In December 2023, the RSRI spearheaded the launch of the Multistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection (EISP) at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in Geneva, the world’s largest gathering in support of refugees and the countries that host them. One year later, the RSRI reflects on the pledge’s progress and the future of self-reliance for refugees.
Following the results of Tuesday's elections in the U.S., our commitment to expanding opportunities for refugees and other forcibly displaced populations is stronger than ever.
In a step towards building an evidence base on what it takes to help refugees become and remain self-reliant, RefugePoint and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) collaborated to produce a knowledge-mapping and assessment of available research and evidence relating to self-reliance for refugees.
In December 2023, the RSRI spearheaded the launch of the Multistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection (EISP) at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in Geneva, the world’s largest gathering in support of refugees and the countries that host them. One year later, the RSRI reflects on the pledge’s progress and the future of self-reliance for refugees.
Following the results of Tuesday's elections in the U.S., our commitment to expanding opportunities for refugees and other forcibly displaced populations is stronger than ever.
A Joint Statement From Dale Buscher and Amy Slaughter
At the genesis of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI), 63 million people across the globe were forcibly displaced due to conflict and human rights abuses. Today, that number is 117 million and growing.
When we started this work, we recognized that the increasingly protracted nature of displacement and the growing numbers of people displaced necessitated doing things differently – that reliance on long-term care and maintenance programs where refugees are dependent on erratic humanitarian assistance was both undignified and unsustainable. Yet, during that pre-Global Compact on Refugees era, there was no shared objective around creating economic opportunities for refugees nor actively promoting self-reliance. Livelihood programs were often add-ons with little connection to market opportunities or knowledge generated about what was actually being achieved. In response, the Women’s Refugee Commission and RefugePoint began convening a Community of Practice with like-minded stakeholders to advance policies and programs in support of self-reliance opportunities and to create a measurement tool to gauge and amplify impact.
Building on prior tools developed by each of our agencies and enlisting the expertise of dozens of leaders in the field, our first undertaking was creating the Self-Reliance Index (SRI) to measure refugee households’ progress towards self-reliance over time. We knew the Index had to be simple, easy to administer, and only focused on the most vital information that would tell us most of what we needed to know to capture program impacts. We knew that it wasn’t just about jobs and income but also about how that income was used to support the well-being of household members. That is, if Mom or Dad were working, were the children more likely to be in school? Were household members more likely to be accessing needed health care and eating three meals a day?
As we both undergo career transitions—Dale is retiring, and Amy is shifting into independent consulting—we’d like to pause and reflect on how these nascent ideas evolved into the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and where the RSRI is today.
The two of us, along with Kellie Leeson, spent hours over many days and months wracking our brains around how to come up with ways to easily measure those things our collaborators deemed important. How do you determine if someone’s shelter is ‘appropriate’? If you’re trying to measure employment, what does it mean if someone works only part-time, seasonally, or on a sporadic, irregular basis? When we finally landed on a version we felt somewhat comfortable with, we piloted the SRI in three countries and worked with academic partners to undertake validity and reliability testing. The resultant learning led to modifications to the Index, with version 2.0 launching almost exactly four years ago.
In the intervening years, a lot has happened. We offered training on use of the Index, which led to the creation of online, e-learning modules available in four languages. We started a research learning group to pull together a research agenda and partners engaged in monitoring, testing, and evaluation. We created a steering committee and hired the RSRI’s first Executive Director, Kari Diener, who brought a strong vision for policy and practice reform and introduced elements of market systems development, climate action, and building capacity with refugee-led organizations.
We have been overwhelmed and surprised by the response to these efforts.
Today, 65 partners are using the SRI to measure the impacts of their programs in 31 countries.
450+ individuals have joined the RSRI Community of Practice with 40+ member organizations regularly participating in our bi-monthly calls.
We have collected data on over 30,000 households and have reached a collective 2 million refugees with social and economic inclusion programs through our partners.
