Challenge: In the Netherlands, refugees’ inadequate access to academic opportunities has stymied the development of inclusive research that accurately captures the perspectives of forcibly displaced communities. Public policy and opinion are thus based on an insufficient understanding of the refugee and integration experience. 

Solution: De Spiegel Onderzoek en Advies will establish a pioneering hub within Dutch academia to enable refugees to come together, learn, and participate in research. Up to 15 people with lived experience of forced displacement will be trained to become adept researchers, capable of collecting and analyzing data and skillfully writing reports.

Expected results: 12–15 refugees from different backgrounds will help shape the academic discourse around displacement and integration, reflecting the diverse experiences of refugees. More accurate research will lead to improved understanding of needs and more effective integration policies.

Challenge: In Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, a lack of access to the banking system, financial markets, entrepreneurship education, and opportunities hinders refugees from starting social enterprises and becoming self-sufficient, perpetuating cycles of poverty and income inequality.

Solution: Bridging Gaps and Afri-Youth Network will provide entrepreneurship training, microloans, long-term coaching, and mentorship to local entrepreneurs, with a strong focus on female participation.

Expected results: Up to 60 refugee entrepreneurs will benefit directly. By fostering their self-sufficiency, the project will create a ripple effect of new income sources – reducing inequality, breaking the cycle of poverty, and increasing community sustainability.

Challenge: In northern Syria, refugees, internally displaced people, and returnees are grappling with severe psychological distress due to the experience of displacement, ongoing conflict, the recent earthquake, and environmental degradation. A lack of meaningful activity exacerbates feelings of dislocation, isolation, loss, and helplessness.

Solution: Syria Bright Future will engage forcibly displaced people and returnees in reforestation efforts, aiming to boost environmental health as well as enhancing participants’ mental wellbeing, sense of belonging, practical skills, and environmental knowledge. 

Expected results: This initiative addresses environmental and psychological challenges through a multidisciplinary approach that leverages the benefits of nature. Internally displaced persons, refugees, and returnees are empowered to make meaningful contributions to their communities and environment, boosting their sense of appreciation and self-confidence.

Challenge: In Costa Rica, Indigenous women and others displaced from Nicaragua’s Caribbean autonomous regions face multifaceted challenges – related to integration, discrimination, child care, education, employment, and more. There is a very real need to ensure food security and protect the heritage of these communities.

Solution: BCCE will support displaced Indigenous members of their network to grow traditional plants, thereby addressing food insecurity and safeguarding ancestral traditions. The cultivation and documentation of medicinal plants to treat specific ailments will help preserve ancestral healing practices.

Expected results: The project will promote food security, contribute to the conservation of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, and address specific health needs.

Challenge: In the UK, refugees – especially those with entrepreneurial projects – face barriers to accessing financial services. Despite high demand for tailored support, banking regulations and documentation gaps mean refugees struggle to secure funding for their businesses.

Solution: Skylight Ventures will scale up the UK’s first interest-free microfinance initiative for refugee entrepreneurs, to strengthen an inclusive funding ecosystem that is tailored to the needs of refugee founders at every stage of their business development.

Expected results: Through activities including enhanced access to funding, advocacy with existing financial providers to increase financial opportunities, and financial literacy training, up to 13 refugee entrepreneurs will be empowered to advance their businesses and more effectively contribute to their host communities.

Challenge: Rohingya refugees face challenges accessing life-saving medical interventions, especially those requiring blood transfusions. The absence of a blood bank in Nayapara camp means patients and their families must invest time and money in connecting with blood donors and securing blood supplies. This represents an existential risk for patients. 

Solution: NRBDO will establish a sustainable, community-driven system that ensures timely access to safe blood donations, while reducing financial burdens associated with this process. Activities include establishing coordination systems that connect patients with donors and implementing a financial assistance mechanism, among others.

Expected results: Critical access to blood supplies secured for Rohingya refugees in Nayapara Refugee Camp, and the financial burden for this essential service significantly reduced, driving improved health and economic outcomes.

Challenge: In France, refugees struggle to access banking services due to a failure to implement existing regulations that recognize different forms of identification, and a lack of technological tools that can process the IDs held by refugees. This makes it hard for refugees to receive salaries, pay bills, and participate in the digital economy. 

Solution: Welcome Place will use AI to improve existing identity verification tools, enabling refugees to access the banking system with their various types of ID. The project will create a database that integrates all forms of ID documents recognized by authorities around the world in a variety of languages.

