Refuge28-2-Canada’s Periodical on Refugees (original) (raw)
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New Approaches to Urban Refugee Livelihoods
Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees
Increasingly refugees live in urban areas—usually in slums impacted by unemployment, poverty, overcrowding and inadequate infrastructure. Host governments often restrict refugees’ access to the labor market, access that can be further impeded by language barriers, arbitrary fees, and discrimination. UNHCR and its partners are seldom equipped to understand and navigate the complex urban economic environment in order to create opportunities for refugees in these settings. Based on assessments undertaken in 2010 and 2011 in Kampala, New Delhi and Johannesburg, research findings indicate that refugees in urban areas adopt a variety of economic coping strategies, many of which place them at risk, and that new approaches and different partnerships are needed for the design and implementationof economic programs. This paper presents findings from the assessments and lays out strategies to address the challenges confronting urban refugees’ ability to enter and compete in the labor market.
New Approaches to Livelihood Challenges for Refugees in Urban Area Refuge June 2012
Refuge , 2012
Increasingly refugees live in urban areas -usually in slums impacted by unemployment, poverty, over-crowding and inadequate infrastructure. Host governments often restrict refugees' access to the labor market, access that can be further impeded by language barriers, arbitrary fees, and discrimination. UNHCR and its partners are seldom equipped to understand and navigate the complex urban economic environment in order to create opportunities for refugees in these settings. Based on assessments undertaken in 2010 and 2011 in Kampala, New Delhi and Johannesburg, research findings indicate that refugees in urban areas adopt a variety of economic coping strategies, many of which place them at risk, and that new approaches and different partnerships are needed for the design and implementation of economic programs.
2019
In Ethiopia, specifically in Addis Ababa, there are many Eritrean and Somali Urban refugees. They put Addis Ababa in the top first priority area to live because Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia and is the centre for national as well as international organizations. Urban refugees have different kinds of livelihood challenges and opportunities and this research examines it. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, descriptive type of research which is led by qualitative approach was employed. In-depth interview, key informant interview, focus group discussion and document review were the central data collection techniques. In this study, Gofa Mebrat Hail for Eritrean refugees and Bole Michael for Somali refugees in Addis Ababa were selected based on their numerical upper hand as well as the prolonged settlement of the refugees in the respective areas. In-depth interview was made with Eritrean and Somali urban refugees, key informant interview with officials from ARRA, NRC, DICAC and Woreda officials from the hosting community. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the research participants. The finding of the study shows that there are several socio-cultural and economic challenges urban refuges have been facing: High cost of living, problem of cultural adaptability like language barriers, refugees low self-esteem, psychological instability and mobility, economic crises, conflict, security challenges, violence, theft and robbery are the main challenges associated with livelihood strategies. This research also indicates that there are opportunities available on the ground to be used for sustainable development and self-reliance: availability of supportive policy frameworks and cultural Similarity between the hosting community and urban refugees. Moreover, this research revealed that urban refugees have both negative and positive impacts for the hosting community. The positive impacts include strengthen socio-economic and political relationship with neighbouring country, strengthened people-to-people relationship, transfer knowledge and skills, increase work habits, contribute for labour market, and inject foreign currency to the market. The negative impacts burdened on the hosting community are aggravated the price of rental house, increase unemployment rate, injects deviant behaviour such as addiction, conflict and violence. This research has come to conclude that urban refugee’s livelihood strategy is vulnerable for risk and shock as the result of less sustainable nature of their means of income. Key words: refugees, urban refugees, livelihood, Somali Refugees, Eritrean Refugee
Economic opportunities for refugees: Lessons from five host countries
2021
The majority of refugees around the world are in protracted refugee situations, living in exile for at least five years with no sign of a durable solution. There are three possible durable solutions: repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Repatriation remains the main durable solution, but the circumstances should be conducive for return to the country of origin. In the meantime, local integration gives refugees some certainty about what to do with their lives. Local integration is a process with three interrelated dimensions: legal, economic, and social. This report examines the level and extent of local integration of refugees in terms of economic inclusion. A literature review was carried out to generate evidence on what works best for refugees’ local economic integration in protracted refugee situations. The review utilized published and grey literature, identified through a systematic search and screening process. This report highlights the ways in which national po...
2013
The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) Working Paper Series is intended to aid the rapid distribution of work in progress, research findings and special lectures by researchers and associates of the RSC. Papers aim to stimulate discussion among the worldwide community of scholars, policymakers and practitioners. They are distributed free of charge in PDF format via the RSC website. Bound hard copies of the working papers may also be purchased from the Centre. The opinions expressed in the papers are solely those of the author/s who retain the copyright. They should not be attributed to the project funders or the Refugee Studies Centre, the Oxford Department of International Development or the University of Oxford. Comments on individual Working Papers are welcomed, and should be directed to the author/s. Further details may be found at the RSC website (www.rsc.ox.ac.uk). 1 RSC WORKING PAPER SERIES NO. 95 Case study country: Uganda Our primary case study country is Uganda. Unlike many of its neighbours, which encamp refugees, the Ugandan government promotes the 'self-reliance' of refugees; this means that rather than limiting responses to refugees to humanitarian relief, a space is open for a development-based approach to refugee assistance (Betts 2012). We conducted a one-month pilot research study of the livelihoods of refugees in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, between July and August 2012 (see Omata 2012). In order to provide a comparative perspective to our initial Kampala-based findings, our research sites have been expanded to both Nakivale and Kyangwali refugee settlements. The ongoing comparative case studies of three research sites allow us to explore a range of variables (i.e. urban/rural, settlement/non-settlement, regulatory frameworks and nationality) to explain variation in the nature and depth of refugees' engagement with the private sector, innovation and technology. The duration of the whole project is initially two years, until August 2014, with the majority of fieldwork in Uganda expected to take place between March and November 2013. 1 The authors are indebted, in particular, to UNHCR and the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala, Nakivale and Kyangwali settlements; Settlement Commanders and their support teams; Implementing and Operating Partners of UNHCR; Refugee Welfare Council; and individual refugees who actively participated in our research in the three sites. We are also grateful to both our Ugandan and refugee researchers who contributed to this paper.
Thrive or Survive? Explaining Variation in Economic Outcomes for Refugees
Journal on Migration and Human Security
In the context of protracted refugee situations, there has been a revival in concern among policymakers to transcend the so-called humanitariandevelopment divide and create greater opportunities for self-reliance. Yet, these discussions too often neglect an analytical focus on refugees' own economic lives, and their own interactions with markets. Despite a growing literature on the economic lives of refugees, much of that work has lacked theory or data. The work that has been quantitative has generally focused on the economic impact of refugees on host countries rather than explaining variation in economic outcomes for refugees.