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By Vera Keller, RefugePoint Family Reunification Expert and UNHCR Europe Coordinator for Family Reunification

The number of displaced people has increased significantly in recent years. In 2022, UNHCR recorded the largest yearly increase ever in number of refugees. By mid-2023 the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide had reached an alarming number of more than 110 million. 

This increase in forced displacement also leads to an increased number of separated family members across borders. When forced to flee, refugee families are often torn apart and remain separated for years. Prolonged separation from family members can increase protection risks and has devastating consequences on the well-being of refugees. The need to reunite with separated family members is often reported to be one of the most pressing concerns for people on the move and one of the key drivers for unsafe onward movement. 

In the last few years, in light of increasing numbers of displaced persons, the EU has repeatedly declared states of emergency in border areas, constructed border barriers, and enacted legal amendments restricting access to asylum. Refugees and their family members continue to face an increasing number of legal and administrative barriers in access to family reunification procedures. Those administrative barriers include strict documentation requirements to prove identity and family relations, financial requirements, and other related costs, as well as practical obstacles such as limited presence and capacity at embassies and consulates. 

In various European countries, waiting times for embassy appointments and processing times for applications can amount to several years. Through legal amendments, profiles of eligible family members have been restricted and waiting times and deadlines have been imposed, producing further barriers for separated family members. 

Several European countries continue to refer refugees or their family members to the authorities of their country of origin to obtain documentation and evidence, ignoring the fact that refugees no longer enjoy the protection of their country of origin, and that reaching out to its authorities might put them or their family members at risk of persecution. 

Access to family reunification is a positive right. The principle of family unity is enshrined in international and European law and states must ensure that family life be free from arbitrary, unlawful, and discriminatory interference. The legal frameworks and standing jurisprudence on the right to family life of the European Court of Human Rights require Member States to give effect to the right to family life and family unity for refugee families through flexible, prompt and effective access to family reunification.

To this end and to reduce the risk of prolonged family separation, irregular and unsafe movement, and heightened protection risks, European States must ensure that family reunification procedures for all refugees are flexible, effective, and take into consideration the experiences of people on the move, including the risk of refoulement. 

Family members of recognized refugees are also refugees, either at their own right or derivative of their family member, officially recognized as a refugee. Procedural requirements must be adapted to their circumstances, vulnerabilities, and other safety concerns. 

More concretely, this means that states have to refrain from referring refugees or their family members to the authorities of the country they fled from. They should waive fees for administrative assistance that refugees are often unable to pay. States must provide information to enable people on the move to make informed decisions on their eligibility and options and adopt flexible procedures for receiving and processing visa applications. They should advance cooperation between diplomatic representations and increase the availability and accessibility of diplomatic services so refugees and family members can approach services in a safe and accessible manner. More online services should be provided that can be accessed from anywhere to limit the requirement to appear in person at diplomatic representations, especially in cases where financial, administrative, or security concerns prevail. 

To take into due consideration the lived realities of people on the move and the fact that refugees might have limited access to documentation and verification services and may be unable to reach out to their country of origin in a safe manner, procedures should be flexible and evidentiary requirements should be lowered to remove obstacles and ensure effective access to family reunification. 

We have seen that a flexible approach that enables self-determined and safe movement is possible. The Ukraine emergency displaced more than 7.6 million refugees across Europe in its first six months and with 78% of respondents having been separated from immediate family members, family separation was a defining feature of this refugee crisis. 

Nevertheless, UNHCR observed only a small number of obstacles in family reunification faced by refugees after having fled Ukraine. This was partly due to the visa waiver applicable to Ukrainian nationals in most EU countries. In addition, through the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive, people fleeing Ukraine were able to continue onward movement through the relevant countries and were able to reunite with their family members spontaneously. 

States showed flexibility in the acceptance of documentation and when applying for temporary protection, family members had an individual right to residency. The response showed that effective provision of information, freedom of movement and flexibility in documentation requirements enable self-determined movement and are the most crucial features in ensuring refugees are able to join family members in a safe manner as soon as possible. For EU countries to ensure the protection of the right to family unity, this approach must be applied to other responses as well.

Sources:

 1. UNHCR Global Trends 2022, Global Trends | UNHCR. 

 2. UNHCR Refugee Data Finder, unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.

3.  UNHCR, The implementation of the Temporary Protection Directive: Six months on, October 2022, Document – THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TEMPORARY PROTECTION DIRECTIVE – SIX MONTHS ON (unhcr.org).

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“Private sponsorship is one of the boldest innovations in American refugee resettlement history,” says Sasha Chanoff, CEO of RefugePoint, an organization that partners with refugees to access life-changing solutions. 

The Welcome Corps program, which is within the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, allows people in the U.S. to sponsor individuals or families forcibly displaced from their homes who are living abroad as registered refugees. When the Welcome Corps was first launched in January 2023, sponsors could not choose the individuals they supported.

This program has now been expanded. The Biden administration recently opened the application process that lets American citizens and permanent residents identify a specific refugee or refugee family overseas — including family, friends, and colleagues — and apply to directly sponsor their life-saving resettlement in the U.S. As long as the individuals identified are registered refugees, fit other criteria, and can pass the strict interviewing, security checks, and vetting of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, they are potentially eligible for resettlement.

This expansion comes at a crucial time. Worldwide, war and violence separated families and forced more than 114 million people from their homes by the end of 2023. “Private sponsorship builds on America’s founding principles of providing refuge to those fleeing war and persecution,” Chanoff notes.

Welcome Corps sponsors work in groups of five to raise funds, create a resettlement plan, welcome refugee newcomers at the airport, enroll children in school, and more. The Welcome Corps was developed using lessons learned from the successful Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans, which RefugePoint helped to implement. Led by military veterans and others committed to America’s Afghan allies, this effort supported tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees integrating into communities across the U.S. after the fall of Kabul in August 2021. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration created an opportunity to Sponsor Ukrainians called Uniting for Ukraine, which puts the housing and financial responsibilities on the shoulders of the sponsors. More than 170,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived.

Refugees benefit their communities. One government study found that they contribute $63 billion more to the economy than they utilize in services over a decade. Another study found that refugees make excellent employees and, on average, stay longer in their jobs than many Americans.

 Welcome Corps’s recent expansion “dramatically expands opportunities for family reunification in the U.S.” Chanoff said, noting that “reuniting refugee families is one of RefugePoint’s top priorities.” The organization recently announced that it will help lead a global effort to help reunite one million separated refugee families over the next five years.

Since 2005, RefugePoint has helped over 140,000 refugees access resettlement and other pathways to safety, and thousands more to achieve self-reliance and inclusion in their host communities. Many of those RefugePoint has helped come to the U.S. are now able to apply through the WelcomeCorps to bring their loved ones to the U.S. 

People interested in learning more about sponsorship should visit WelcomeCorps.org. Eligibility criteria can be found here.

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By Ali Pappavaselio, RefugePoint with contributions from Kari Diener, Amy Slaughter, Martin Anderson, and Sasha Chanoff

The Global Refugee Forum (GRF), a quadrennial event and the main venue to drive and review progress toward the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, took place last week in Geneva, Switzerland. RefugePoint and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative delegations played a leadership role at several of the events of this year’s GRF relating to refugee self-reliance, labor mobility, family reunification, and resettlement.

Here are five key takeaways from last week’s events, which included plenary sessions, High-Level Side Events, Linked Events, Speakers Corners, and more.

1. There were over 1600 pledges presented at the Global Refugee Forum. Tracking the implementation of these commitments is improving, but remains unenforceable.

Among these were 43 Multistakeholder Pledges, which brought together multiple actors around common objectives.  These were co-led by states and other stakeholders (including RefugePoint and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative) based on content area. With stakeholders positioned to track accountability to these pledges, there is optimism that those pledges will be actualized. With leadership from efforts such as the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and the Global Refugee Family Reunification Network, there is more opportunity to follow up and ensure pledges are actualized than during the 2019 Global Refugee Forum. 

