Supporting Return Preparedness Through Livelihood Study Mercy Corps

Research Objectives and Questions

Overall Objective:

To generate robust evidence base on the role of livelihoods in shaping return preparedness and durable solutions for Syrian refugees and IDPs.

Key Research Questions:

• How do current livelihood conditions and support influence return intentions and preparedness among refugees?
• How have Lebanon s successive and compounding crises since 2019 including the financial and banking collapse, COVID-19 pandemic, Beirut Port explosion, the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, and the 2026 war shaped livelihoods programming targeting displaced Syrians, including donor priorities, targeting approaches, perceptions and preparedness for return, and the balance between stabilization-oriented and emergency response modalities?
• To what extent are livelihood s interventions aligned with economic opportunities inside Syria (e.g., skilling, MSME support etc.) ?
• What constraints do returnees and IDPs face in accessing sustainable livelihoods inside Syria?
• What livelihoods-related factors influence displacement trajectories and return decisions (e.g., timing, areas of return, who returns etc.)?
• How have the assumptions, findings, and recommendations of the 3RP Livelihood Preparedness for Syrian Refugee Returns study evolved in light of the socio-economic, political, and security transformations observed in Syria and host countries since 2022?
• How do these dynamics differ across demographic groups, including women, youth and persons with disabilities ( PwDs)?
• How can (country-specific and regional) livelihood s programming in host countries and areas of return better prepare refugees for eventual return while simultaneously supporting resilience and social cohesion in host communities?

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

• Provide overall project management and technical oversight for the study
• Ensuring compliance with Mercy Corps research standards, methodological requirements, and agreed deliverables and timelines.
• Lead on qualitative research methodology and design .
• Develop the inception report and lead the review and revision process through to finalization, incorporating feedback provided by Mercy Corps and UNDP.
• Liaise with the CA team for external stakeholder engagement, to conduct key informant interviews (KIIs), and to validate analytical findings.
• Conduct KIIs with an agreed list of stakeholders.
• Lead the research analysi s, in coordination with the Crisis Analysis regional team.
• Produce KIIs transcripts and ensure they are anonymized and imported into a qualitative coding structure .
• Lead the production of the thematic report.
• Present the initial findings internally to Mercy Corps and UNDP.
• Lead review and revision process with multiple iterations of feedback, ultimately leading to a high-quality final product.
• As relevant, produce and present findings within external events (briefings, workshops, panels, roundtables, etc).

Consultant Deliverables:

The consultant will deliver:

• Inception Report: Methodology, analytical framework, data collection tools, detailed workplan
• Data Collection Outputs: KII summaries/transcripts and coded qualitative data, Draft Analytical Report (Approximately 15 20 pages, including clear findings and recommendations)
• Final Analytical Report (Incorporating feedback from Mercy Corps and partners)
• Presentation Materials (Slide deck and summary outputs for dissemination)