Transforming Humanitarian Response: Rebuilding Refugees' Lives

114 million people are currently displaced by conflict and human rights abuses - most of whom are now displaced, on average, for between 10 - 20 years. Additional millions are displaced annually by natural disasters and the effects of climate change. The traditional humanitarian response of providing aid to meet the basic needs of those displaced is neither sufficient nor sustainable. The humanitarian system can not keep pace with the growing needs and donors are not allocating the resources to do so. As a result, food rations for refugees across the globe are being cut by the World Food Program - in some places by as much as 40%. As displacement situations become protracted, donors lose interest and re-channel their funds to newer emergencies and international organizations close their programs and move on. For refugees, such as the hundreds of thousands in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps in Kenya, the 1.5 million hosted by Uganda, and the tens of thousands living on Burmese on the Thai border, many of whom have been displaced for decades - being dependent on erratic humanitarian assistance increases their vulnerability and impacts their safety. When families cannot provide for their basic needs, children are pulled out of school, food intake is decreased and needed health care is neglected. Women, girls, and their families often resort to negative economic coping strategies such as engaging in transactional sex, child labor, and petty theft and criminal activity in order to feed their families. The traditional humanitarian response, its way of working, is no longer adequate or appropriate. Refugees tell us - "we want to work", "we need income", "If we have jobs we can address our own needs", "we don't need the other programs the humanitarians are providing, we can take care of ourselves". It is time for us to listen to and respond to the expressed needs of those displaced - create economic opportunities, assist them in rebuilding their lives wherever they are, and ensure that those opportunities are sustainably leading to self-reliance. 

Our solution is to promote economic opportunities for displaced households early and everywhere by demonstrating that the impacts of livelihood programs can be easily measured and refugee and displaced households can graduate off humanitarian assistance and rebuild their lives. To do this, we created a simple tool, the Self-Reliance Index (SRI), that captures progress over time on 12 domains (housing, food, education, health care, health status, safety, employment, financial resources, assistance, debt, savings, and social capital) overtime  - ideally every 6 months - and provides a composite score that allows service providers to assess what assistance displaced households need to become self-reliance and when they have achieved such.  The SRI is administered by partner organizations using either Kobo or CommCare on smartphones and the data is then transferred electronically to Dropbox where it is  analyzed by the Women's Refugee Commission's data analyst. 

After data is analyzed, reports are written, shared and discussed with partners to identify trends and inconsistencies in the data and  look at elements of implementation and context that influence scores and could be considered to improve scores longer-term. Programs then use this information to adapt and strengthen their self-reliance-oriented services. Data is then uploaded to a still under development global dashboard developed using Tableau. An intended "output" of the Dashboard  is improved coordination, stakeholder access to information on SRI reach and impact, potential for partners to connect if their applications align in terms of approach, context, population, etc.). Sixty partner organizations are currently applying the Self-Reliance Index in 30 countries. WRC has received data on nearly 30,000 households, some of them multiple times, generating evidence that displaced households can become self-reliant and end their dependency on humanitarian assistance.  This evidence is allowing us to advocate with donors to increase their funding for economic programs for displaced households and for hosting States to reduce restrictions on refugees' right to work. Ultimately, the evidence can help shift and transform the humanitarian system from one based on the delivery of basic assistance to one that provides opportunity, choice, sustainable livelihoods and restores dignity. 
 

While our solution directly targets service providers who are implementing economic programs targeting displaced households, the ultimate beneficiaries are the refugee and displaced households who are served with stronger, evidence-driven programs that help them achieve self-reliance.  By helping the service providers measure the impacts of their programs, they can adapt and modify their programs, as needed, refer their clients to services that they do not provide, and responsibly graduate their clients off humanitarian aid. 

The 60 partner organizations we are currently working with serve refugee households in urban areas, rural areas, and refugee camps, as well as internally displaced populations living in those same situations. In addition, some service providers are also targeting vulnerable host community members and others are targeting returnees.  All of the targeting households are currently dependent on humanitarian assistance which can be unpredictable, undignified, and even when provided, unable to meet all of their basic needs leaving these populations mired in poverty, uncertainty, and unable to plan for their futures. 

