Podcasts about refugee economies

Refugees bring skills, talents, and aspirations and can be a benefit rather than a burden to receiving societies. Realizing this potential relies on moving beyond a purely humanitarian focus to fully include refugees in host-country economies, build economic opportunities in refugee-hosting regions, and navigate the ambiguous politics of refugee protection. In today's episode of the Charter Cities Podcast, Kurtis Lockhart speaks with Alexander Betts, a Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs at the University of Oxford, about refugee economics and the role that the private sector, technology, and innovation have to play in the global refugee crisis. Alex currently leads the Refugee Economies program at Oxford, where his research focuses on the political economy of refugee assistance with a focus on African countries. His book, Refuge, co-written with economist Paul Collier, was named one of the best books of the year by the Economist in 2017, and he has written several other books on migration and refugee issues, most recently The Wealth of Refugees, which came out earlier this year. Alex is uniquely qualified to share his insights into the Jordan Compact, as he does in this episode, and he reflects on how displaced people can build economies, the value of providing refugees with basic socio-economic rights and entitlements, and what constitutes meaningful, dignified work for refugee communities. To learn more, make sure to tune in today! Key Points From This Episode: • An introduction to Alexander Betts and his passion for running and debating. • What Alex learned about UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) while working there and how it has informed his work. • How his time in Silicon Valley influenced his thinking and led to Refugee Economics. • Learn about the Jordan Compact and the opportunities it creates for Syrian refugees. • The value of giving refugees basic socio-economic rights and entitlements. • Replicating this special economic zone strategy for refugees in a context-specific manner. • The main impacts of the Jordan Compact, its political successes and economic weaknesses. • Why one of the main challenges has been the gender dimensions of the Compact. • The critiques of the Compact that Alex takes most seriously, including what constitutes meaningful, dignified work for refugees. • Why Alex believes a history of refugee self-reliance has been forgotten. • Hear more about Alex's research in Africa and the ethical scope for randomized control trials. • The challenge of doing harm to vulnerable populations through random experimentation. • How Alex explored a natural experiment model in Kenya's Kalobeyei and Kakuma camps. • Why the disconnect between the success of refugee self-reliance and economic inclusion and the lack of adoption more broadly. • Comparing refugees' economic lives in rural versus urban areas; the pros and cons of each. • What interaction or contact does for social cohesion between host communities and refugees. • How the costliness and fragmentation of African cities can lead to the exclusion of refugees. • The role of cash transfers from organizations in urban assistance models for refugees. • The key support, training, and access to opportunity that refugee-led organizations provide. • Alex reflects on how to get big bureaucracy like UNHCR to embrace change and be more proactive rather than reactive. • Combining status quo options to the benefit of refugees, host communities, and countries. • Hear what Alex is working on now and the inherent value of participatory research methods.   Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: http://www.alexanderbetts.co.uk/ (Alexander Betts) https://twitter.com/alexander_betts (Alexander Betts on Twitter) https://www.amazon.com/Refuge-Alexander-Betts/dp/0141984708/ (Refuge)... Support this podcast

