Partnership with Beneficiary Populations


One of the most vital of UNHCR partnerships is with the people it helps – refugees. Though perhaps the area with the greatest potential, it may also be the one that has been least developed to date.

The refugee agency has begun to address the problem, seeking greater participation and empowerment for refugees and incorporating their own ideas in planning. As High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers told the UN Economic and Social Council: "We partner with refugees to empower them and, when empowered, they become our key partners - especially in the search for durable solutions".

That applies particularly to women who are often the principal victims of violence and abuse and who are often dependent on and excluded from male-dominated structures. However, whenever women are involved in activities such as organising elections or assisting in aid distribution, the quality of refugee life increases significantly.

UNHCR has helped launched Women's Initiatives programs in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Sierra Leone as well as starting, with the U.S. based Women's Committee on Refugee Women and Children, a world-level dialogue on the theme "Respect our rights; Partnership for equality."

Other successful programs included: