ITC stands #WithRefugees through economic empowerment
Liberty, dignity and identity are some of the rights that many people take for granted. But for the more than 65 million people that have fled their homes due to violence or conflict, each of these inalienable rights is lost.
Today is World Refugee Day, a moment to commemorate the strength, courage and resilience of millions of refugees.
The ongoing refugee and migrant crisis has a multitude of causes, hence any solution has to be multi-pronged. In addition to the traditional humanitarian toolkit of food, shelter and basic vocational training, there is a need for skills development as a means to income generation. Income opportunities linked to trade can be particularly useful here.
Trade can be a way for displaced persons to once again become economic actors, make a living and contribute both to their host country and to their country of origin. Moreover, connecting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to international markets can create work for host country nationals alongside refugees, contributing to growth and resilience in host communities.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) is working to empower refugees through work and economic opportunities that will help them return to normal and productive lives whether at home or in a resettlement country.
Enabling opportunities through trade
ITC has teamed up with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to formulate opportunities for refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, and Mentao, Burkina Faso. The partnership seeks to create sustainable livelihoods through agriculture, ethical fashion, home décor and business process outsourcing. In Dadaab, ITC focuses on the latter, providing training on computer literacy, English-language skills, typing proficiency and overall business acumen. In Mentao, through the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), ITC teaches leather tanning, cutting and sewing, as well as metal-working skills.
In Syria, ITC is working with entrepreneur Rania Kinge to help expand her online market for handmade products from jewellery, bags and scarves to soaps, teas and chocolates. Kinge has trained over 100 displaced women in Damascus to help them move out of temporary shelters and live as normal Syrian citizens.
In Italy, together with Lai-momo, an Italian social cooperative that runs welcome centres for asylum-seekers, ITC has created a vocational training programme in leather bag-making for refugees. Trainees will be able to put the fashion sector skills they acquire to use in resettlement countries or in their countries of origin.
Finally, in partnership with Hyper Island, a digital-focused business school, Common Good, an innovation consultancy, and FreemanXP, a branding agency, ITC has developed a prototype app dubbed ‘Uable,’ in order to connect multilingual refugees with businesses that need translation, data entry or other digital services. Discussions are currently under way to set up a social enterprise which will fully develop the app and make the model sustainable in the long-run with capacity building support from ITC.
Together for a better future
In 2018 world leaders will come to UN headquarters in New York to agree on a more just way of managing the global refugee crisis. The prospective agreement is called The Global Compact for Refugees, and is all about sharing responsibility instead of leaving individual states and organizations to bear the burden of mass forced displacement.
ITC will continue to do its part and welcomes collaboration and new partnerships. Without a collective effort to teach skills that are linked to income opportunities, refugees will remain trapped in dependency and will be less well equipped to integrate into the economic mainstream, whether at home or in a resettlement country. Standing #WithRefugees means standing for peace, security and humanity for all.