2. The largest multistakeholder pledge presented at the Global Refugee Forum was co-led by the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (which is housed within RefugePoint and co-founded with the Women’s Refugee Commission).

The Multistakeholder Pledge on Economic Inclusion and Social Protection was announced by Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative Executive Director Kari Diener and consists of 234 partners, including over 70 governments, and over a billion dollars in funding. The pledge aims to build enabling environments and program supports that allow refugees to take control of their finances and futures. 

3. Family Reunification is a pathway that has been gaining momentum: The Multistakeholder Pledge on Family Reunification aims to reunite 1 million families by 2030.

This pledge was announced by RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff during the plenary session and was greeted with spontaneous applause by those in attendance. RefugePoint has itself demonstrated leadership on refugee family reunification, pledging to help reunite 1 million refugee families in the next five years as part of the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN). 

RefugePoint Chief Program Officer Simar Singh speaks at a Linked Event on Family Reunification. Co-hosted by RefugePoint at the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, this event was one of the most energized events of the forum. 

4. Interest in expanding access to Labor Mobility Pathways continues to grow. 

The Multistakeholder Pledge on Skills-Based Complementary Pathways aims to see 200,000 people arriving to third countries through labor mobility and education pathways throughout the next five years. As a member of the Global Task Force on Refugee Labor Mobility, RefugePoint has been a leader on this pledge as well.

Agnes Mude Lomoro, one of the first refugees to relocate from Kenya to Canada with RefugePoint’s help through Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), spoke at a labor mobility event during the Global Refugee Forum and also in the closing ceremony in a conversation with Mr. Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees. In her remarks, Agnes emphasized how transformative labor mobility has been in her life. 

5. Inclusion of refugees and others with lived experience of forced displacement in the Global Refugee Forum has grown, but is still far from ideal. 

The Multistakeholder Pledge on Refugee Inclusion, which is co-led by the Global Refugee-Led Network, Oxfam International, and others, contains 66 pledges. Refugee participation at the Global Refugee Forum itself has also grown: at the 2019 GRF, there were 70 individuals with lived displacement experience, but this year about 300. This represents about 7% of the total attendees of the Global Refugee Forum. It was a consistent theme in many of the panel discussions attended by the RefugePoint delegation that meaningful refugee inclusion in the policies and programs that affect their lives is an urgent priority. RefugePoint also included points related to meaningful refugee participation in all of our own pledges.

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As governments and humanitarians convene in Geneva for the second quadrennial Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in the latest attempt to negotiate more equitable responsibility-sharing for the world’s refugees as stipulated by the Global Compact for Refugees adopted by UN member states in 2018, one of the biggest items on the table will be enhancing refugees’ self-reliance. 

Responsibility-sharing is typically understood as agreements among governments to defray the costs of hosting refugees and to provide more legal pathways for relocation to less-impacted countries. These measures are critical as 75% of the world’s refugees are hosted in low and middle income countries. These countries tend also to be the most vulnerable to climate change, meaning that we should expect to see the numbers they host grow considerably in both absolute and relative terms. 

However, with protracted conflicts preventing most refugees from returning to their home countries and legal relocation pathways reaching only a tiny minority, insufficient attention has been placed on developing viable self-reliance opportunities in host countries. Indeed, though refugee participation will be higher than ever at this year’s GRF, refugees have yet to be engaged as partners in the concept of responsibility-sharing. The productive capacity of refugees in most contexts is severely curtailed by national and local laws preventing formal employment, business and land ownership, fishing and agricultural activities, inclusion in financial systems, access to credit and other legal barriers.

Yet refugees tell us time and again that their greatest wish is to be independent, to be able to provide for themselves and their families, to give back to their communities and host countries, and not be reliant on fickle humanitarian aid. What is more, in countries where refugees are allowed to work and establish businesses, studies have shown that they ultimately are net positive contributors to the local economy. 

