This blog provides an overview of how Trickle Up has adapted its coaching methodologies and tools to serve refugees and host communities, with a focus on a pilot program in Sudan.

In April 2017 Trickle Up conducted a study to determine the feasibility of expanding upon this initiative to
use the Graduation Approach as a pathway by which both poor Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees
can be more effectively included in livelihood responses and economic development programs. This paper
examines the Graduation Approach as a viable solution to enable under- and unemployed Lebanese and
Syrians living in extreme poverty to reduce dependence on dwindling aid resources, become self-reliant,

The purpose of the Graduation and Refugee Standards, referred to herein as “Standards,” is to provide readers with guidance around how to design, adapt, and implement the Graduation Approach (GA) for refugees and host communities affected by displacement. This is not a “how to” for implementing Graduation in refugee contexts. Instead, its intent is to provide guidance for achieving efficiency and quality outputs in a standardized way. The authors recognize that each context is different, and local conditions may make it challenging, or even impossible, to meet all of the Standards.

A well-designed and executed project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system is invaluable. The development sector increasingly acknowledges M&E as central to an organization’s ability to

Uganda gives refugees the right to work and freedom of movement through its self-reliance model. The model has been widely praised as one of the most progressive refugee policies in the world. New research by Alexander Betts, Imane Chaara, Naohiko Omata, and Olivier Sterck explores what difference the self-reliance model makes in practice. Which aspects work, under what conditions, and for whom? In order to answer these questions, they compare outcomes for refugees and host community members in Uganda and Kenya, neighbouring countries with contrasting refugee policy frameworks.

The paper focuses on three questions: (1) what makes the economic lives of refugees distinctive from other populations; (2) what explains variation in refugees’ income levels; and (3) what role does entrepreneurship play in shaping refugees’ economic outcomes? In doing so, the authors seek to inform interventions that enhance market-based opportunities for refugees by building on the “skills, capacities and agency of refugees themselves” rather than focusing only on their vulnerabilities.

Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected in and around Kakuma refugee camps and Nairobi, this report examines variations in economic outcomes within the refugee population, and between refugee and host communities in Kenya in terms of livelihoods, living standards and subjective wellbeing. The data shows that:
• Refugees are significantly less likely than Kenyans to have an economic activity, but refugee employment rates and income levels vary by location.

This article highlights findings from household surveys of Congolese refugees in three of the largest refugee camps in Rwanda (Gihembe, Kiziba and Kigeme) and of locals living nearby. The authors find that although Congolese refugees officially have the right to work, in reality their experiences in the local labor market differ considerably from that of local Rwandans. Specifically:

In 2003, Liberia’s 14-year civil war finally came to an end. The war was disruptive and destructive, displacing the majority of Liberia’s 3 million inhabitants, halting economic activity, deepening poverty, and depriving a generation of basic education. The bulk of Liberia’s youth remain poor and underemployed. While the security situation has steadily improved since 2003, many rural youth continue to make their living through unlawful activities, including unlicensed mining, rubber tapping, or logging. Many of them are ex-combatants, and some remain in loose armed group structures.

Internal displacement affects the lives of displaced people, their host communities and those they leave behind in many ways. We identified seven dimensions that need to be considered - health, livelihoods, education, housing and infrastructure, security, the environment and social life. This report presents the results of a systematic review of nearly 1,000 publications on the impacts of internal displacement in each of these dimensions.

Most refugees, especially in developing countries, do not have formal labor market access. Even when permitted by law, administrative and practical barriers often limit access. The authors argue that granting refugees formal labor market access has the potential to create substantial benefits for refugees and hosts, including reduced vulnerability and higher incomes for refugees, improved labor market outcomes and higher incomes for natives, and positive fiscal effects for host governments.

Fragility and conflict pose a critical threat to the global goal of ending extreme poverty. Between 1990 and 2015, successful development strategies reduced the proportion of the world’s people living in extreme poverty from 36 to 10 percent. But in many fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS), poverty is stagnating or getting worse. The number of people living in proximity to conflict has nearly doubled worldwide since 2007. In the Middle East and North Africa, one in five people now lives in such conditions.

For many years, aid agencies, researchers, advocates for displaced people and refugees and IDPs themselves have all called for investments in self-reliance and livelihoods as an important step towards overcoming the costly inadequacies of the present aid regime. Despite the great deal of writing that has been done on the subject, there has been no systematic examination of the evidence on the effectiveness and impact of actual self-reliance and livelihood interventions.

Turkey hosts nearly 3.3 million registered refugees, mostly from Syria, concentrated in provinces with lower labor force participation and higher unemployment rates than the national average. In 2016 the Turkish government passed a regulation to allow Syrian refugees to obtain formal work permits.

Refugees living in low- and middle-income countries are especially vulnerable to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on data from eight hosting countries before COVID-19, we find that refugees are 60 percent more likely than host populations to be working in highly impacted sectors, such as accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and retail. As a result, COVID-19 will likely lead to widespread loss of livelihoods and an increase in poverty among refugee populations.

Humanitarian crises pose a formidable development challenge. Whether caused by conflict, natural disaster, climate-related events, or some combination of the three, crises have been steadily increasing in frequency, severity, and complexity. While the nature and incidences of these crises vary significantly, they affect millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable. Some populations are displaced from their communities or countries as a result of crises; others stay where they are, by choice or necessity, and must navigate unpredictable and dangerous environments.

2015 census data suggests there were 1.3 million Syrians living in Jordan compared to a population of 6.6 million Jordanian citizens. This paper investigates the impact of the Syrian refugee influx on labor market outcomes in Jordan. The authors make use Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey data from before (2010) and after (2016) the Syrian influx, combined with information on where the refugee influx was concentrated. Key results include:

The purpose of this evaluation is to gather strategic and timely evidence on the effectiveness of
refugee livelihoods programming from 2014-2018. This evaluation will inform and influence the
organizational strategy and practice within UNHCR and external to UNHCR through partners, ultimately,
with the aim to improve the economic inclusion of refugees and other people of concern (PoC). The
evaluation also serves a dual purpose for learning and accountability within the organization,

To share learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Bargain Cash Workstream Sub-Group on Linking Humanitarian Cash (HC) and Social Protection (SP) has drawn up a series of case studies that offer practical examples of how actors in a range of different contexts have aligned or linked elements of existing and/or nascent humanitarian and social protection approaches in cash-based responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

To share learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Bargain Cash Workstream Sub-Group on Linking Humanitarian Cash (HC) and Social Protection (SP) has drawn up a series of case studies that offer practical examples of how actors in a range of different contexts have aligned or linked elements of existing and/or nascent humanitarian and social protection approaches in cash-based responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.