AFKInsider has recently published an interesting two-part article about Robert Hakiza (a Congolese refugee in Uganda) and the NGO he co-founded, YARID (Young African Refugees for Integral Development). Robert is one of the Humanitarian Innovation Project’s refugee researchers and was a welcome participant in the Project’s Humanitarian Innovation Conference last July (see his blog).
The article argues for a new approach to refugee aid, focusing on assistance with a long-term view to enable refugees in protracted refugee situations to become self-sustaining. It highlights the desire of refugees to start businesses and utilise their skills, citing the Humanitarian Innovation Project’s study on ‘Refugee Economies’ which found that refugees in Uganda are important economic actors, as customers, distributors, suppliers, employees and employers.
Read the full article here: part one, part two
related content
Humanitarian Innovation Project
Humanitarian Innovation Conference 2015
