A Call For Inclusive Development With Refugees This World Refugee Week
With stronger, newer insights from Samuel Hall’s research across Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Caribbean, we share ways forward to build inclusive pathways for refugees.
By Samuel Hall Team
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals. Today, we emphasise that these goals can only be sustainable if they are inclusive — inclusive of the 114 million individuals who have been forcibly displaced worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence, climate change, or human rights violations.
How can we ensure their voices not only reflect in decision-making and policy but that they also lead and own the action?
This World Refugee Day, the need for inclusive development with and for refugees is clearer and more urgent than ever. With stronger, newer insights from Samuel Hall’s research across Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Caribbean, we share ways forward to build inclusive pathways for refugees.
This blog focuses on three key messages from our research:
- Planning for inclusive urban solutions for refugees — outside of camps
- Building support systems and investing in refugee livelihoods
- Creating a coalition of local partners including those led by Refugee-led and Faith-based organisations.
Dive in to explore our messages, but first, let’s hear what some refugees have to say about inclusive development.
Inclusive Development with Refugees: 3 Key Insights from Our Research on World Refugee Day
An estimated 60% of the world’s 110 million displaced people live in urban areas, highlighting the critical need for urban solutions for refugees.
Despite policies like Ethiopia’s ‘Out of Camp Policy’ granting urban residency rights to refugees, only 20% of refugees received an income from work due to restrictions on employment, underscoring significant gaps in economic integration.
Samuel Hall participated in the Protracted Displacement in an Urban World (PDUW) project, which explores opportunities for displaced communities in the cities of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Amman (Jordan), Jalalabad (Afghanistan), and Nairobi (Kenya).
Participatory Forums were conducted to bring together local governments, humanitarian actors, and displaced communities, leading to increased dialogue on the needs of displaced persons and more inclusive urban planning and solutions.
In Nairobi, the County’s engagement with local and international partners through Participatory Forums has led to the development of a new urban refugee integration strategy, demonstrating the potential for city-led initiatives to create inclusive urban environments.
In Jalalabad, the emphasis was on creating greener and cleaner public spaces accessible to women, children, and displaced individuals. However, the challenge remains in sustaining these efforts and addressing city resourcing gaps. The data from the PDUW project reveals that while awareness and initial actions have been successful, long-term, city-led coordination is necessary to maintain momentum by:
- Collecting and utilising comprehensive data for urban planning is essential for understanding and addressing the needs of refugees and other marginalised groups in informal settlements, to improve services in an inclusive manner.
- Encouraging city governments to take the lead in creating and implementing long-term solutions for displaced communities with a gender-inclusive lens, and fostering partnerships with national authorities, civil society, and international organisations can ensure sustained support and effective coordination.
- Addressing the critical gap in city resourcing by advocating for increased international and national funding directed toward local actors is also vital.
- Prioritising participatory budgeting practices that involve refugees and displaced communities in decision-making processes will ensure that resources are used effectively and equitably.
Read more: Planning for Inclusive Urban Solutions — From the Protracted Displacement in an Urban World Consortium
Our evaluation of the EU Trust Fund activities in 2022 in Kenya revealed that only 44% of refugees in camps interviewed felt that training / apprenticeship that was provided to them would lead to paid work in the future. Women refugees faced additional systemic barriers towards transferring their skills into tangible income generating jobs. Movement restrictions, socio-political and legal barriers make it difficult to open formal businesses and access capital, which is desperately needed to create an integrated refugee-host economic system. Training and skills development offered to refugees are often disconnected from the private sector and confined to the development and humanitarian context.
Moreover, despite the fact that the Refugee Act, 2021 permits refugees to get access, use of bank accounts and other financial services such as M-Pesa is still a dream to so many of the refugees.
Inclusive development calls for multi-stakeholder investment in :
- Building a Supportive Ecosystem: Beyond skills development and vocational training, expand the market system to support MSMEs across wider geographic areas and ensure generational needs are considered. Move to a model
- Supporting inclusive advocacy and policy change for financial inclusion, access to education, capital, and legal assistance for obtaining formal identification is paramount. Encouraging the formation of self-help groups among women and fostering public-private partnerships can create market spaces for refugees in camps.
- Leveraging Economic Potential: We need to develop start-up incubators, training programmes, and platforms and see more investment in ICT infrastructure, particularly in refugee settlements.
- Establish clear limits on capacity-building initiatives and prioritise transferring ownership to refugees. Additionally, shift from focusing solely on capacity building to embracing capacity sharing, fostering knowledge exchange.
Read More : Youth Migration & Development: A New Lens For Critical Times
Local actors mobilise resources and networks, and empower. local leaders in a way that addresses the requirements of inclusive development.
Refugee-led organisations (RLOs) are vital links between refugees, host communities, governments, and humanitarian actors, yet they face challenges like limited funding, bureaucratic barriers, and lack of recognition. To overcome these hurdles, we must change power dynamics and create equitable partnerships with RLOs by providing resources, and decision-making roles in policy, programming, and communications. Beyond just a seat at the table, refugees must have the opportunities to lead their own initiatives and solutions and get support as required from other organisations.
Our recent research, commissioned by Islamic Relief Worldwide, also highlights the invaluable work of faith-based organisations and leaders in addressing humanitarian crises and their potential as agents of peace. In Palestine, for instance, we found that these actors are essential in building positive narratives and behaviours that contribute to making a more peaceful society. However, they have limited access to funding due to poorly designed antiterrorism regulations .
It is time to investment more development support and set more funding aside for local actors in order to:
- Prioritise funding for local conversations, dialogues, and coalitions to be built for inclusive development
- Adopt more flexible and networked funding to support local actors
- Collaborate with local ecosystems of academia, NGOs, and the private sector to leverage local expertise in analysis, advocacy, and programming. Through initiatives like Participatory Forums in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Kenya, displaced people can voice their needs and co-develop practical solutions with municipal stakeholders.
Together, let us stand in solidarity and work towards a world where every refugee is not only seen and heard but also actively included in our societies. By centering their voices and enabling equal access to opportunities, we can work towards inclusive development and build a future where everyone thrives.