Many experts and advocates have long called for a paradigm shift away from the antiquated humanitarian system that delivers vital emergency relief predicated on the notion of conflicts ending and refugees returning home (both of which are increasingly elusive) but lacks sustainable exit strategies from aid dependence. Several converging trends now require that we get this right before the scale of forced displacement surges further as a result of climate change entangled with political strife and conflict.   

One of these trends is the population boom in many developing regions. A recent NYT article charted both the opportunities and challenges presented by the “youthquake” on the African continent, quoting investor and author Aubrey Hruby as predicting that “[a]fter climate change, Africa’s jobs crisis will be a defining challenge of our era.” Every year 20 million youth come onto the job market in Africa, far exceeding the absorption capacity of the formal employment sector. 

Entrepreneurship must be a key part of the answer to these challenges for displaced and non-displaced populations alike. It also represents an enormous economic growth opportunity for countries that develop policies that empower refugees and promote entrepreneurship, in the process advancing the social cohesion of refugees and their hosts. 

In Kenya, whose government is expected to announce a new plan at the GRF for the gradual socio-economic inclusion of the refugees it hosts, refugee entrepreneurship is flourishing. Despite the difficulty in obtaining formal work authorization, refugees are able to register small businesses that often allow them to support their families and send their children to school. Some businesses have grown and become job creators for other refugees and even Kenyans. Still others operate in the green economy creating cleaner cooking fuel and upcycling waste. 

A refugee entrepreneur in Kenya shared, “before I started my business I was going in the neighborhood begging. I had bad relationships with my neighbors and my family. Nobody was respecting me. Now it’s the other way around. Now people come to me for help. When the neighbors know your children are not eating well, they look at you in a certain manner. When your children are well-fed they respect you as a family and as a mother.” 

 

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A multistakeholder pledge on economic inclusion and social protection was announced yesterday at the GRF, drawing commitments from governments and other sectors to advance the self-reliance of refugees and their host communities. It advocates for inclusive law and policy to enable the untapped resource of refugee talent to be harnessed. Self-reliance models must become a normative feature of the humanitarian toolbox, ensuring that the value of the approximately $50 billion spent each year on international aid is maximized with sustainable strategies that build the income-generating capacity of both displaced and host populations.

At its highest level, the progress of the Global Compact for Refugees will be measured by the degree to which responsibility for refugees is more equitably shared. Let us not forget that many refugees stand ready to support themselves if only permitted to do so. Self-reliance might therefore be the biggest overlooked burden-sharing opportunity of all.

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By Martin Anderson, Director of International Programs / Geneva Representative

RefugePoint has made 4 pledges in the context of the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF). They are:

• Promoting holistic self-reliance for refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless people, and host communities
• Facilitating access to resettlement through client support and strategic partnerships
• Facilitating access to family reunification through client support, strategic partnerships, and refugee leadership
• Facilitating refugee access to labor mobility through client support, strategic partnerships, and refugee leadership

In all of them, RefugePoint has made partnering with refugee leaders and refugee-led organizations (RLO) a central feature of our pledge.

For instance, one of the primary aims of our self-reliance pledge is “to promote and accelerate the instrumental role of local actors in realizing progress towards self-reliance outcomes for refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless people, and host communities.”

In the same pledge, we commit to “the strategic and meaningful engagement of local actors, including local authorities, civil society organizations, private sector entities, and the target populations themselves.” This is meant to include, and even emphasize, the importance of working with RLOs.

Similarly, each of our pledges on third country solutions includes – in addition to an estimate of the direct support we are able to provide to our own clients – a commitment to partner with a number of civil society organizations around the world, including RLOs. In these pledges, we state that “with each partner we will provide technical assistance and capacity support (including through site visits, deployments, and, where possible, grants), and other forms of assistance” to enable these organizations to help refugees access resettlement and other pathways to safety.