Dr Imane Chaara (QEH Oxford), Dr Doris Gray (Al Akhawayn University), Dr Nadia Sonneveld (Radboud University) take part in a discussion at the Middle East Studies centre. Chair by Michael Willis (St Antony's College). About the speakers: Dr. Imane Chaara (QEH Oxford) Title: Moroccan Mothers' Religiosity. Impact on Daughters' Education Abstract: The participation of mothers in decisions within their household has non-neutral effects and in many instances positive impacts, especially on children’s health and education. In this chapter, I focus on the participation of women in decisions concerning girls’ education, and I investigate whether mothers’ religiosity could be related to their involvement in education decisions. By analysing data I collected in Morocco in 2008, I found a positive and significant correlation between the intensity of religious practice of the mothers and their participation in decisions concerning their daughters’ education. This result is driven by women with limited or no formal education, which suggests that religion acts as a factor that compensates for the lack of education. I use qualitative information to explore one potential mechanism and question whether religion could play the same role as education regarding consciousness-raising about the importance of children’s education and self-valuation of women with respect to their capacity to play a key role within their household. I argue that, in the context of Morocco, the existence of a religious movement that is socially influential may drive the empirical results. Dr Imane Chaara is a micro-economist and Research Associate at the Oxford Department of International Development, where she was Departmental Lecturer in Development Economics between October 2012 and September 2017. Her research focuses on institutional transformations in developing countries, legal reforms and the change of social norms, access to justice and rule of law, gender issues and women’s rights, as well as intra-household decision-making. Her research investigates, among others, the role of legal reforms in confronting unfair customs and social norms, the impact of religious identity on people’s behaviour, and the interplay between justice systems (state formal and customary institutions). More recently, she contributed to the Refugee Studies Centre project “Refugee Economies” and she did research on the economic strategies developed by refugees in Eastern Africa. Her work is both theoretical and empirical, mostly using first-hand original data. Dr. Doris H. Gray Title: Women and Social Change in North Africa: What Counts as Revolutionary? Abstract: This presentation asks what social change – in women’s rights, religion, migration, and law – is, and when it counts as revolutionary. We argue that a highly contextual approach is needed to capture changes that are not always immediately visible, but which nevertheless contribute to human development. We discuss the cross-cultural collaboration that resulted in this book and present one chapter that illustrates the point of social change where least expected: “Moroccan Mother's Religiosity: Impact on Daughter's Education.” Dr. Doris H. Gray directs the Hillary Clinton Center for Women’s Empowerment at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco where she also serves as Associate Professor of Gender Studies. Her latest publication with the International Center of Transitional Justice in New York is entitled “Who hears my voice today? Indirect Women Victims in Tunisia.” She has published three books: “Women and Social Change in North Africa: What counts as Revolutionary?”, “Beyond Feminism and Islamism: Gender and Equality in North Africa” and “Muslim Women on the Move: Moroccan Women and French Women of Moroccan Origin Speak Out”. Before becoming an Academic, she worked as a journalist, 12 years as foreign correspondent first in South Africa and then Kenya. Dr. Nadia Sonneveld Title: Women and Social Change in North Africa: What is Social Change? Abstract: This presentation asks what social change – in women’s rights, religion, migration, and law – is, and when it counts as revolutionary. We argue that a highly contextual approach is needed to capture changes that are not always immediately visible, but which nevertheless contribute to human development. Dr. Nadia Sonneveld has an academic background in anthropology, Arabic, and law. She is affiliated to the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance, and Society, Leiden University, the Netherlands. The common factor in all her research activities is the focus on gender and law in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in Egypt and Morocco. In her new research project (“Living on the Other Side: A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Migration and Family Law”) she focuses on the rights of migrants in Morocco, and North Africa, both in the books and in practice. Previously, she was a guest scholar at the School of Oriental Studies (SOAS) in London, and Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. She authored Khul‘ Divorce in Egypt: Public Debates, Judicial Practices, and Everyday Life (2012), and has co-authored Women Judges in the Muslim World: A Comparative Study of Discourse and Practice, with Monika Lindbekk (2017) and Women and Social Change in North Africa: What Counts as Revolutionary?, with Doris Gray (2018).

Multi-sited fieldwork in Uganda allows for an exploration of the complex patterns of engagement between refugees’ economic activities and local economies, in urban, emergency and protracted settings.

Our research with rural grocery store managers in Denmark suggests that the integration of asylum centres into the local social and economic life in rural areas is a key factor in successful refugee reception.

Some displaced people and their host communities have benefited economically from the consequences of conflict in Syria’s Raqqa province. Others need support – and the type of support needed will change as circumstances change.

A new study on the effects of humanitarian assistance in response to the Syria crisis finds significant positive impacts for regional economic growth and job creation.

Market-based approaches in northern Uganda demonstrate the benefits of supporting local markets instead of distributing in-kind aid.