At present, our partners are using the Self-Reliance Index with displaced populations in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Aruba,  Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq,  Syria, Myanmar, Poland, and the USA. They are reaching refugee households who have often been dependent on humanitarian assistance for years and even decades and assisting them achieve sustainable self-reliance. Because the partners are all humanitarian organizations and serve populations based on need, they focus on the most vulnerable including female heads of household, widows, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, youth, and LGBTQI+ persons.  By assisting these households achieve self-reliance, they are helping them secure the resources they need to plan for their futures and that of their families.  Additionally, by promoting self-reliance early and everywhere, the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative aims to transform the humanitarian sector and rally practitioners around a shared objective of reducing dependency, restoring dignity, and rebuilding lives. 

The Self-Reliance Index, which we developed, was based on the direct input from refugees themselves wherein dozens of refugee households were asked what would self-sufficiency look like in their lives and what would be different. This led to the creation of the twelve domains the Index covers which were workshopped with dozens of partner organizations including donors and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.  The Index was then piloted in multiple settings before being revised with the current version beginning rollout in mid-2020.  The Index is implemented directly with the target households via conversations. The households are engaged throughout the process and are participants in tracking their own progress. Practitioners using the Index report that it allows them to view the households holistically and to understand the interplay of various events and statuses in their lives which impede or facilitate their movement towards self-reliance. 

The staff working on the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI) include very seasoned practitioners who have worked in refugee contexts around the world and academics long engaged in humanitarian research. The team is composed of strong networkers who believe in partnerships, collaborations, and networking. Our operational partners are field-based direct program implementers working with the target communities daily. The RSRI Steering Committee consists of refugee-led organizations, local civil society organizations, a think tank, international nongovernmental organizations, and UNHCR. 

We have developed, piloted, iterated, and rolled out the Self-Reliance Index which is now being used by 60 partner organizations in 27 countries. We have made the Index available in  English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Kiswahili. We have directly trained over 300 individuals on use of the Index and developed e-learning modules for self-instruction that are available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.  More than 400 individuals have completed the e-learning modules in the various languages. To date, we have received data on 30,000 households that are being tracked using the Index. In addition, we are beginning to develop evidence about which programs work best for which populations in which contexts and generate evidence that displaced households can be assisted to achieve self-reliance.  We have also piloted the Index in high-income countries  - Poland and the U.S. to assess applicability. Further, while the Index was originally developed to measure the self-reliance of urban refugees, partners are using it with internally displaced populations, rural populations, camp-based populations, returnees, and vulnerable host community members. Two humanitarian donors now strongly suggest that their grantees use the Index in their livelihood programs. In addition, we have successfully co-developed and co-hosted the mega-pledge on economic inclusion and social protection at the UNHCR Global Refugee Forum last December which generated 240 commitments of nearly $1 billion targeting 57 million people by 2028.  Finally, we have just begun our first randomized control trial to further validate findings through use of the Index.

We have also built a robust Community of Practice that includes 192 individuals and organizations and that convenes bi-monthly and draws together some 40 practitioners to share learning. Our mailing list includes more than 500 organizations that receive bi-monthly Initiative reports. We continue to strengthen our website to make it the 'go-to' resource for all things related to refugee self-reliance.  

We also have a research working group that convenes quarterly to review learning and additional research needs and questions. In addition, we have completed a market systems development analysis to assess application in refugee settings and have begun a body of work on climate adaptation.

Over the past two years, we have brought on a full-time executive director for the Initiative, a trainer, and a communications officer. We have also hired two part-time academic advisors, and a part-time data analyst, and have just hired a part-time technician to develop our global dashboard.  

Thus far, most of our partner organizations have sought us out as we have not had the bandwidth to conduct targeted outreach to bring the entire pool of organizations implementing economic programs targeting displaced households on board. We need to strengthen our outreach and our support for potential new partners including refugee-led organizations that often require more intensive support. Additionally, our processes for partners to transmit data to us, for us to analyze the data in a timely fashion, upload data to our global dashboard (which is under further development), and share data findings back with partners need to be streamlined through the more effective use of technology. We are discussing if and how artificial intelligence may help us streamline these processes. 

Achieving our ultimate goal of transforming the humanitarian system into one that shares a common objective of helping displaced households achieve self-reliance requires more robust messaging, communications, and advocacy. This necessitates engaging additional government and foundation donors and supporting partners' advocacy efforts with hosting States around refugees' right to work. 

Increasing the Initiative's visibility and credibility could facilitate broader uptake and engagement from the myriad of stakeholders who need to be influenced to make the change we seek to achieve. The Initiative aims to be a convener and a catalyst for changing humanitarian response. This requires more robust and sustained advocacy, the development of policy and learning briefs, and conducting more webinars, conference presentations, and donor briefings. In addition, we have begun conversations with the UNHCR- World Bank Group Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement on data sharing and comparing to assess alignment and how our various data sets can be compiled to present a more comprehensive picture. This will require considerable analysis and likely the use of additional technology. Further, we have begun conversations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development on how their tracking of shifts in donor funding can further inform our ultimate goal. 