Expected results: This AI-driven tool will make it easier for customers of Welcome Account – a neobank serving newcomers to France – to open an account, and will also empower other players in the banking system to provide services to refugees in compliance with current regulation, facilitating socioeconomic integration.

Challenge: The arrival of many Venezuelan refugees and migrants, as well as forcibly displaced from other countries, has resulted in elevated levels of unemployment, economic and social marginalization, and restricted access to educational resources and employment prospects in Ecuador. 

Solution: Fundación MUEVE aims to establish a creative and digital hub that will focus on technological and digital training (for instance, design and manufacturing with 3D printers and scanners), fostering innovation, and creating a collaborative ecosystem to promote socioeconomic integration and social cohesion. 

Expected results: This project will reach more than 500 individuals, using digital innovation to address the challenges of unemployment and economic hardship, and foster economic and social inclusion.

Challenge: Kenya is grappling with a severe food crisis brought on by a prolonged drought, affecting millions of people and leading to increased malnutrition rates, especially among children and pregnant women. This challenge is compounded by the pressure of hosting a large refugee population.

Solution: The Kalobeyei Initiative 4 Better Life will address food security and nutrition challenges in the refugee community in Kakuma through the cultivation of nutrient-rich sprouts in recycled plastic containers. Community members will be upskilled in innovative agricultural techniques.

Expected results: Up to 200 individuals from the refugee and host communities with severe malnutrition benefit from improved food security and wellbeing, skill-building, and enhanced community cooperation.

Challenge: High levels of food insecurity in Kampala, especially among refugees, along with disparities in food aid distribution and a substantial solid waste problem must be urgently addressed to support human and environmental health.

Solution: The Association of Refugee Women in Uganda will create an app-based system that connects surplus food resources with refugees, promoting food sharing and security and reducing waste.

Expected results: Through app development, partnerships, and awareness campaigns, the project will cut food waste, enhance food security, and build stronger community connections. The project will reach more than 100,000 refugees across four divisions of Kampala.

Challenge: Trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) refugees and asylum seekers in Sweden face multiple barriers to meaningfully participate in decision making and advocacy, even as certain protections for this community are deteriorating. Various challenges make it hard for TGNC asylum seekers to access international protection mechanisms. 

Solution: Queerstion Media will empower TGNC refugees and asylum seekers by strengthening advocacy efforts to influence public policy and enhance participation in decision-making processes. The project will do this through capacity-building sessions, leadership training, and community support. 

Expected results: Participants will emerge not only as better-equipped advocates for their own rights but also as leaders within the community. The ultimate aim is to influence local and regional legal protection frameworks for this community and strengthen the capacity of local authorities to respond to their needs.

Challenge: The ongoing conflict in Sudan has forced millions of people to flee, creating an urgent humanitarian crisis. These experiences have a profound impact on the mental health of Sudanese internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees abroad, with many living with mental distress and trauma.

Solution: The Sudan Democracy Action Group will raise awareness about common mental health challenges confronting Sudanese IDPs and refugees, while providing avenues for support and empowerment through the use of digital technologies. The project will provide group lectures, and support sessions, one-on-one consultations, and anonymous texting options. 

Expected results: The project’s multi-layered approach to service provision will cater to diverse needs, while coupling awareness raising with direct support will strengthen its reach. IDPs in Sudan and forcibly displaced Sudanese individuals abroad will benefit.

Challenge: Many of Bidibidi refugee settlement 500,000 refugee children lack proper footwear, leading to health risks, educational barriers, and environmental pollution from discarded shoes. This negatively affects the wellbeing of both the forcibly displaced population in the camp and the host communities.

Solution: Eco-shoes Africa will provide sustainable, adjustable shoes to vulnerable refugee children in the Bidibidi, while simultaneously promoting eco-friendly shoe production by refugees and reducing environmental pollution caused by discarded shoes.

Expected results: Children will benefit from better footwear, while adults will benefit from vocational training. Outcomes include improved well-being, empowerment through skills and employment, environmental responsibility, community integration, advocacy, and long-term sustainability.

Challenge: Food scarcity and dependency on external aid in Uganda’s refugee settlements of Pagirinya and Maaji has led to reduced food rations for refugees and their hosts, undermining their nutrition and overall health. Reliance on external assistance limits the refugees’ autonomy and self reliance, perpetuating a cycle of dependency. 

Solution: YEF aims to implement vertical farming, backyard gardening, organic farming, and climate-smart practices to equip refugees to produce their own food sustainably – and, by extension, address associated challenges including social instability. 