Donors have recommended the use of the SRI with their grantees.
The SRI is being used in a variety of refugee and non-refugee contexts – with urban and camp-based refugees, IDPs, returnees, and host community members – in low, medium, and high-income countries.
We are currently undertaking our first-ever rigorous evaluations utilizing the SRI.
We are currently building an interactive, public dashboard that will display progress across SRI domains by country and globally.
With regular reports about cuts in food rations and reductions in humanitarian aid, promoting safe, sustainable livelihoods and assisting refugees to achieve self-reliance is more important than ever. We don’t want refugees to be dependent on inadequate assistance, but we also don’t want them cut off from humanitarian aid before they can sustainably meet their own needs, and we caution against appropriating the language of “self-reliance” in support of the latter. SRI data can be a key part of assessing when we can responsibly disengage households from assistance and ensure that refugees are not prematurely removed from humanitarian aid rolls. Good programming that captures progress on self-reliance can inform us about when the right time to re-channel assistance to those most in need is. In the coming years, we look forward to seeing additional progress in using data to identify what works best to facilitate self-reliance for refugees in various contexts and scaling those approaches broadly.
It’s been an amazing trajectory and a wonderful journey. We wish to thank all of the staff, consultants, advisors, funders, and RSRI stakeholders for moving this agenda forward. It has been a pleasure to work with and learn from you all. We hope this initiative continues to change responses to displacement, restore dignity, choice, and opportunity, and most importantly, help refugees rebuild their lives.
Dale Buscher is the Vice President for Programs at the Women’s Refugee Commission. He is a co-founder of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and the former chair of the RSRI Steering Committee.
Amy Slaughter is the Chief Strategy Officer at RefugePoint. She is a co-founder of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and a technical advisor to the RSRI.
In a step towards building an evidence base on what it takes to help refugees become and remain self-reliant, RefugePoint and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) collaborated to produce a knowledge-mapping and assessment of available research and evidence relating to self-reliance for refugees.
Dear friends,
In reflecting on 2023, one word immediately comes to mind: community. The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative has had a year of immense growth and powerful work, and none of what we have accomplished could have been done without the collaboration and support of our incredible community.
A few highlights from this year include:
Co-convening the Global Refugee Forum 2023 Multistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection with 243 pledging partners, including 82 states and regional bodies.
Hosting our first refugee-led organization (RLO) learning exchange in Nairobi with RefugePoint with 80 participants joining in for powerful discussions about supporting RLOs and self-reliance.
The Self-Reliance Index being used actively by 51 organizations in 27 countries, with new online training modules now available in Arabic.
Publishing several new reports and articles, including ones on measuring and facilitating self-reliance, using the Self-Reliance Index to adapt organizational processes and programming, and Market Systems Development.
And much more!
We invite you to stay in touch with us as we embark upon this new year - click here to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Best wishes,
Kari Diener (Executive Director, RSRI)
Migration is reshaping our societies and challenging traditional notions of identity, belonging, and cultural diversity. Global Citizenship Education, with its emphasis on fostering an understanding of global interconnectedness, human rights, social justice, and intercultural competence, is uniquely positioned to address the complex issues arising from migration.
In this context, SangSaeng No. 61 explores the multifaceted relationship between migration and GCED to inspire innovative approaches to education and advocacy that address the challenges and opportunities presented by migration.
In this issue of SangSaeng (pages 20-23), Kari Diener, Executive Director of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, contributed an article titled Pathway to Empowerment — Self-Reliance: A New Vision Toward Sustainable Solutions for Refugees.
We are pleased to profile a few of the powerful pledges made towards the GRF Mutlistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection. Keep an eye on this page for additional pledges in the coming year.
The Refugee Investment Facility is a collaboration between the Danish Refugee Council and iGravity created to channel capital and technical assistance to private enterprises in refugee hosting areas to support and incentivize their positive impact on job creation, skills development, and access to products and services for refugees and their host communities. The Refugee Investment Facility pledges to invest in a minimum of 10 refugee supporting business across Uganda and Jordan (and potentially other countries affected by forced displacement) by 2027, reaching a minimum of 27,000 refugees and host community members through the business activities of its investees, and grow the field of learning and documentation on the potential of investment approaches to contribute to solutions for displacement affected populations.
The Refugee Investment Facility is supported by the IKEA Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, ECHO – EU Humanitarian Aid, The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida) and Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For more information, see: Investment | Refugee Investment Facility
IPA and J-PAL, with funding from the IKEA Foundation, are supporting at least 20 rigorous impact evaluations and related projects on sustainable livelihoods for displacement-affected populations through the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative. In addition, IPA and J-PAL will: a) invest in new and existing partnerships with major displacement actors working on pathways to livelihoods and self-reliance for displacement-affected populations; b) translate supported research into practice and influence by sharing results strategically and equipping decision-makers to use this evidence in the design of policies and programs; and; c) host at least four research incubator workshops designed to introduce implementing partners, who have identified important policy and programming questions, to the fundamentals of rigorous impact evaluations. These workshops will support implementer teams in the process of designing research projects and build the capacity of partners to participate in rigorous research. Throughout, IPA and J-PAL are committed to supporting the work of those with lived experience of displacement and local researchers, as well as investing in local partnerships. For more information, visit: https://poverty-action.org/displaced-livelihoods-initiative.
The Poverty Alleviation Coalition, is a coalition of UNHCR, the World Bank, Partnership for Economic Inclusion and 16 NGOs, including: AVSI, BOMA, BRAC, Caritas Switzerland, Concern Worldwide, DRC, Fundación Capital, Goal, HIAS, IPA, Mercy Corps, NRC, RSRI, Trickle-Up, Village Enterprise, World Vision. Collectively, the coalition is working to increase self-reliance, economic and social inclusion of extremely poor refugees and host community members using the well-proven graduation approach. The coalition pledges to collectively reach 190,000 refugees and host community members by 2027 through graduation programing. For more information, visit: https://alleviate-poverty.org/
The Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) remains dedicated to galvanizing the global business community to support the economic inclusion of refugees. From 2020 to 2023, Tent mobilized 150 businesses to publicly pledge to provide jobs, training, and mentorship to refugees across Europe, North America, and Latin America. These businesses pledged to:
Hire 37,600 refugees directly into their workforces
Connect 170,000 refugees to work
Provide training opportunities to 131,110 refugees
Provide mentorship to 8,050 refugees
Tent is grateful to all companies that have made these pledges possible to integrate refugees into their new communities, and looking ahead, our continued mission includes supporting these businesses by providing tailored guidance and local expertise to successfully implement these pledges. For more information, visit www.tent.org.
by Alli Gillespie, MSW, MPH
At the end of 2019, over 3,000 representatives from UNHCR member states, international organizations, private institutions, NGOs, and other entities gathered at the inaugural Global Refugee Forum (GRF). Many of these stakeholders committed pledges to take actionable steps to enhance refugee self-reliance and to improve the lives of displaced peoples and host communities around the world. These pledges spanned several areas of focus, including complementary pathways, education, energy, infrastructure, and protection.
As a key objective in the Global Compact on Refugees, the concept of refugee self-reliance has been elevated at this catalytic moment in time. Seeking to capture the momentum arising from the 2019 GRF, which has expanded to the broader ecosystem as entities prepare for the next round of pledging at the 2023 GRF, members of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative assessed the status of pledges committed to improving one or more domains of refugee self-reliance.
In doing so, several characteristics of what makes a quality self-reliance pledge have emerged. We share some of these characteristics below to inspire pledging entities to strengthen their commitments, increase their potential impact, and improve accountability in supporting those who have been forced to flee their homes.
