At the Western Union Foundation, we’re proud to stand for a world that welcomes the most vulnerable. Refugees are a resilient, brave group of people, searching for safety for themselves and their families. There has been immense progress in the efforts made to welcome and integrate refugees into their new communities, but one area in need of work — especially in low- and middle-income countries — is refugees’ access to the formal labor market (FLMA). Imagine, having a profession in your home country, but you are forced to flee from conflict. Yet when you arrive to safety, you are not allowed to work professionally, so you struggle to lift yourself out of this new life of poverty. This is a reminder that refugees are more than their current circumstance and we can all benefit from the skills and contributions they bring.
That is why we are working with the Center for Global Development, alongside Refugees International, the Ikea Foundation, and Tent Partnership for Refugees, to understand the benefits of increasing FLMA, developing recommendations to maximize these benefits, and supporting efforts to mobilize the private sector. Learn more from the Center for Global Development on the upcoming research here.
Read more about the work we do with our nonprofit partners, to support refugee education and workforce skills training enabling them to integrate into their new host communities.