Call for Consultant(s):Conduct a Rapid Contextual Assessment of Refugee and Displaced Persons' (RDPs) Inclusion in Agrifood Systems in the WAEMU Region (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin)

Position Title: Consultant 

Location(s): Remote (based in WAEMU region, or with experience working with Refugees and Displaced Persons in the area)

Reports to: DREEM
Regional Technical Assistance Mechanisms Manager          

Contract term:  30 days of level of effort, commencing November 2026

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage interested candidates to apply early.

World University Service of Canada

WUSC – World University Service of Canada – is a leading Canadian non-profit organization in international development, committed to providing education, economic opportunities and empowerment opportunities that improve the lives of millions of disadvantaged youth around the world.

Purpose of the assignment.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region faces growing forced displacement, driven primarily by conflict and insecurity and increasingly compounded by extreme weather events and rising food insecurity. According to UNHCR’s Regional Trends: Forced Displacement in West and Central Africa (June 2026), around 20 million people were forcibly displaced or stateless across West and Central Africa as of 30 April 2026. Refugees and asylum-seekers numbered 3.9 million, a 23 per cent increase on the previous year, and more than half had been in exile for at least five consecutive years. Despite this, refugees, IDPs, returnees, asylum seekers and affected host communities remain underserved in national development plans, especially in the agrifood sector. 

Three of the four focus countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo) fall within what UNHCR terms the Sahel Plus situation, one of the most rapidly expanding displacement crises in the region. By April 2026, around 4.2 million people were forcibly displaced within the Central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) and towards the coastal States of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. The coastal States hosted 222,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, up 16 per cent from April 2025, mostly people fleeing Burkina Faso and Mali. These are largely recent arrivals: roughly 85 to 95 per cent of refugees in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo arrived within the past five years. Senegal presents a contrasting profile, with one of the region’s most protracted refugee populations: 72% have been in asylum for more than a decade and 62% were born in exile. It also serves as a key transit hub on mixed-movement routes towards Europe.

These dynamics have direct implications for economic inclusion. Around 80% of refugees and asylum-seekers in the region are women and children, and roughly half of those in protracted situations are of working age. UNHCR’s Vision 50by35 identifies inclusion in national systems and labour markets as one of four pathways out of aid dependence; agrifood systems, as a major source of livelihoods in all four countries, are central for that inclusion.

This assignment responds to the Mastercard Foundation’s stated priority for the WAEMU region: to prioritize analysis of agriculture and agrifood systems across Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin. The Foundation currently supports eight programs in the region, many of them focused on agriculture, including; skills development, value chain development and access to finance. The assessment should therefore examine where and how RDPs are already participating in these systems, and where stronger and more deliberate inclusion is possible.

WUSC is commissioning a rapid contextual assessment to address the following research questions:

• What are the current opportunities and barriers for the inclusion of RDP youth in the agrifood systems of Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin, including legal and policy barriers relating to documentation and legal status, the right to work, freedom of movement, and access to land, finance, markets and skills systems?
• What skills, assets, and capacities do RDP youth possess – and what gaps exist – that influence their ability to access dignified work within agribusiness and related sectors? How do these differ between young women and young men?
• What programmatic and policy entry points exist to include RDP youth (18–35, especially young women) in agrifood systems, and which existing models or approaches show promise for adaptation and scale-up in the four focus countries?
• Which RDP-led, youth-led, women-led and community-based organizations (including RLOs and cooperatives) work in or are adjacent to agrifood systems, and what practical roles could they play — in outreach, delivery, aggregation, advocacy or accountability — given their reach, partnerships and constraints?

In answering these questions, the analysis:

• Maps relevant RLOs, RDP-led groups, youth/women-led structures and assesses their potential roles in outreach, delivery, aggregation, advocacy and accountability;
• Fills knowledge gaps regarding RDP youth engagement in agrifood systems;
• Identifies viable inclusion opportunities for RDP inclusion in agrifood systems; 
• Guides future impactful programming and partnerships for RDP youth in agrifood systems in the WAEMU region; and
• Informs approaches to the systemic and sustainable integration of RDP youth into value chains across the region.

Objectives of the Contextual Analysis

The contextual analysis will inform DREEM’s strategy for supporting RDP youth to access dignified work in agrifood systems. DREEM’s target of reaching 400,000 RDP youth is an established programme target; this assessment is not expected to validate it, but should surface the pathways, assumptions and feasibility considerations relevant to reaching it. The assessment should identify the principal assumptions, opportunities and constraints affecting the extent to which agrifood programming in the four countries could contribute toward this target, without attempting to produce an independent numerical estimate of expected reach. 

Specifically, the assessment will: 

• Map current agrifood initiatives targeting RDP youth (ages 18-35), together with the RLOs, RDP-led, youth-led and women-led actors and other stakeholders operating in or adjacent to those systems, in the four focus countries (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin).
• Identify viable RDP inclusion opportunities with a particular emphasis on the dairy value chain in Senegal, and identify at least one priority value chain for each of Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin. Priority value chains should be assessed against a small set of practical criteria, including employment potential for RDP youth, accessibility to young women, entry barriers, market prospects, existing RDP participation, and realistic opportunities for DREEM and Foundation partner engagement.
• Analyze existing skills among RDP youth and identify skilling gaps and employment potential in agrifood systems.
• Assess governance and policy structures supporting or limiting RDP inclusion.
• Recommend practical, scalable interventions for DREEM and its partners and provide an evidence base for future programming.

Geographic Scope of the Contextual Assessment

The countries of focus are Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin. While Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are not covered as full country case studies, the assessment should consider relevant cross-border displacement, mobility and agrifood market linkages where these have implications for RDP inclusion in the four focus countries.

To view the full Terms of Reference, please click on this link