Of the pledges we reviewed, nearly 10% did not specify a target region, and another 10% indicated a vague, global focus. More concerning were the nearly 9 in 10 pledges that lacked specification around the type of context to which it committed its support.
In order to be considered SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound), impact indicators must be adapted for a given context and consideration of its strengths and constraints. Such indicators also make it easier to track the progress of the pledge.
Pledges should specify the region and context of research, policy, and/or programming to improve implementation and thus increase the potential of the pledge’s fulfillment.
While many pledges we reviewed included a clear goal of support for refugees and/or host communities, many lacked clarity regarding additional attributes of the population(s) it committed to support. In other words, the needs of target groups within refugee and/or host communities were not always clearly defined.
Ensuring that refugee sub-populations with intersecting identity dimensions (based on their age, ethnic group, disability status, gender, sexual orientation, documentation or legal status, education level, etc.) do not face further marginalization in self-reliance efforts requires careful intention.
Pledges should remain transparent about their intended interventions’ inclusion of and accessibility for different groups and clearly define contextual and cultural considerations.
Despite the GCR calling for joint action to support refugees, almost three-quarters of pledges were made by individual entities as opposed to joint partnerships or collaborations. Among the pledges we reviewed, the most prominent collaborators of joint pledging were states and international non-governmental organizations.
While this is a promising start, there is abundant opportunity for increased cross-sector collaboration with and among the private sector, universities and academics, civil society organizations, and religious institutions.
Pledging entities across sectors and regions should actively seek out partnerships when planning commitments to ensure more holistic action and collaborative resource use.
High-quality pledges should be trackable and contain milestones at which progress can be reported. For example, many of the 2019 pledges that had reported updates to UNHCR indicated meaningful advancements and even pledge fulfillment. Meanwhile, many entities had yet to report updates on the status of their commitments to UNHCR at the time of our review.
Routinely updating the status of commitments toward self-reliance action makes it easier to track progress over time, improving knowledge of how many pledges have been fulfilled and highlighting which pledges may require more support or partnership.
Pledges should consider implementing SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timebound and linked to one or more impact indicators) to strengthen accountability. In addition, pledges must remain accountable to the affected populations, routinely sharing progress with local communities and soliciting their feedback on ongoing efforts.
We hope that when thinking about how to move forward with current pledges or designing new pledges at the upcoming Global Refugee Forum, entities will consider these four characteristics to improve pledge quality, actionability, and accountability.
For further guidance on pledges related to economic inclusion and social protection topics, we suggest consulting the Technical Guidance Notes (categorized by Data & Evidence, Programmes, and Law & Policy) on RSRI’s Mega Pledge development page. These Technical Guidance Notes offer examples and templates that pledges can use when drafting commitments, helpful definitions, and other resources. Our team looks forward to working together to strengthen self-reliance efforts around the globe and to prevent further forced displacement.
For further information, please contact info@refugeeselfreliance.org.
Author:
Alli Gillespie, MSW, MPH
Research Fellow, Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative
Senior Research Manager, Brown School at Washington University in Saint Louis
This article draws on GRF pledge stocktaking research conducted jointly with RSRI Policy Fellow, Ngenarr Yassin Jeng.
Thank you to everyone who joined Building Markets and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative for Accelerating local economic development through refugee-led SMEs earlier today to celebrate World SME Day 2023.
We would also like to specifically thank our incredible panelists for their thoughtful and informative insights on refugee-led SMEs and economic development:
Yara Asad, World Bank
Somar Nassar, Building Markets
Jacqueline Sofia, Sitti Social Enterprise
If you didn’t have a chance to join us live, you can view the full webinar recording and slides below.
Want to make sure you’re the first to receive invites to webinars like this? Click here to join the Refugee Self-Reliance Community of Practice!
Slides & Resources
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us on June 22 for an Introductory Call to the Mega Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection. We also would like to thank all of our speakers and those who gave interventions during the session.