Our vision is that RLOs are well-placed, perhaps even best-placed, to identify refugees who may be eligible for or in need of third country solutions and provide them the information, support, and referrals to access these pathways.

In addition, RefugePoint was one of the first organizations to sign on to the Global Refugee-Led Network’s (GRN) Refugee Participation pledge, in the context of the first GRF in 2019. This year, we have actively participated in efforts led by the GRN to encourage additional organizations to join the pledge, and we were pleased to be able to report back to the GRN on all the work we have done to date to encourage refugee participation in our own programming. This has included: the creation of a refugee Accountability and Oversight Committee at our flagship office in Nairobi, Kenya; funding multiple RLOs in Kenya to support their programming; hiring one of the first successful candidates in our labor mobility program to act as one of our representatives to the Global Task Force on Refugee Labor Mobility; actively recruiting individuals with lived experience of displacement to join our board; and including refugees and former refugees on our delegation to the GRF.

Lastly, Simar Singh, our Chief Program Officer, will be speaking on a panel at the GRF on How Refugee-Led Entities are Advancing Global Solutions. In several other speaking opportunities at the GRF, RefugePoint will emphasize how critical it is that refugees lead efforts to find solutions to displacement.

RefugePoint is proud to have incorporated refugee leadership into so much of our programming to date, and we’re eager to do more as we act on the pledges we have made at this year’s GRF.  

Refugee participation is not an end in itself, but is a means – arguably the most impactful tool available – to advance all of our other goals, including refugee self-reliance in host countries and refugee access to third country solutions like resettlement, family reunification, and labor mobility.

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For media inquiries, please contact Alexis Felder at felder@refugepoint.org. 

In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the Global Compact on Refugees, the most significant piece of refugee-related policy in more than 50 years. It led to the creation of the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), a quadrennial meeting of senior humanitarian stakeholders, including heads of state, ministers, non-profit and corporate executives, refugee leaders, researchers, and more.  

The first GRF was in 2019. Though it was a significant event at the time, it now seems more like a dress rehearsal for the mammoth undertaking that is the 2023 GRF, happening from December 13-15 in Geneva. In addition to the main program of plenary statements, pledge announcements, parallel high-level events, and a speakers’ corner, there are hundreds of additional “linked events” happening all over town. This is all in addition to the main purpose of the GRF, which is to mobilize stakeholders to make pledges in support of the wide range of activities related to refugee response.

All of the mobilization for the GRF was done through a range of multistakeholder initiatives, and RefugePoint has played a leadership role in every one of these that is important to our work, including: self-reliance in host countries, labor mobility, family reunification, and resettlement.

Self-Reliance

The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI), hosted by RefugePoint, has been the driving force behind one of the most transformational multistakeholder pledges to emerge at this year’s GRF, namely the Economic Inclusion and Social Protection Pledge. It has been joined by dozens of the world’s leading organizations, including several governments, multiple UN organizations, major global coalitions, development actors, and others. 

We have planned two distinct but complementary official parallel high-level events at the GRF, one on social protection and one on economic inclusion, which will be moderated by Nasra Ismail, a RefugePoint Board Member. In addition, befitting the leadership role the RSRI has played, Kari Diener, Executive Director of the RSRI, will announce the overall pledge in the plenary session of the GRF on the afternoon of the first day, a timeslot reserved for only the most impactful pledges.

Labor Mobility

The Global Task Force on Labor Mobility has led planning for all things to do with labor mobility at the GRF, and RefugePoint has been a part of the small, core team of stakeholders leading that effort, alongside the governments of Canada, Australia, Talent Beyond Boundaries, and UNHCR. We have helped to mobilize other actors to pledge in support of refugee labor mobility; we have helped to plan the official parallel high-level event on labor mobility at the GRF; and we have played a central role in planning an evening reception on labor mobility, in particular by making important connections with the World Economic Forum and the business community, the target audience for the event. Ms. Ismail will moderate both of these events, and Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint’s CEO, will speak at them, alongside government ministers, business leaders, and senior officials from the UN and other organizations.

