21/06/14

Q&A: Rethinking approaches to refugee assistance

JuruMarket_Credit_L.Bloom
Copyright: L. Bloom/Humanitarian Innovation Project

Send to a friend

The details you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. See privacy policy.

[OXFORD] In this podcast, Alexander Betts, director of the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP) at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, discusses why — and how — the global community should radically rethink humanitarian responses to refugees.
 
Refugee economies, a myth-busting report published today (World Refugee Day) by HIP, says responses to refugee crises are often designed around short-term protection and assistance — an unsustainable strategy that frequently leads to “long-term misery”. [1]
 
But there are alternatives. In the interview, Betts describes how HIP’s investigations in Uganda — a country with an unusually liberal policy towards refugee employment and freedom of movement — brought researchers into contact with vibrant economic networks of refugees, often geared around technological innovation, such as maize milling businesses and radio stations. He says such networks have enabled refugees to become more self-sufficient and to contribute to the national economy, bringing benefits to both refugee and host communities.
 
Link to Refugee economies

> Link to accompanying image gallery about refugee tech innovators in Uganda

References

[1] Alexander Betts and others Refugee economies: Rethinking popular assumptions (Humanitarian Innovation Project, June 2014)

More on Migration