News | Refugee Economics
A reporting project investigating the economic impact of refugee crises.
refugee, refugees, economics, humanitarian, foreign aid, migration, displacement,
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14 Apr

Posted at 16:08h in Updates
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The plane tickets are booked! My colleague Hubert Hayaud (who will be the photographer for this trip) and I will be in Kenya from May 2-17 to continue reporting for #RefugeeEconomics. We will be spending time in Nairobi and particularly in the Eastleigh neighbourhood, and we’ll head to the Kakuma refugee camp for a couple of days.

Why Kenya?

As of January 2016, Kenya is hosting close to 600,000 refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, DRC and more. Kenya’s policy regarding refugees is stricter than Uganda’s. Refugees are officially required to remain in camps in order to receive assistance – think countless rows of white UNHCR tents, quite unlike Uganda’s settlements. However many refugees have chosen to settle in cities in order to improve their living conditions. As of February 2016, the number of urban refugees stands at 62,000, but I suspect this number to be higher, as many refugees do not go through the formal registering process through UNHCR.

Several studies have shown that refugee camps in Kenya, notably the biggest camps of Dadaab and Kakuma, do have a positive economic impact on the host population, because of the trading and employment opportunities they generate. The Oxford Humanitarian Innovation Project is currently doing research on Kakuma to look at the economic activity generated by refugees in the camp.

Numerous studies have also demonstrated the crucial role that Eastleigh, a neighbourhood in Nairobi mostly populated by Somali migrants, Somali refugees and Somali Kenyans (a part of Kenya is populated by ethnic Somalis), is playing in the country’s economy. Eastleigh is at the centre of a vast trading network between East Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabic peninsula and beyond. Somali-run businesses in Eastleigh also directly contribute to rebuilding Somalia’s economy through remittances and investments.

We look forward to meeting with refugees and other displaced persons, as well as refugee groups, businesses and NGOs.

14 Apr

Posted at 15:30h in Uganda
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Meet Alice, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who is now living in Kampala. Alice runs a textile business in downtown Kampala and employs 16 people, refugees and locals alike. She was able to launch her business by selling her jewellery and getting a little help from her family back in DRC. She’s now facing tough competition from Chinese companies that are importing textile products at a cheaper rate than what local businesses could produce. Alice is a savvy businesswoman who knows exactly what to do to adjust to these types of changes in the market, but she needs access to financial services to do so. A loan would enable her to buy more machinery or develop new activities, but such services for small and medium size businesses are hard to find in Uganda. As a result, she’s had to downsize her business and fire employees to keep her business afloat.

Alice is a resilient woman and appeared confident that she would bounce back from this temporary setback. What really troubles her, she told me, are the death threats she has received from a group of Congolese men who are trying to extort money from her. She has turned to the police without success, and now fears for her life and that of her children.

Safety, protection and health are some of the main concerns that refugees voiced during our conversations in Uganda – these appear to be the main factors that are conducing to economic integration. Discrimination, marginalization and lack of access to opportunities are also preventing refugees – especially the most skilled ones – to launch businesses or seek employment.

During my trip I was struck by the proactiveness and entrepreneurial spirit of refugees. Refugee youths have been particularly active in creating grassroots groups to address the needs of their communities. Some of them have reached out to refugees of different nationalities as well as Ugandan youth; they believe that by breaking down these cultural barriers, they can gather ressources and strength to launch better, more efficient initiatives.

That’s it for now – more on #RefugeeEconomics very soon!

16 Feb

Posted at 22:07h in Updates
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I will be in Uganda from March 8 to 23. I look forward to meeting with NGOs, humanitarian agencies, government actors, businesses and youth groups, and most of all with refugees themselves in Kampala and Nakivale.

Why Uganda?

With Europe struggling to manage the influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq, one may easily forget that a vast majority of refugees – 86% – are hosted by developing countries. Another 40 million people have been displaced within their own countries due to conflict or disaster (the official terminology adopted by international institutions differentiates between refugees and internally displaced persons or IDPs).

Over the past decades, Uganda has dealt with several waves of refugees from neighbouring countries, the majority of them coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Somalia and South Sudan. As of January 2016, Uganda is hosting close to half a million refugees and asylum-seekers, and about 30,000 internally displaced persons. The country is currently facing a new wave of refugees from South Sudan, with thousands of new arrivals each month.

Since 2006 Uganda has gradually loosened up its refugee integration policy, allowing them to settle in the capital, Kampala, and giving them the right to work. This new framework is considered as one of the most generous refugee policies in the world. However refugees and asylum seekers remain highly vulnerable due to the country’s high unemployment rate and low provision of public services.

#RefugeeEconomics will look at the way refugees in Uganda participate in the local economy. Could the Ugandan population benefit from hosting refugees?

16 Feb

Posted at 20:26h in Updates
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#RefugeeEconomics is a reporting project that investigates the economic impact of refugee crises on host communities. When displaced populations settle in host countries, jobs, consumer prices and public resources are invariably affected. However the right policies can help refugees thrive and contribute to the local economy through entrepreneurship, increased consumption and taxes.

With the bulk of refugee crises taking place in the developing world, this project looks at how weaker governments and fragile cities can deal with mass displacement by enabling the economic integration of refugees. We’ll focus on Uganda and Kenya, where displaced populations are partaking in local and international trade in spite of the restrictions and stigmatization they face as refugees. We’ll pay special attention to Uganda’s permissive policies in regards to economic integration and their long-term impact on host and refugee communities.

In the next few weeks we’ll start discussing this topic online. Use #RefugeeEconomics on Twitter and Facebook to follow the conversation and participate!