Family Reunification

The multistakeholder initiative on refugee family reunification, responsible for all things related to family reunification at the GRF, has been led by the Global Family Reunification Network. RefugePoint, by virtue of being one of the seven organizations to sit on the network’s Advisory Group and also the sponsor of its Secretariat position within UNHCR, has always been a prominent voice within the network, and that has been no different in the context of the GRF. 

We have done much to mobilize stakeholders to join the multistakeholder pledge on family reunification, including acting as co-leads for one of the pledge pillars and hosting the virtual pledge launch event back in October, at which senior leaders from the various pledging organizations announced their enthusiasm to join the pledge. In addition, we have helped to plan an evening reception on family reunification at the GRF, which will take place at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and will highlight the urgency and importance of refugee family reunification, as well as spotlighting several of the pledges that have been made to advance this cause. We are proud that Geeta Rahimi, a former refugee from Afghanistan and now refugee resettlement professional in the United States, has joined our delegation and will be delivering remarks in the speakers’ corner about her experience with family separation and reunification. Finally, in recognition of the leadership role we have played, RefugePoint has been asked to announce the multistakeholder pledge on family reunification in the plenary session of the GRF, representing all of the many entities globally who have come together in support of refugee family reunification at the GRF. 

Resettlement

Our role in elevating refugee resettlement at the GRF has been, arguably, even more critical than for the other initiatives. As recently as the summer, when planning for self-reliance, labor mobility, and family reunification was well underway, there was no similar initiative working on resettlement for the GRF.  RefugePoint was instrumental in pointing out this gap and rallying stakeholders to fill it, leading to the creation of the Friends of Resettlement initiative, which has been co-chaired by Australia, RefugePoint, and UNHCR.  

Despite the late start, we managed to mobilize dozens of stakeholders to make pledges on refugee resettlement, including the whole range of actors working on the topic. These will be highlighted at the official parallel high-level on resettlement at the GRF, where Sasha will be among the panelists.

Beyond the leadership role we have played in these core features of the GRF, RefugePoint is also participating in other linked events organized by other partners. For instance, Jacob Bonyo, RefugePoint’s Kenya Country Director, is an expert speaker on a panel on refugee self-reliance and durable solutions in East Africa, alongside Mohamed Hassan, a refugee researcher and member of the RSRI’s delegation to the GRF. The linked event is being co-hosted by the RSRI, at the Permanent Mission of Denmark. 

Simar Singh, RefugePoint’s Chief Program Officer, will be speaking at a linked event on How Refugee-Led Entities are Advancing Global Solutions. The event, which will take place at the Geneva Impact Hub, is being hosted by several different international networks of refugee-led organizations (RLO), and its theme has connections to RefugePoint’s recent efforts to develop partnerships with RLOs in Kenya and our plans to do so elsewhere through our work on resettlement, family reunification, and labor mobility.

In sum, taking into account all of the roles described above and the months of leadership that went into each of them, RefugePoint will be among the most prominent voices at this year’s GRF. This is of course a beginning and not an end, with much work to be done to capitalize on the many new initiatives and partnerships that have emerged, but this week, while we look ahead, we will also celebrate all that we have achieved this year. 

The post The 2023 Global Refugee Forum: Why We’re There appeared first on RefugePoint.

For media inquiries, please contact Alexis Felder at felder@refugepoint.org. 

The Global Refugee Forum (GRF), a quadrennial event taking place from December 13-15 of this year, is the main venue to drive and review progress towards the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, which include: 

• Easing pressures on host countries
• Strengthening refugee self-reliance*
• Increasing access to third-country solutions such as resettlement, family reunification, labor, mobility, and other pathways*
• Supporting conditions in countries of origin that allow refugees to return home safely 

RefugePoint is playing a leadership role in four multistakeholder pledges relating to two of these objectives: refugee self-reliance and third-country solutions (starred above). Additionally, RefugePoint leadership will be speaking in several official events at the GRF as well as formally announcing the multistakeholder pledges on family reunification and on economic inclusion and social protection, an honor reserved for the leaders in each of these areas.

