As an Assistant Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Officer, I am constantly reminded of the unmet needs of the refugee population. I work in UNHCR’s Assosa sub-country office in Ethiopia, where I’m responsible for developing strategies for water systems, waste...
Every month, 23,000 Syrian refugee families living in Jordan look forward to receiving the same text message. It’s a simple message, no more than a few words, but it’s what alerts them to their monthly financial assistance reaching their bank accounts. Since June...
“Never assume you know the communications eco-system – never think you know how people share information and which sources they trust better than community members themselves”. These were the words I found myself repeating in South Sudan, whilst supporting the recent...
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), one of the most terrible consequences of conflict, is also one that often goes underreported – and therefore unaddressed – because of cultural taboos that silence its victims. Now, UNHCR is fighting the issue upfront with a...
Lessons learned from the Refugee Education Workshop at Stanford University. More than half of the 4.8 million refugees who have poured out of Syria are children. The world sees their faces as they cling to parents, bob in overburdened boats, cry in the arms of...
Technical Top Trumps Having never worked with an innovation unit -let alone been in an innovation ‘Lab’ before-it’s fair to say I had an ‘innovation complex’ when starting as the Emergency Lab Manager. For many, innovation is synonymous with the use of technology....
