Programs Livelihoods
Praise for the Building Livelihoods manual:
"ECHO (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office) really liked your work. They sent it to everyone who works in my region."
-Thomas Hill, IRC Country Director, Northern Caucasus
"Innovative" "Very resourceful" "Excellent!" "Extremely important and challenging. It was practical!" "Clearly meeting a specific need!"
-Livelihoods workshop participants; Nairobi, June 2009
With refugees displaced for longer periods than ever before, the ways in which refugees—particularly women and adolescents—can earn a living and sustain themselves and their families 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 Refugee Commission researches and develops guidelines on appropriate livelihoods for displaced women and youth that recognize their skills, experience and capacity. Livelihoods are targeted towards local markets, are comprehensive in approach, and promote self-reliance that is both dignified and sustainable.
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.
New Report:
Peril or Protection: The Link Between Livelihoods and Gender-Based Violence in Displacement Settings
When women are displaced due to conflict or human rights abuses, they adopt new strategies to provide for themselves and their families. These new strategies—such as prostitution, trading sex for food, and leaving the relative safety of refugee camps to collect firewood—often place them at risk for violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse, rape and domestic violence. The Women’s Refugee Commission undertook research to determine whether programs set up to provide women with safe, alternative livelihoods do in fact reduce their risk of exposure to violence.