In summary, our needs our more robust advocacy and communications, more effective use or types of technology, expanding and strengthening our partnerships, effectively visualizing the data collected, and comparing data sets between and among entities collecting relevant data that could build a more comprehensive picture of what is being achieved globally.  

Through the development of a simple way to easily measure displaced households' movement towards self-reliance, practitioners are able, often for the first time, to see if their livelihood programs are achieving the desired results. The evidence generated is helping influence donors to increase funding for economic programs as they realize that refugee households can become self-reliant over time and no longer dependent on erratic humanitarian assistance. Additionally, it is encouraging hosting governments to re-think their restrictive work policies for refugees. This evidence, coupled with learning reports, policy briefs, and robust advocacy can influence and shape the humanitarian response - transforming it into one that moves away from the provision of basic survival needs to one that supports choice, opportunity, and dignity - allowing displaced households to rebuild their lives. While the technology used - data collected on smartphones using Kobo and CommCare, transferring the data to Dropbox for analysis, uploading the data on a global dashboard developed using Tableau - isn't new or groundbreaking, it is using existing technology to advance a critical need efficiently and effectively. With expanded reach, the mobilization of additional partners, further translations of e-learning modules, the Self-Reliance Index, and the Facilitator's Guide to address the learning needs of new partners (Swahili, Pasto, Ukrainian, for example), and application of the Index in new contexts - high-income countries, camp-based populations, climate change situations, returnees, and host communities - the RSRI's impact can be scaled and truly transformative.  The RSRI aims to be a catalyst for shifting the humanitarian paradigm to one to works better for displaced populations, allows for more effective use of limited humanitarian assistance, and creates change on the ground for millions of households for whom the humanitarian system is currently failing. 

Supplying a simple tool to help practitioners measure the impact of their economic programs targeting displaced households and providing in-person and online training on its use encourages organizations to use the Self-Reliance Index. Analyzing the data generated from the Index and feeding it back to partner organizations provides them with a picture of how their clients are doing and how well their programs are working. This allows them to adapt or modify their interventions in real-time and to graduate those clients who are doing well off of assistance and re-channel those funds to those most in need. 

Building the evidence base based on measuring progress towards self-reliance inspires donors to allocate more resources towards economic programs for displaced households.  The evidence generated also influences hosting States to recognize refugees' contributions to the cities and regions in which they live - leading to economic benefits for the host communities. 

Expanding the reach of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative through new partners, the development of learning reports and policy briefs coupled with robust advocacy, visibility, and strong messaging can help transform the humanitarian system for one that supplies assistance to one that creates sustainable opportunities, restores dignity, and rebuilds lives.  

Goal: Reach 5 million refugees in 5 years with self-reliance programming. 

Objectives: 

1. Expand the number of partner organizations applying the Self-Reliance Index in their economic programs from 60 to 120.

2. Analyze data on a minimum of 50,000 households from diverse geographies and contexts. 

3. Translate e-learnings modules, the Self-Reliance Index, and Facilitator's Guide into at least four new languages (currently available in English, French, Arabic, and Spanish) in order to reach new practitioners and new displaced communities.

4. Develop at least five lessons learned reports and policy briefs based on the data received.

5. Conduct at least 10 webinars, conference presentations, and briefings to share learnings and to advocate for self-reliance programming that is measured early and everywhere in humanitarian settings. 

6. Establish and convene a donor group to push for policies, diplomacy, and resources for refugee self-reliance.

7. Promote utilization of the Self-Reliance Index in new contexts (climate change, high income countries, camp-based populations, returnees, and host communities) to generate new learning around possible applications. 

While the technology used is not new, humanitarians often don't maximize the utilization of existing technology to create greater efficiencies for data collection, storage, and visualization. The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative created the Self-Reliance Index and made it adaptable for use on Kobo and CommCare - two frequently used applications by Initiative partners. Data collected is then shared and stored in Dropbox and then analyzed and soon to be visualized on a global dashboard using Tableau. The global dashboard, while launched, will allow donors, practitioners, academics, and policymakers to see the data in real time - that is, the movement of displaced households towards self-reliance and their eventual graduation off of assistance by country and region. As such, this project isn't about the utilization of new technologies but rather about using existing technologies to improve efficiency in data collection, data storage, and data visualization. That is, making the best use of technology to promote global change. 

