Livelihoods

Women displaced by conflict or natural disaster adopt new strategies to provide for themselves and their families. These new strategies often place them at risk of gender-based violence. This guidance is based on promising practices on how to design safe economic programs and livelihood activities.

See also our e-learning tool http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/ … ivelihoods

To accompany the Dawn in the City: Guidance for Achieving Self-Reliance for Urban Refugees report, this framework outlines how to address urban poverty and increase refugee's self-reliance through a graduated approach.

More than 50 percent of refugees now live in urban areas. Eighty percent are hosted by developing nations and 42 percent reside in countries whose per capita GDP is below 3,000 USD. Arriving in cities that are unable to keep pace with the needs of their own burgeoning populations, most refugees live in poverty, in densely populated slums with few services. To help improve understanding of the reality urban refugees face, the Women’s Refugee Commission developed a guidance document that highlights both the livelihood and protection challenges and the opportunities for urban refugees.

As part of a year-long study on urban refugee livelihoods, the Women’s Refugee Commission undertook a field assessment trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, in March/April 2011. The assessment focused on refugees‘ economic coping strategies, associated protection risks and potential market opportunities. This study focused on Somali and Congolese refugees in the inner city and Zimbabwean refugees and poor South Africans in Alexander township.

As part of a year-long study on urban refugee livelihoods, the Women’s Refugee Commission undertook a field assessment trip to New Delhi, India, from late February to mid-March 2011. The assessment focused on refugees‘ economic coping strategies, protection risks associated with those coping strategies and potential market opportunities. Key stakeholders from the service provider, donor and refugee communities were consulted and the findings reflect an amalgamation of the many voices and perspectives gleaned through the interviews, project site visits and focus group discussions.

This report, based on interviews with 281 refugees and service providers, highlights the constraints and opportunities to improve the livelihoods of urban refugees in Kampala, Uganda. The report is a part of a larger one-year study to understand the economic coping strategies, protection concerns and the local economic environment of urban refugees.