You can find a recording of the session, as well as slides and resources mentioned, below.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
If you have any questions or want to discuss contributions to the pledge, please reach out to info@refugeeselfreliance.org or livelihoods@unhcr.org.
Earlier this month, we were joined by Alejandra Alcalá and Francisco Alcalá Torreslanda, the dynamic father-daughter duo who co-founded HOME Storytellers, for a Q&A and special screening of their newest documentary, The Neighborhood Storyteller. We are excited to share an audio version of our conversation with you all.
“The Neighborhood Storyteller” documents the story of Asmaa, a young wife and mother who was tragically pushed out of her home country by war at age 16. Now at 28 years old, Asmaa – despite her complex situation – is determined to raise an empowered generation of women by reading aloud to and with teenage girls to inspire and empower them to build a future of opportunity for themselves.
She channeled this determination into her volunteer work with the organization We Love Reading, and later took what she learned to be able to start her own reading group with young girls living in her community.
We hope you enjoy this meaningful conversation as much as our Community of Practice did!
Click here to learn more about HOME Storytellers.
Want to join our Community of Practice to deepen your work with refugee self-reliance and to receive invitations to events like this screening and Q&A? Click here to sign up.
Exciting news! We’ve just launched our Self-Reliance Index e-learning modules in Arabic.
أخبار سارة! لقد أطلقنا للتو وحدات التعلُّم الإلكتروني لمؤشِّر الاعتماد على الذات باللغة العربية.
Our Self-Reliance Index is the first global tool for measuring the progress of refugee households toward self-reliance - and we even provide a comprehensive list of training options to help you get set up.
يُعَد مؤشِّر الاعتماد على الذات الخاص بنا أول أداة عالمية لقياس مستوى التُقدُّم لدى أسر اللاجئين نحو الاعتماد على ذاتهم، كما أنَّنا نوفر أيضًا قائمة شاملة بخيارات التدريب لمساعدتك على الإعداد لذلك.
These modules are a comprehensive training tool to help you understand and utilize the SRI, the first global tool of its kind that measures the progress of refugee households towards self-reliance.
تُعَد هذه الوحدات أداة تدريب شاملة لمساعدتك على فهم واستخدام مؤشِّر الاعتماد على الذات (SRI) التي أصبحت الأداة العالمية الأولى من نوعها التي تقيس مستوى التقدُّم المُحرَز لدى أُسر اللاجئين نحو الاعتماد على الذات.
E-learning modules are also available in English, Spanish, and French.
تتوفَّر وحدات التعليم الإلكتروني أيضًا باللغات الإنجليزية والإسبانية والفرنسية.
Dear friends,
We are filled with gratitude as we look back on all that the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and our partners accomplished in 2022. Together, we have made great strides in bolstering opportunities for refugees around the world to achieve self-reliance – and we look forward to seeing what more we can achieve this year.
Thanks to your support and engagement this past year, the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative:
Expanded the use of the Self-Reliance Index to an additional 23 partners in 17 countries, now reaching a total of 39 partners in 25 countries
Delivered the NGO Statement for the general debate at the Executive Committee of the UNHCR High Commissioner’s Programme (ExCom)
Co-convened a group of experts with the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) for three innovation labs discussing refugee self-reliance, which led to the publication of a learning brief and a joint statement at the High Commissioner’s Dialogue
Hired our first full-time staff members, including our first executive director
Established a diverse, multi-stakeholder steering committee to help guide our work
Released two new publications, a conceptual framework for understanding and measuring refugee self-reliance and a learning review on the Self-Reliance Index
Held 6 meetings with our Community of Practice to connect and collaborate on self-reliance work
Co-sponsored the South African Refugee-Led Network’s 2nd Annual Summit
And more!
As we reflect on these accomplishments, we look forward to seeing how self-reliance can become an even stronger tenant of humanitarian aid in 2023. By working together as a community, we can continue to help build better lives for refugees and other forcibly displaced populations.
