Economic Inclusion for Refugees

THE CHALLENGE: Refugees and displaced persons are among the world’s largest and most vulnerable populations, and continue to grow to historic levels. The global refugee population has more than doubled in the last decade and today, sub-Saharan Africa hosts more than 26 million of the world’s 110 million forcibly displaced persons (23%), a number that has soared in recent years due to protracted wars and conflicts. Forced into unfamiliar and often unwelcoming environments, refugees and displaced persons face low security and lack access to the most basic human needs and rights. Without proper integration, additional economic pressure is placed on host communities who may already be struggling with less than ideal economic conditions.

OUR SOLUTION: In response to the needs of one of the world’s fastest growing crises, our REAP for Refugees model has been adapted to meet the needs of refugees, returnees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and their host communities. Our programs and technical assistance in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya are each tailored to the specific needs, requirements, and livelihood and market contexts, layered with our standard model elements that are provided by various actors within the humanitarian system there to support them.

REAP FOR REFUGEES

Key Impacts

Local Integration

In line with the UNHCR’s durable solutions, BOMA facilitates partnerships and platforms with local government and humanitarian agencies to make both social and economic integration easier for all sides.

Refugee Empowerment

By serving the specific contexts of refugees in multiple countries throughout the dryland regions of Africa, participants have better access to basic services and rights, giving them a voice for representation and change.

Sustainable Enterprises

BOMA and our location-specific partners engage participants for 12 to 24 months in programs aimed to build lasting businesses.

Programs

GADICH

Despite ever-changing challenges in Burkina Faso due to tightening government restrictions in response to terrorism, the Projet de Graduation pour l’Autonomie et la Dignité des personnes Déplacées et leur integration au sein des Communautés Hôtes (GADICH) in Sanmategna province continues to strengthen the resilience and livelihood development of the 3,000 displaced people and host community members enrolled since late 2022. While 80 percent of the entrepreneurs in this program are women, 20 percent are men. The program is implemented by local NGO APIL, with support from Swiss Caritas and Whole Foods Market Foundation.

Street Children

Prevention through Sustainable Graduation from Poverty (PSGP)

BOMA, Swiss Caritas (CACH), the Agency for Accelerated Regional Development in West Nile (AFARD), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) are collaborating in the Yumbe district of West Nile on a three-year, multi-sectoral project serving 600 households. The program has adapted the graduation approach to address the needs of refugee and host community households in the region. The program’s objectives include improving financial resilience, child protection, and natural resource management outcomes for the targeted households and communities in West Nile, Uganda. 2022 saw the completion of the first cohort of 450 households (approximately 3,150 individuals of refugee and host communities, including 900 children and 1,350 youth), and in November of the same year, an additional 150 households were enrolled. First cohort participants saw a nine-fold increase in their savings and 96% of participants successfully engaged in all livelihood activities.

PAMANA

Building Peace Through Sustainable Access to and Management of Natural Resources in West Nile and Central Equatoria

The overall objective of PAMANA is to reduce conflict over and pressure on natural resources in West Nile (Uganda) and Central Equatoria State (South Sudan). This is achieved by building local capacities to support the most vulnerable groups among host, refugee, and internally displaced persons (IDP) communities, with a focus on women. The project aims to meet immediate needs and secure sustainable livelihoods, promoting peace, stability, and gender equality. Using the Humanitarian, Development, Peace (HDP) Nexus, the project integrates humanitarian assistance, development support, and peacebuilding components. BOMA’s technical assistance is providing gender mainstreaming expertise, with a focus on protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) across the project and its partners. We also aim to strengthen the capacity of project partners on gender practices, which includes both training and conducting gender analyses.

Strengthening Resilience Cameroon

In January 2022, BOMA helped the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) launch the Strengthening Resilience Cameroon program with support from USAID. The program targets the Adamaoua and Eastern regions of the country, with a focus on enhancing economic resilience and food security for refugees and host communities facing extreme poverty. It aims to achieve this by providing savings and access to financial services, as well as livelihood opportunities and market inclusion. Life skills training and awareness raising will also be conducted to reinforce behavior change, social inclusion, and social cohesion. The program, which came to a close in August 2024, enrolled 1,200 participants, who formed 866 businesses to date. Leveraging platforms such as TaroWorks and SalesForce, BOMA continues to be a leader in building smart and efficient data monitoring systems, resulting in the overall success of the program in Cameroon and across Africa. Some notable impacts of the program include 77% of SG participants reached their savings target of 24,000 West African Franc (CFA) and 100% of BGs made both inventory purchases and cash sales (with an average value of 43,800 CFA).