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The Refugee Economies Programme (formerly known as the Humanitarian Innovation Project) has launched its new website: www.refugee-economies.org

The Programme, led by Professor Alexander Betts, undertakes research on the economic lives of refugees. Through primary data collection, it explores the conditions under which refugees can become self-sufficient and make positive economic contributions to their host states and societies. The Programme’s research is interdisciplinary, combining economics, anthropology, history, and political science. It is collecting original qualitative and quantitative data, and often draws upon a range of participatory methods, including working with refugee researchers. It aims to be policy-relevant but not policy-driven, and collaborates with governments, international organisations, NGOs, refugee-led organisations, universities, and businesses.

The Programme’s work has three complementary pillars. Collectively, these represent the questions that need to be answered in order to effect policy change.

1. Economic Outcomes - What explains variation in economic outcomes for refugees and their impact on host states?

2. Innovative Practices - What innovative approaches have been tried and with what consequences?

3. Political Economy - What shapes national and local policies on economic inclusion?

The centrepiece of the Programme’s research is the collection of an original panel data set, based on multi-country and time series data collection. With an initial focus on Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and covering 2017-2020, the dataset covers urban and rural areas, refugees and hosts, and includes multiple data collection periods.

The Programme’s partners include the IKEA Foundation, Stephanie and Hunter Hunt, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RefugePoint, the World Food Programme, UNHCR, Deloitte, and YARID.

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