We invite you to stay in touch with us as we embark upon this new year - click here to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Best wishes,
On December 8, 2022, the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI) and US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) delivered a joint statement at the 2022 UNHCR High Commissioner’s Dialogue, highlighting key opportunities to move the needle on self-reliance outcomes for refugees and forcibly displaced populations. Read the full statement here, and view the video clip below.
Paula Reed Lynch (Director, Office of Policy and Resource Planning, U.S. Department of State) presented a joint statement from RSRI and PRM in the plenary of the 2022 UNHCR High Commissioner’s Dialogue.
This statement was based on the outcomes of the Better Lives Now Innovation Labs co-convened by RSRI and PRM to produce recommendations informing pledging around self-reliance at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum. Representatives from academia, foundations, NGOs, research organizations, refugee-led organizations, multilateral institutions, governments (host countries and donors), and the private sector took part in each lab.
Key takeaways incorporated into the joint statement include recommendations on data and evidence, fostering collaboration, and policy. View the highlights in the illustrations below, or view the full report by clicking here.
On October 13, Madiha Ali, a dynamic refugee advocate and a member of the RSRI Steering Committee, delivered the NGO Statement for the general debate for the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme (ExCom) in Geneva, Switzerland. The full written statement can be accessed here.
Madiha Ali, a dynamic refugee advocate (right) met Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the 73rd session of the Executive Committee of UNHCR this week in Geneva. Madiha is engaging on the world stage in policies and practices that matter to refugees – and her community – at the grassroots level. Today, Madiha will deliver one of only two civil society statements that will be presented at the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme in Geneva, Switzerland.
The statement highlighted that at this time of unprecedented global displacement—with a staggering 100 million people who’ve been forced to flee their homes—refugee self-reliance models need to be the norm, rather than the exception when planning assistance and response to ongoing crises. It was one of only two civil society statements that were presented at ExCom, which is an annual meeting of the UNHCR attended by many member state delegations and civil society representatives. The RSRI is a global multi-stakeholder collaboration co-founded and hosted by RefugePoint that aims to reach five million refugees in five years with programming that puts them on a path to self-reliance and reshapes the humanitarian response paradigm away from emergency aid.
Global forced displacement is at its highest recorded, with over 30 million people who have fled their countries (and more than double that number displaced within their own country). Coupled with the extended length of displacement — often 20 or more years — and the lack of sustainable solutions for refugees — less than 3% return home annually — this growing global challenge is leaving increasing numbers of people living in limbo. Most refugees say they want to “stand on their own feet” — to take care of their own needs and those of their family. They request support to build independent lives in their new homes, whether their stay is temporary or permanent.
Self-reliance is recognized as a key solution to the global displacement crisis, with several recent high-level inter-governmental initiatives emphasizing the need to enhance self-reliance opportunities for refugees, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees. Despite this, the prevailing humanitarian response has focused on emergency aid. According to the former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, this leaves millions of refugees “trapped in dependency on short-term aid that keeps them alive but falls short of ensuring their safety, dignity, and ability to thrive and be self-reliant over the long term.”
Self-reliance involves helping refugees to meet their own essential needs so that they can live in safety and dignity, without the need to rely on humanitarian aid. The statement will call out examples of self-reliance initiatives already being rolled out and will make policy recommendations targeting key stakeholders, including the UNHCR, member states, and humanitarian actors.
Now more than ever, we need long-term solutions for refugees. The statement that Madiha Ali delivered on October 13 highlighted the importance of self-reliance as one of these long-term solutions.
This blog post was originally published on RefugePoint’s website. You can read the original post here.
Jane*, a Congolese refugee, lives in a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya with her husband, two small children and adult brother. Her brother…
The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI) is a multi-stakeholder collaboration that promotes opportunities for refugees around the world to become self-reliant and achieve a better quality of life, while simultaneously advocating for the full enjoyment of their rights.
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