced, and what support gaps remain. Where an NGO or trusted service provider can facilitate the process ethically, a carefully designed consultation with trafficking survivors may also be considered, provided that participants are willing and the discussion focuses on general experiences and service-related lessons rather than requiring disclosure of personal trauma. If formal beneficiary FGDs are not feasible due to sensitivity, confidentiality, protection risks, or logistical constraints, the consultant may instead conduct group interviews with migrant community leaders, diaspora representatives, NGO outreach workers, or other persons able to aggregate community views. All such discussions will be conducted in a safe and confidential setting, with informed consent, voluntary participation, and facilitation adapted to the group concerned, including gender-sensitive, child-sensitive, and trauma-informed approaches where relevant.

4. Collaboration with National Authorities and Regional Team: The consultant will coordinate closely with IOM and relevant national stakeholders throughout the assignment. Rather than establishing a formal reference group or task force, the consultant will consult selected counterparts as needed to verify information, obtain relevant documents, and review draft findings. Coordination with the regional assessment team, where relevant, will be maintained to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication of efforts.

5. Data Analysis: The consultant will analyze the collected information by comparing findings from different sources, including documents, stakeholder consultations, existing assessments, anonymized information, and, where feasible and ethically appropriate, beneficiary or community consultation inputs. The analysis will focus on identifying priority gaps, practical bottlenecks, and feasible recommendations for strengthening referral, assistance, coordination, confidentiality, and information-sharing practices. Particular attention will be paid to how affected persons and communities perceive service accessibility, quality, trust, confidentiality, and unmet needs, whether captured directly or through trusted intermediary sources. As a cross-cutting analytical criterion, the consultant shall assess the extent to which existing services and referral pathways are equipped to safely and appropriately respond to cases involving sexual exploitation, abuse, and sexual violence. The analysis shall identify services that have appropriate procedures and capacities in place, services with partial capacity, and services where significant gaps remain.

6. Validation and Feedback: After preparing the draft mapping findings and preliminary recommendations, the consultant will present or share the key findings with IOM and selected stakeholders for validation. This may be done through an online or in-person consultation meeting, written feedback, or a short validation discussion. Feedback received will be documented in a brief consultation summary and incorporated into the final report and draft guidance materials.

7. Developing SOPs/Guidance (Initial Drafting): Based on the mapping findings, the consultant will prepare draft SOPs or guidance materials on priority areas identified during the assignment. These materials will be practical, concise, and tailored to the Tajikistan context. They are not expected to be finalized or formally endorsed within the consultancy period, but should provide a clear basis for further review, adaptation, and possible adoption by relevant stakeholders.

8. Ethics and Confidentiality: The methodology will adhere to strict ethical and confidentiality standards. Any participation by vulnerable individuals, including vulnerable migrants, trafficking survivors, children affected by migration or trafficking, or family/community members, will be voluntary and based on informed consent. Consultations involving vulnerable individuals will only be undertaken where feasible, appropriate, and safe, and preferably in coordination with trusted service providers or civil society organizations. The consultant will avoid any approach that could retraumatize participants, expose them to stigma or retaliation, or create unrealistic expectations of assistance. Support or referral information should be available where sensitive issues are discussed. Identifiable personal stories will not be publicized without consent; findings will be aggregated or anonymized. If direct engagement with beneficiaries is not feasible or ethical, individual experiences and user perspectives will be reflected indirectly through service providers, anonymized case information, migrant community representatives, NGO outreach workers, and existing assessments.

By following this methodology, mapping is expected to yield a rich, well-validated set of findings. The approach ensures that both documentary evidence and ground realities are captured, and that stakeholders are engaged in the process (paving the way for smoother implementation of recommendations). It balances comprehensiveness with practicality – aiming to get the information that matters for making improvements. The combination of research and immediate follow-up drafting of SOPs means the project moves swiftly from analysis to action. All methods and tools used will be documented, and any limitations (like areas where data was not obtainable or stakeholders unreachable) will be transparently reported in the final report.