Feedback from people of concern received through joint assessment missions and participatory appraisal findings about refugee self-reliance indicate a range of difficulties in their being able to sustainably access income-generating activities. These include financial literacy skills among the adult refugees (especially women); no or limited access to employable and business skills/vocational training; lack of productive assets and tools; limited market spaces; limited wage employment opportunities; and limited access to start-up capital and loans, especially for youth.
Part of the response to this issue, is the ongoing GIZ programme which will facilitate the start-up of new businesses. This will facilitate vocational training for some 75 youths from the camp and host community, who were trained at ICRC Goma. The COVID-19 situation interrupted the livelihoods activities including the completion of internship activities for these youths who were already placed in different organizations around the country and supported under the GIZ livelihoods project. GIZ continued to work in the identification of needs in the camp and the host community, and plans to further provide vocational training for more youths and assist them open their own businesses.
Together with Inkomoko and AFR/Umutanguha and Inkomoko initiated new innovative products on access to financial services including small business grants to refugees with business plan. The World Bank IDA 18-supported project will also have a component on access to economic opportunities and financial services, covering refugees and host communities across all 6 districts including Mahama camp and Kirehe district. The face some refugees have no ID was also raised as a challenge for them to enter formal employment contract or travel for business purposes or open a bank account (in banks other than Equity Bank), a challenge which hopefully will shortly be resolved by the ongoing verification exercise and issuance of refugee IDs. Socio-economic assessment and household surveys will be considered to obtain data on skills, labour markets and access to services, as well as the welfare benchmark which will inform future economic inclusion programming.
Further advocacy initiatives will be continued for enhancing refugee’s work opportunities. UNHCR partners (e.g. Inkomoko, Indego Africa) are working on market-based business and vocational trainings for refugees and host communities. Special economic recovery response is planned by operational partners (e.g. Inkomoko) to assist businesses that suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic . In response to COVID-19’s effects on urban refugees, GiveDirectly will also support urban households through unconditional cash grants transfer for consumption purpose. Under the Indego Africa Project, women artisans producing crafts products were also impacted and had to reduce their production and sale volume.
Part of response to this issue, is the GIZ programme which.
As part of the response to these gaps, most of the partners committed will continue implementing with the same activities in 2021, subject to the COVID-19 situation and containment measures as well as the evolving VolRep situation, and UNHCR will have to closely work with the government to ensure that IDs are provided to remaining non-ID holders. The cash assistance unit will ensure refugee’s accounts with Equity Bank are up to date, and all related issues such as dormant accounts/wrong account numbers are resolved. This, in turn, will enable a smooth access to grants and loans provided by Inkomoko, aUmutanguha, and GiveDirectly.
UNHCR will work with MINEMA to map all livelihood partners in the camp, their various activities and make sure that a better coordination is taking place. In addition, it will ensure that , and that all activities are in line with the new Government-UNHCR strategy on Economic Inclusion of Refugees and Host Communities (2021-25) that takes a responsive integrated approach to for enhancing refugee and host community self-reliance of the refugees and host communities on a sustainable basis. More advocacy will continue to improve access to jobs and business opportunities for refugees alongside their host communities.