Markets help crisis-affected populations access goods, services and economic opportunities that are critical to meeting their basic needs and supporting their livelihoods. Nevertheless, many aid organisations continue to provide in-kind assistance in areas where markets are functional. This may help…
In search of greater freedoms and opportunities, thousands of Eritreans have fled their country in recent years – many directly across the border to Ethiopia. One estimate by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in 2016 put the number of registered…
Labour and capital investment are increasingly seen as the solution to protracted refugee situations. Aid agencies expect forced migrants to be good entrepreneurs and to become self-reliant by finding jobs and/or starting businesses. This puts the responsibility of ‘succeeding’ firmly…
The six articles in this FMR mini-feature explore how those who have been displaced find their own ways of assisting each other, filling gaps in official assistance or providing better-suited means of support. Evidence from Uganda, Kenya, Germany and Indonesia…
The seven articles in this FMR mini-feature explore the roles that animals play in the lives of people who have been displaced. Evidence from animal–human interactions in refugee camps across the world demonstrates the challenges that face both human and…
‘Social protection’ commonly refers to programmes and policies that aim to reduce the poverty, vulnerability and risks that populations can face. These were traditionally state-led initiatives. The term, however, has also recently become common in international development where international actors…
Refugees in Kenya face multiple challenges. In addition to the long process of recognition or rejection of refugee status, these challenges include lack of access to documentation and services – including refugee registration processes, business and work permits, student pass,…
In the early 1990s my father was one of millions of refugees fleeing the civil conflict engulfing Somalia. Relative to many others he was lucky – he was educated and able to secure scholarship opportunities in the United States, where…
Refugees in Germany receive considerable State support. Those whose asylum applications are accepted are assigned to a local city or town, gain temporary residency and begin the integration process. Although new arrivals in 2015 were initially housed in school gyms…
Indonesia allows asylum seekers and refugees to live in the country until they can be resettled through the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, but does not offer any legal pathways for them to naturalise, and also prohibits them from working during…