The Self-Reliance Index, the User Guide, the e-learning modules, and the planned global dashboard are all open source. The Initiative's support, training, data analysis, and reports are all provided to partners at no cost. The Initiative runs on a small budget with a small team who are trying to influence and catalyze change on a global level to make the humanitarian system work better for those displaced by conflict and disasters. 

3 full time staff - an Executive Director for the Initiative, a trainer and a communications officer

3 contractors - 2 academic partners, a data analyst

2 part-time staff a focal point and lead at each of the two co-founding organizations - the Women's Refugee Commission and RefugePoint. 

The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative was co-founded and is co-led by the Women's Refugee Commission and RefugePoint. The RSRI is not an independent entity and WRC and RefugePoint host the staff and fundraise for the Initiative. 

Initial thinking, research on existing tools, and the development and piloting of various iterations of the Index started in 2016. The Self-Reliance Index was finalized and officially launched in mid-2020. An Executive Director to lead the Initiative was hired in 2022 and a communications officer and trainer in 2023. As such, the incubation period stretched over 4 years with scarce resources and largely volunteered time and the Initiative in its current iteration is now approaching its fourth anniversary. 

The leadership team is 65% female and includes racial, religious, and sexual orientation diversity. The Initiative has also established a Steering Committee and intentionally composed the Committee of diverse voices and actors including refugee-led organizations, think tanks, local civil society organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency. Our operational partners, those using the Self-Reliance Index, include UN agencies, international NGOs and local civil society organizations. We are committed to increasingly reach and include refugee-led organizations and provide them with the support and resources they need to apply the Index to their own programs. During all public facing speaking events, we include refugee speakers and other diverse panelists, always ensuring that the Initiative is not represented only by white, western speakers. Additionally, we are working with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, and Asia in diverse contexts supporting diverse populations. We advocate for organizations to identify, tap and capitalize on the skills that refugees and other displaced populations have rather than merely seeing them as people with needs.  By keeping the Index and all learning materials open source and providing free support to partners who want to use the Index, we are assisting diverse actors and agencies to engage regardless of their own resource constraints.  Further we advocate with partners to include women, youth, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ+ persons in their client targets. The initiative which supports refugees to use their skills to become self-reliant promotes equity and inclusion for diverse populations around the world.  

Our clients are the service providers who implement economic programs targeting displaced households. We developed a simple tool, the Self-Reliance Index, for them to measure the impacts of their programs. We train them on use of the Index and support them with troubleshooting and the analysis of their data. While much of our support is online, we often provide in-person training and support for new users and conduct evaluations when requested. We also provide a convening space for them to share learning and seek collaborations and host a repository of available learning, evaluations, reports and other documentation.  In other words, we're assisting providers learn what is and is not working with their current programs thereby helping them more effectively assist refugees and other displaced households to become self-reliant and graduate off of undependable humanitarian assistance. Our ultimate impact is the number of displaced households who are no longer reliant on handouts and other humanitarian assistance.  

In short, our products are:

The Self-Reliance Index (in multiple languages)

The User's Guide

E-learning modules in four languages

Online and in-person training when requested

Analysis of partners' data with the analysis findings shared back to partners

A Community of Practice bi-monthly online convening 

A hosted research working group

Learning reports and policy briefs

Organizations approach us wanting to use the Index and asking for support for its usage. They see the need for measuring the impacts of their programs and not just reporting on outcome and output indicators. Donors are also increasingly requesting data on program impacts and the Index is helping practitioners garner the needed information. 

The Initiative currently operates on a shoestring budget of approximately $650,000 per year. This limits how rapidly we can expand as well as the support we can provide to partner organizations. 

The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative has been funded for a few years by the U.S. Department of State - Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (approximately $350,000/year) and from the Hilton Foundation (approximately $250,000/year)  both of whom intend to continue funding at roughly the same amounts. Smaller individual and family foundations provide additional support (~$50,000/year). These funds pay the core staff and the work of the academic partners and data analyst as well as some travel costs and translation costs. 

The Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative is not envisioned to be sustainable. Rather, it is a movement changing humanitarian response. As such, when a critical mass of donors and practitioners begin to work and resource in ways that truly support and measure the self-reliance of displaced households and this becomes institutionalized in practice, the Initiative will no longer be necessary.