Mental Health and Medical Asylum Evaluation Consultant

Scope of work:

International Rescue Committee provides timely, high-quality, comprehensive services to asylum seekers and others pursuing humanitarian protection in the US and globally. To ensure that people in need of protection are able to access it, it is critical that IRC build capacity to offer them the best possible opportunity to demonstrate their claim of persecution and humanitarian need. A critical component to advancing a humanitarian claim for protection can be accessing expert medical and mental health evaluations, which document the impact of human rights abuses and explain these findings to case adjudicators. When a mental health or medical evaluation supports an applicant’s claim, it more than doubles an applicant’s chance of being granted asylum.[i] [ii] [iii] Unfortunately, this type of evaluation is expensive and often out of reach for asylum seekers who have little or no financial resources and/or who are detained. While there are several pro-bono evaluation networks in the US, the need for these crucial services far outstrips current capacity.

IRC is seeking one or more Mental Health and Medical Asylum Evaluation Consultants to develop and manage a demonstration project that will inform the shaping and development of an IRC volunteer evaluation network. The demonstration project will take place in King County, WA and have three primary goals:

1. Fill a current gap in mental and medical evaluations for asylum seekers
2. Lay the foundation for sustainability in King County, WA with proposed recommendations for funding streams and partnerships
3. Utilize learnings to make recommendations for an evaluation model that can be replicable by IRC throughout the U.S. with possible international expansion in the future.

The demonstration project is expected to engage volunteers who are doctors and licensed mental health clinicians who will receive training and support in conducting evaluations.

This consultancy will work closely with Technical Advisers in the Asylum & Protection and Safety & Wellness Technical Units.

Deliverables:

During the performance period, Mental Health and Medical Asylum Evaluation Consultant is expected to deliver:

1.A demonstration project in King County that results in:

• Recruiting key volunteers
• Training and onboarding key volunteers
• Partnering with pro-bono immigration attorneys to receive evaluation requests
• Facilitating evaluation requests
• A minimum of 25 completed evaluations by the end of the performance period
  
  

2.A program design for a US-wide volunteer asylum evaluation network that is informed by existing, effective models. Implementation science from the demonstration project should be used to inform program design. This includes:

• how volunteers will be trained, recruited and vetted;
• how referrals will be received and processed; and
• how evaluations will be facilitated and reviewed for quality.
• Templates for training, referral, outreach, resource and referral provision, affidavits and other products related to the program design.
• A template for tracking referrals and evaluations, including data on asylum decisions.
• A recruitment plan for doctor and clinician volunteers.
• An outreach plan that identifies key immigration attorney partnerships that should be pursued.

The program design will be informed by asylum seekers or asylees as key stakeholders and should include how these key stakeholders will inform future services.

3.A financial and sustainability analysis that includes:

• Possible sources of funding
• Recommendations for future growth and sustainability of the Evaluation Network
• Strategic partnerships and alliances to pursue
• Strategic, operational, financial, and people elements needed for success.