Livelihoods

Download Building Livelihoods: A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings.

"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

Read "Why Refugees Need to Make a Living" on The Huffington Post.

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.

Read our fact sheet on our livelihoods program.

What are livelihoods?

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.

Livelihoods projects do not meet the needs of refugees

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.

Read the report here.

Women's Refugee Commission livelihoods project

• 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.

Women's Refugee Commission Livelihoods Reports and Resources

• Peril or Protection: The Link Between Livelihoods and Gender-based Violence in Displacement Settings (November 2009)
• Building Livelihoods: A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings (May 2009)
• Refugee Livelihoods: Promoting Economic Opportunities for Women and Young People (May 2009)
• Working Women at Risk: The Links Between Making a Living and Sexual Violence for Refugees in Ethiopia (March 2009)
• Earning Money/Staying Safe: The Links Between Making a Living and Sexual Violence for Refugee Women in Cairo (March 2009)
• Desperate Lives: Burmese Refugee Women Struggle to Make a Living in Malaysia (October 2008)
• Youth and Sustainable Livelihoods: Linking Vocational Training Programs to Market Opportunities in Northern Uganda (July 2008) -- Executive Summary
• Don't Call it Shangri-La: Economic Programs for Displaced Populations in Nepal (May 2008)
• Rebuilding Lives: Refugee Economic Opportunities in a New Land (USA) (August 2007)
• Build the Peace: Creating Economic Opportunities in Post-Conflict Liberia (June 2007)
• From the Ground Up: Education and Livelihoods in Southern Sudan (January 2007)
• "We Want to Work": Providing Livelihood Opportunities for Refugees in Thailand (September 2006)