Expected results: Through sustainable agriculture, the project will empower forcibly displaced people in the settlements and host community members to achieve food security, economic self-sufficiency, and harmonious coexistence.

Challenge: Colombia’s municipality of Soacha has experienced rapid population growth due to the arrival of migrants from elsewhere in Colombia and abroad. This has led to various economic and social vulnerabilities, informal land occupation, state neglect, and stigmatization.

Solution: Fundación Genval will establish a regenerative community tourism initiative in Soacha involving both migrants and host communities, to reduce economic disparities, foster community empowerment, and harness the area’s multicultural and heritage potential for sustainable prosperity.

Expected results: Almost 2,000 community members (men, women, and young people) are expected to benefit from enhanced livelihoods, social cohesion, and wellbeing. 

Challenge: In Central Kasai, intercommunal conflicts, food insecurity, epidemics, chronic malnutrition, and gender-based violence have led people to displace to the town of Kananga, where they face dire living conditions marked by absolute poverty, environmental pollution from unmanaged waste, and overreliance on costly charcoal for energy.

Solution: Women’s Expertise will start production of eco-friendly fuel briquettes from biodegradable waste, offering economic benefits, job creation, environmental advantages, cleaner energy, improved sanitation, and reduced health risks.

Expected results: More than 3,000 internally displaced people will benefit from enhanced socioeconomic conditions and improved health, thanks to a reduction in deforestation and a cleaner environment.

Challenge: Many asylum seekers and refugees arrive in Greece without functional mobile phones, which are crucial for accessing information, communicating with loved ones, and seeking safety and assistance. 

Solution: Selfm.aid aims to provide functional mobile phones to forcibly displaced individuals in Greece, with activities including phone collection, repair, secure data handling, distribution, and technical support.

Expected results: The project will address the communications challenges encountered by refugees and asylum seekers throughout their journeys and asylum processes, as well as fostering collaboration with other NGOs for amplified impact.

Challenge: The Dzaleka refugee camp faces significant education challenges, including inadequate pedagogical methods, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of specialized support for children with disabilities. 

Solution: RELON Malawi – a consortium of three refugee-led organizations – will implement play-based pedagogy, a child-centered learning method focused on playful activities and games to enhance education quality and inclusivity.

Expected results: The project will benefit up to 1,300 children and 50 teachers. It is designed to rekindle the desire for education among refugee children, enhance their holistic development, and promote inclusion of children with disabilities.

Challenge: Displaced children with disabilities in Yemen face unequal access to essential services, a lack of necessary resources and equipment, and communication difficulties, which encompass comprehension, social communication, and emotional and social challenges.

Solution: The Humanitarian Cooperation Foundation will provide art therapy to displaced children with disabilities, with activities including needs assessment and cooperation with external organizations to address the unique challenges these children face in adapting to their new environment and improving their quality of life.

Expected results: The project will improve the mental health of up to 300 children with disabilities from the displaced and host communities, as well as strengthening trauma coping mechanisms, enhancing communication and social skills, developing creative abilities, boosting self-confidence, and providing support and awareness to families.

Challenge: Undocumented people who are deported from the US back to Mexico face discrimination, stigma, and mental health issues. Many were taken to the US as children, so don’t speak Spanish or have a close connection to the territory or community to which they have returned. Many struggle with family separation. 

Solution: ODA will bring together people across Mexico who have been deported from the US, creating a space for healing and organizing through the use of art methodologies. This will scale up an existing community-building initiative known as the Pocha House, and use both in-person and virtual spaces. 

Expected results: Through “artivism” and collective action, this project will address feelings of isolation and powerlessness, empowering individuals, returning their sense of agency, and fostering connection, healing, belonging, and community.

Challenge: Sudanese refugee arrivals have strained Renk’s education system, with many children missing out schooling and suffering from a lack of outlets for positive, creative expression. This exacerbates mental health issues and worsens relationships between camp residents and host communities.​

Solution: Education for Peace will conduct a teacher-training programme, targeting teachers and potential teaching assistants in the community. Drama workshops, radio plays, puppet shows, and sports competitions will help youth address conflicts, accept differences, and develop a sense of belonging, while a documentary will be produced to raise awareness of refugee talent.

Expected results: 60 teachers will receive teacher training to improve the quality of education offered to youth, while 500 young people will benefit from drama workshops. Displaced youth will organize a month-long drama festival, with the participation of host communities, showcasing the peace-building potential of drama and education.

Endorsed in 2022, this project was delayed by evolving realities in Sudan. It will be implemented through 2024.