Why is RefugePoint So Heavily Involved in the Global Refugee Forum? 

The goals of the Global Refugee Forum align with RefugePoint’s strong agency-wide commitment to systems change. RefugePoint is leading the development of several multistakeholder pledges that are aligned with our programmatic priorities. Our engagement and investment in global initiatives such as the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative and the Global Family Reunification Network position us well  to provide leadership and convene others to take collective action on these themes. 

RefugePoint’s commitment to refugee-centeredness has informed much of our involvement in the 2023 GRF. RefugePoint and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative are proud to  have refugees and former refugees join our delegations to the GRF, and we are also supporting these colleagues as they have assumed prominent roles at the GRF. 

See below for a comprehensive list of RefugePoint’s involvement in the events of the 2023 Global Refugee Forum.

Refugee Self-Reliance

Multistakeholder Pledge Leadership: The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, hosted by RefugePoint, is the lead coordinator in the Multistakeholder pledge on economic inclusion and social protection, in collaboration with the governments of Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, and United States of America, as well as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa. 

In Plenary: Kari Diener, Executive Director of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, will be announcing the pledge in the plenary session. 

Parallel High-Level Events: The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, and through it RefugePoint, is also helping to plan two high-level side events relating to refugee self-reliance: one on employment and entrepreneurship  for refugees and another on social protection for refugees.  The event on economic inclusion will be moderated by RefugePoint Board Member and U.S. Enterprise Executive Director of Alight, Nasra Ismail.

Third-Country Solutions

Resettlement

• Multistakeholder Pledge Leadership: RefugePoint co-chairs the Friends of Resettlement Initiative (along with the Government of Australia and UNHCR), which has been responsible for developing the Multistakeholder pledge on resettlement. 

• Parallel High-Level Event: RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff will be speaking at the Parallel High-Level Event on Resettlement, an event RefugePoint has helped to plan.

Family Reunification

• Multistakeholder Pledge Leadership: RefugePoint is a member and advisor to the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN), which leads the Multistakeholder pledge supporting refugee family reunification. 

• In Plenary: RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff will be formally announcing the Multistakeholder Pledge on Family Reunification in the plenary session. 

• Speakers Corner: RefugePoint delegate Geeta Rahimi will be delivering remarks in a Speakers Corner focusing on Family Reunification. Geeta is a resettlement professional in the U.S. and the Refugee Congress Delegate for the state of Texas. She will be speaking about her experience of family separation and reunification and noting best practices and recommendations.

• Linked Event: In coordination with the FRUN, RefugePoint will be co-hosting an evening reception on family reunification at the Red Cross Museum. The program will feature refugee leaders and senior representatives from UNHCR and the Red Cross and will be an opportunity to highlight some of the contributors to the multistakeholder pledge on family reunification.

Labor Mobility

• Multistakeholder Pledge Leadership: RefugePoint is a member of the Global Task Force on Refugee Labor Mobility, which co-leads the Multistakeholder pledge on skills-based complementary pathways.
• Parallel High-Level Event: RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff and RefugePoint Board Member Nasra Ismail will speak at a High Level Side Event on Refugee Labor Mobility. 
• Linked Event: Both Sasha and Nasra will reprise their roles at a high-level evening reception featuring speakers from the whole society, including UN organizations and corporate leaders. Both events work toward RefugePoint’s goal of demonstrating a refugee-centered model for labor mobility for the world and for our partners.

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Last month, RefugePoint’s labor mobility team celebrated several new milestones. 

Eleven Refugees Depart for Canada in October 

Last month, a cohort of eleven refugees departed for Canada through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) to start new jobs as Continuing Care Assistants, following months of COVID-related delays. “It is a process that has taken time, but we are happy that it is finally coming to an end,” said RefugePoint’s Manager of Complementary Pathways, Sylvia Kamencu. 

