Refugees are ‘natural entrepreneurs’: Conference to help them to help themselves
26 November 2012
On Monday 26 November: A conference is took place at the University of Oxford to talk about ways of helping refugees set up and grow their own businesses. Attending will be successful African entrepreneurs who have already worked with refugees, as well as philanthropists, private sector foundations, and staff from UNHCR and NGOs.
The conference launches a new project called the ‘Humanitarian Innovation Project’ (HIP), based in the Refugee Studies Centre at the Oxford Department of International Development, led by Dr Alexander Betts and funded by Stephanie and Hunter Hunt, Dallas-based philanthropists.
Refugees are often confined to refugee camps or closed settlements for many years, often without the right to work or move around freely. However, in Uganda the situation is much freer for refugees, who have been given the right to work. This has meant that the entrepreneurial spirit of refugees living in its camps has been able to thrive. At the conference will be entrepreneurs who are working with refugees in Uganda, which both benefits the refugees and the host country’s economy.
The HIP project focuses on ways of transforming how governments respond to refugees by recognising and building upon their skills, aspirations and entrepreneurship. In short, they hope other governments will follow the lead taken by Uganda.
Dr Alexander Betts said: ‘Humanitarian responses often rely upon old ways of doing things and often these responses are inefficient, unsustainable, and lead to dependency. What we don’t recognise sufficiently is that refugees are natural survivors with the determination and drive to become fantastic entrepreneurs.
‘Despite growing academic work on refugee livelihoods, there has been little coherent methodology for capturing and evaluating existing practices, looking outwards to identify alternative approaches to livelihood development, and piloting alternative ways to develop greater self-sufficiency for refugees.’The project has already set up a database providing advice on microcredit, mentoring, partnership with the private sector and innovative ideas for other refugees to pick up and adapt in their own locality. The website is at www.oxhip.org
Key speakers at the conference
Dr Moses Musaasi, CEO of Technology for Tomorrow, based in Kampala, Uganda. His business has developed the ‘Makapad’, an environmentally responsible sanitary pad made of papyrus leaves, which is manufactured by refugees in the Kyaka II refugee settlement, and distributed by UNHCR. The company has plans to increase production and sales.
Vincent Kienzler, CEO of Green Bio Energy, based in Kampala, Uganda, a business that recycles waste materials to create a fuel source. The business is working with the urban poor in Uganda, and is exploring how to involve refugees in its work.
Stephanie and Hunter Hunt, philanthropists and founders of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity, and funders of HIP.
Olivier Delarue, Head of ‘UNHCR Innovation’, a new initiative to develop innovation within UNHCR, supported by a $110m grant from the IKEA Foundation.
The conference ‘Refugee Livelihoods, Innovation, and the Private Sector’ will be held at St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, Oxford.
For further information or interviews, please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 280534 or email: press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk
Alternatively, contact Project Director, Dr Alexander Betts, University Lecturer, Department of International Development. Mobile: +44 (0)7975 681580; e-mail: alexander.betts@qeh.ox.ac.uk