Sustainable livelihoods can ensure protection and solutions for refugees, internally displaced and stateless individuals and make them independent of humanitarian aid. For this reason, UNHCR runs livelihoods programmes for refugees and the most vulnerable IDPs together with partners and the authorities.
For Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, UNHCR provides vocational training, starter kits for businesses and seeds through partners. The government has allocated land for refugees for this purpose, and new markets are developing which also benefit the local population.
In addition, UNHCR partners with other livelihood actors, including in Lagos, to help urban refugees back on their feet through micro-finance tools such as loans, aiming at the economic inclusion of refugees.
Economic and financial inclusion
UNHCR’s livelihood interventions seek to ensure that forcibly displaced people can earn a safe and sustainable living to meet their basic needs. Sustainable livelihoods contribute to their dignity and provide for full enjoyment of their human rights.
This programme is complemented by UNHCR’s work for financial inclusion of refugees, i.a. by facilitating that they can open bank accounts and get ATM cards. The Central Bank of Nigeria, too, has contributed to the financial inclusion of refugees in the country by instructing the banks to accept refugee IDs for bank transactions instead of requesting cumbersome paperwork.