protection program

Promoting Livelihoods as a Way to Protect Displaced Women and Youth

Refugees are being displaced for longer periods of time than ever before—68% of all refugees, for example, are now displaced for an average of 17 years. Therefore, the ways in which refugees—particularly women and adolescents— can earn a living and sustain themselves and their families (“livelihoods”) must be addressed systematically and comprehensively while they are displaced. Livelihoods are vital for the social, emotional and economic well-being of displaced persons and are a key way to increase the safety of displaced women and adolescents.

The Women’s Commission is initiating research and the development of guidelines on appropriate livelihoods for displaced women and youth that recognize their skills, experience and capacity and which are targeted towards local markets, comprehensive in approach, and promote self-reliance that is both dignified and sustainable. Read our one-page fact sheet on our livelihoods program.

A “livelihood” refers to the capabilities, assets and strategies that people use to make a living; that is, to earn enough money to support themselves and their families through a variety of economic activities. In refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) contexts, livelihoods cover the range of activities and programs that work toward and enhance self-reliance including: non-formal education, vocational and skills training programs, income generation activities, food for work programs, apprenticeship placement projects, micro-credit schemes, agriculture programs, business start up programs, seeds and tools projects, animal disbursement projects, self-employment and job placement programs. The goal of any livelihoods strategy is to develop self-reliance.

Previous livelihood and self-reliance strategies have often been ad hoc, piecemeal or implemented without building on existing skills or on developing skills targeted towards market needs in the countries of either displacement or return. Livelihood projects in refugee and IDP situations have generally catered to small segments of the displaced populations with interventions largely focused on meeting basic survival needs in order to reduce or cut off food rations. These interventions have seldom taken into consideration the targeted individuals’ experience, knowledge, skills and future aspirations. Further, interventions have rarely catered to the specific situation where the displaced may be hosted—whether in camps where freedom of movement is restricted, in depressed urban areas, or in harsh, inhospitable environments with limited agricultural potential.

In its Livelihoods Project, the Women's Commission will:

• Identify current livelihoods approaches and strategies in urban and camp situations (including new and protracted emergencies)
• Solicit input from displaced women and adolescents on their livelihood needs, ideas and aspirations
• Analyze livelihoods in terms of what is possible and practical during displacement according to the local context (urban, camp)
• Document livelihood projects and activities as a protection tool and show how livelihoods enhance all aspects of protection for displaced women and adolescents
• Assess and document good field practice in a variety of contexts, including urban areas and camps
• Identify service delivery gaps
• Promote comprehensive approaches that build on existing skills, target market needs and build self reliance beyond basic survival needs
• Develop guidelines for livelihood policy and practice for wide practitioner dissemination, as well as for donor advocacy
• Link with operational agencies for real time testing and implementation.

Read more in the Women's Commission reports and resources:

"We Want to Work": Providing Livelihood Opportunities for Refugees in Thailand

From the Ground Up: Education and Livelihoods in Southern Sudan

Build the Peace: Creating Economic Opportunities in Post-Conflict Liberia

Rebuilding Lives: Refugee Economic Opportunities in a New Land

Focus on Nepal