The Canadian government started EMPP with the aim of increasing opportunities for refugees to participate in Canada’s economic immigration programs. Since 2018, RefugePoint has been supporting the identification of qualified and experienced refugees in Kenya and connecting them with job opportunities with employers in Canada who are facing labor market shortages. EMPP affords refugees the opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety by virtue of demonstrating that they offer the skills and experience for in-demand jobs. It allows refugees to  advance their careers and benefits local communities in Canada by filling critical roles in key sectors and industries that are impacted by workforce shortages. Through its engagement with EMPP, RefugePoint aims to prepare around 100 candidates per year for job matches in Canada, putting them on a path to permanent residency that also offers a lasting solution to displacement.

“My entire life, I have known the life of a refugee. Getting an opportunity like this opens so many doors for me and my family,” shared Saido Abdinoor Hassan, one of the candidates who departed in October. Saido received a job offer from MacLeod Group in Nova Scotia and will work as a Continuing Care Assistant.

The recent departure of these eleven clients marks a very big milestone for the EMPP, as it gives hope to those still in refugee camps. “Having seen the departures that have been happening this month, so many refugees have renewed zeal to apply for the EMPP because they can now see the fruits of it; they are now sure that this is an actual pathway for refugees to actualize durable solutions,” Sylvia shared.

Jenn Wilson, RefugePoint’s Director of Third Country Solutions added, “On a recent trip to Kenya, we heard from partners working in education and training programs–and from refugees themselves–that EMPP has had a positive ripple effect, motivating youth and adults alike to pursue English language training and invest in building skills that may help them qualify for labor mobility opportunities. Regardless of whether they ultimately participate in EMPP, these efforts will benefit them and their communities.” 

The refugees who departed for Canada in October 2023 were mostly from the Dadaab Refugee Camp, but also include the first cohort of refugees from Kakuma Refugee Camp. They were able to gain work experience from within refugee camps with help from the International Rescue Committee (IRC): ​​IRC trains refugees in the camp who have completed their secondary education and recruits them to work in their many clinics in the camps as support staff with incentive pay.  These eleven candidates were offered  their positions after a rigorous process that included either video conferencing or in-person interviews during job fairs held at the refugee camp. All of the individuals will receive permanent resident status on arrival, allowing them to build new lives for themselves and their families in Canada.

“It gives us renewed hope, as the staff working in this program, to also continue helping more and more refugees who are able to come into this program. So for us, this is a big day. We are excited as RefugePoint’s labor mobility team. We are happy to see them so happy, to see them full of joy that they’re finally able to depart. And we know this then unlocks solutions even for the refugees in the camps,” Sylvia shared.

RefugePoint’s Network Of EMPP Partners Expands To Include Ontario

In October, RefugePoint and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) conducted a successful job fair in Kenya where refugee candidates who had been identified for the EMPP were interviewed for job opportunities in Ontario, Canada.  The job fair was a milestone for the EMPP as it marked the first visit of an employer and partners from Ontario to Kenya, expanding RefugePoint’s network of partners and provinces that are recruiting through the EMPP. 

In partnership with TBB, which led the employer outreach and engagement process in Canada, RefugePoint facilitated job interviews in Kakuma Refugee Settlement for refugees who reside there, and in Nairobi for urban-based refugees and refugees who reside in the Dadaab Refugee Settlement.  In Kakuma, the delegation also visited a number of livelihoods and skills programs and held discussions with UNHCR and partners around strategies to deepen connections between skills and vocational training, livelihoods programming and the EMPP.  Throughout the visit, candidate interactions and job interviews, the employer and partners remarked on the high caliber of skills and expertise that were demonstrated by the candidates, presenting opportunities for scale and deeper engagement with the EMPP. 

To learn more about labor mobility eligibility and application requirements, click here.

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