The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative has developed a Learning Agenda to guide learning and research priorities for the wider sector to build an evidence base of effective practices to improve refugee self-reliance.

Continue reading for the full working draft of our Learning Agenda, or click here to access the PDF version.

RSRI Learning Agenda

    • To create an evidence base for what works best to help refugees achieve self-reliance

    • To provide a knowledge mapping of self-reliance learning and research (and outstanding gaps)

    • To highlight the role of the RSRI’s members in answering the ‘core questions’ of refugee self-reliance

    • A lack of a common understanding of self-reliance and how it complements and supports each of the three durable solutions

    • A dearth of evidence about what works to help refugees achieve self-reliance (both in terms of programming and enabling environments)

    • A lack of clarity on the costs and timelines associated with refugees achieving self-reliance

    • Insufficient evidence of how refugee self-reliance contributes to host community outcomes.

    • A lack of clear measurement approaches for capturing the impacts of self-reliance programs and progress at the global level

    • Identification of program models and ingredients that help foster refugee self-reliance to facilitate replication, adaptation, and scaling

    • Consolidated, easily-accessed mapping of existing knowledge and evidence around refugee self-reliance

    • Identification of knowledge/evidence gaps for refugee self-reliance that requires further study

    1. What is self-reliance?

      • How is ‘self-reliance’ understood by various stakeholders?

      • What are the barriers to the achievement of self-reliance? Why is it not happening more broadly and consistently in humanitarian/refugee settings?

    2. What works best to facilitate self-reliance?

      • What are the different program models that assist refugees to achieve self-reliance, and what works best for different profiles of refugees depending on age, gender, socio-economic profile, duration of displacement, education level, context, etc.? What does the achievement of self-reliance look like for special needs populations — female-headed households, persons with disabilities, etc.?

      • Are there core principles/considerations that should underpin self-reliance programming? If so, what are they? What external factors are important to understand when designing self-reliance programs (cultural, macro-economic, etc.)?

      • What are the costs of facilitating self-reliance? What are the value propositions and time frames, and how do those compare to other response paradigms? How long (on average) does it take to achieve self-reliance (and is this sustained)?

      • What work at the community, systems, and government levels is necessary to create enabling environments for self-reliance?

      • How can self-reliance programs benefit both refugee and hosting communities? How can we mitigate tensions to become self-reliant? How can refugee self-reliance contribute to local economic development and improved opportunities for host communities.

    3. How should/could self-reliance be measured?

      • What indicators or approaches should we use to track progress on self-reliance at the household, local, national, and global levels?

    • How can self-reliance programming support each of the three durable solutions? What kind of programs help facilitate self-reliance, but also help prepare for possible repatriation?

    • How can refugee self-reliance be maximized in different settings — urban, peri-urban, rural, settlement, camp? What does self-reliance look like within an Area Based Approach?

    • What are the critical differences between opportunities in the formal versus informal economy for achieving self-reliance? What added value does the formal right to work provide? Fair remuneration and safe working conditions?

    • What are the incentives and disincentives to allow/assist refugees to achieve self-reliance? What are the incentives and disincentives for refugees to achieve self-reliance?

    • Learning should happen from a cross-section of locations with different population groups, types of economies and industries, poverty levels, and refugee rights frameworks (including some CRRF and non-CRRF countries)

    • Connect and engage with other entities carrying out similar/related research

    • Potential for self-reliance learning agenda to fit into GRF pledges

    • Self-reliance learning is a long-term commitment to confirm sustainability