Ensuring Early Childhood Development and Livelihoods for Families
“We hope the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative will change the way we talk about refugees forever. No longer can refugees be viewed as passive recipients of aid, but rather, as strategists and innovators driving solutions for our communities. Our coalition invites donors, allies, and other refugee leaders around the world to join them in shifting funding and power to refugee communities.”
– Sana Mustafa
Sana Mustafa, director of partnerships and engagement at Asylum Access, is a representation, inclusion, and human rights activist. After fleeing the Syrian regime, Mustafa was determined to address the hardships that come with forced displacement and exclusion. Mustafa has also launched two prominent refugee-led networks to enable effective and sustainable refugee policy: The Network For Refugee Voices and the Global Refugee-led Network.
Photo courtesy of Asylum Access.
Challenge and Context
More than 100 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes. Over 30 million of them are refugees, forced to flee their countries because of violence or persecution. Displaced people are often unable to return to their homes, and are faced with inadequate support and uncertain futures.
COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted refugees and the communities that host them; these populations face lost livelihoods and education, food insecurity, spiraling poverty, social unrest, and increasingly restrictive policies negatively impacting mobility and access to services and market.
Although the circumstances that lead to displacement are often traumatic and tragic, refugees themselves have tremendous resilience and perseverance. They contribute economically and socially to the communities where they are hosted. They have hope for the future and strive to rebuild their lives.
“Our inclusive advocacy efforts aim to engage refugees, funders, and policymakers on local, national, and global levels to properly resource refugee-led solutions that often rely on volunteers and unstable funds to deliver critical life-saving services.“
– Lublanc Prieto
Lublanc Prieto, president and founding member of Refugiados Unidos, is a Venezuelan refugee, lawyer, human rights activist, and expert on migration and refugee issues. She has played a major role in launching campaigns throughout Latin American serving refugee communities, specifically strengthening the rights of Venezuelans in Colombia.
Photo courtesy of Refugiados Unidos.
What We Do: Invest in Early Childhood Development and Livelihoods for Families
In recognition of this unprecedented global challenge, our Refugees initiative aims to partner with and improve the lives and livelihoods of refugee children and families, as well as the communities hosting them.
Our strategy seeks to:
- Invest in partners with a “two-generation” approach focusing on integrated early childhood development and livelihood programs for refugee, migrant and host community families
- Establish strong relationships with stakeholders in each geography, including governments, municipalities and local organizations, and investing in refugee-led organizations
- Analyze and contribute to the global research and evidence base to drive innovative, sustainable and locally-led solutions
- Refine our advocacy strategy and learning agenda and build advocacy partnerships at local, regional and global levels
The Impact of the Work:
Through our investments in evidence-based programming, research, evaluation, advocacy and locally led responses, we will advance refugee inclusion and integration, and ensure that children receive care that enables their healthy development and that parents and caregivers have sustainable economic opportunities that foster self-sufficiency.
The Refugees initiative supports partners in Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
We will continue to support disaster prevention and response in the U.S. and around the world. Learn more about this work here.