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Women's Refugee Commission, Building Livelihoods: a Field Manual

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Women's Refugee Commission, Building Livelihoods: a Field Manual MAY 2009 WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION Building Livelihoods A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION The Women’s Refugee Commission advocates vigorously for laws, policies and programs to improve the lives and protect the rights of refugee and internally displaced women, children and young people— bringing about lasting, measurable change. The Women’s Refugee Commission is affi liated with and is legally part of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profi t 501(c)(3) organization, and does not receive direct fi nancial support from the IRC. © 2009 Women’s Refugee Commission ISBN: 1-58030-080-079-0 Women’s Refugee Commission 122 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10168-1289 212.551.3115 [email protected] womensrefugeecommission.org Front cover: A Bhutanese refugee woman sells vegetables to other refugees in the camp in Nepal, illustrating what is possible in a closed camp. © Lauren Heller Back cover: Displaced Chadian women collect small fi sh in a pool in the waddi near Dogdore, Chad. © UNHCR/H. Caux WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION MAY 2009 A Building Livelihoods A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION iii Introduction v Conceptual Framework Contents 2 Working with Host Governments 288 Tools and Approaches 28 Training and Placement Programs 289 Situation Analysis 56 For-Work Programming 293 Confl ict Analysis 94 Building In-Camp Economies 297 Participatory Needs Assessments 114 Supporting Agrarian Interventions 301 An Approach to Participatory Rural Appraisal 152 Microfi nance Interventions 304 Market Assessment 190 Enterprise Development 310 An Approach to Value Chain Analysis 222 Public-Private Partnerships 316 Labor Market Assessment 254 Leveraging Remittances 320 Organizational Capacity Assessment 323 Monitoring and Evaluation 327 Further Resources for Assessment Tools and Approaches 329 Additional Resources 333 Annex: Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery After Crisis 337 Acronyms and Abbreviations 341 Glossary 349 Acknowledgments 351 Feedback Form A Introduction Too often, livelihood programs serving refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those returning to post-confl ict countries and regions are poorly designed and inappropriate for the context, and seldom lead to sustainable employment and income-generating activities. Though their intentions are good, program developers and managers struggle against enormous odds to do the best they can in very diffi cult working environments, often under immense time pressures and with too few resources. Information and tools on how to select and design appropriate livelihood programs are seldom available in usable formats with clear guidance. And yet, everyone, from local community-based organizations to international nongovernmental organizations to policy makers and donors, wants to support, fund and implement more effective programs to support the self-reliance of the displaced. As the length of displacement continues to extend for many populations, now averaging 17 years for the majority of refugees, it is essential that we get it right and design these programs better. This fi eld manual has been developed to provide practitioners with usable information and helpful tools so that they can design and implement more effective livelihood programs—programs that are based on market demand and are contextually appropriate; programs that build on the existing skills and experience within the target population; and programs that enhance the dignity and options for the displaced. In this era of growing food and economic insecurity, it is imperative that we begin to rethink the role of humanitarian assistance and shift away from handouts and enforced dependency. Humanitarian assistance must be about restoring lives, supporting families and rebuilding communities. It must be about restoring dignity. It must be about creating opportunities and preparing the displaced for their future lives in their countries and regions of origin, or wherever they may fi nd a long-term living solution. iii WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION This publication by the Women’s Refugee Commission is based on two-and-a-half years of research and 10 fi eld assessments covering all contexts of displacement: refugee, IDP and returnee situations, in camp settings, as well as in rural and urban areas. It is informed by several pilot projects that were funded from one to three years in places such as the refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border; with women at-risk of gender-based violence who have returned to Burundi; and in the slums of Bogotá, Colombia, home to a large displaced population. The fi eld manual has been reviewed and contributed to by experts from the NGO practitioner, UN and academic communities, including those who participated in a three-day intensive workshop at the Rockefeller Foundation’s conference center in Bellagio, Italy. This fi eld manual does not provide all the answers, nor does it provide models that can be simply replicated from one context to another. Instead, it provides guidance, ideas, tools and suggestions to assist practitioners and program managers in making strategic choices about their livelihood interventions so that programs can be appro- priately designed and have greater impact. This fi eld manual was produced to assist practitioners who desire to strengthen their skills and enhance their knowledge in order to do better livelihoods and economic recovery programming. The Women’s Refugee Commission hopes that the manual helps members of the humanitarian community succeed in our endeavor to do better—the displaced deserve no less. iv A Conceptual Framework INTRODUCTION Humanitarian aid has historically focused on emergency relief.1 This has translated into programs that focus on “addressing the immediate needs of displaced persons, such as food, water, shelter and health care.”2 As a result, aid to displaced populations has focused on short-term assistance, with the expectation that resettlement or return would occur in the near future. However, today, a person uprooted by confl ict will remain displaced for an average of 17 years. Therefore, assistance to displaced populations must emphasize the provision of skills, training and economic opportunities leading to self-reliance in order for displaced people to regain or develop new livelihoods and rebuild their lives. A livelihood, as defi ned by Robert Chambers and Gordon Conway, “comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living.”3 The livelihood strategies that displaced households develop to secure a means of living depend on how they can strategi- cally utilize their livelihood assets; respond to the vulnerabilities they face in the unstable context in which they live; and the policies, institutions and processes that have an effect on their lives and livelihoods. The livelihood outcomes that households achieve with their strategies are a result of all these factors—their assets, their vulnerabilities and the policies, institutions and processes that either enhance or restrict their livelihood options. v WOMEN’S REFUGEE COMMISSION Confl ict can have a profound and long-term outcomes and expectations of both the community negative impact on livelihoods. Those who are and individual participants for livelihood interven- displaced by confl ict are forced to adopt new strate- tions. As a result, livelihood programs often do not gies to provide for themselves and their households. successfully increase participants’ incomes or their While already vulnerable due to displacement, ability to become more self-suffi cient. Participants new livelihood strategies can increase the risk of in these programs are left with little choice but to violence, abuse and exploitation against displaced continue to resort to negative, and often unsafe, people. Women and young people are particu- coping strategies to support themselves. Depen- larly vulnerable in these settings. Recurring armed dence upon humanitarian assistance, coupled with confl ict, along with sexual and domestic violence, the frustration of not being able to safely provide the sickness or death of family members or loss for their unmet needs, leads to a profound waste of employment, can quickly collapse women’s of human capacity and potential for displaced income generation activities and severely deplete people, many of whom possess valuable skills and their assets. Women often have no safety net; they experience. Designing livelihood interventions that usually fl ee with few resources and little preparation promote greater self-reliance not only improves the and, at times, become separated from or lose family lives of participants themselves, but can also alleviate members. A lack of access to economic opportunity the burdens often placed on host countries and while displaced forces many women and girls to humanitarian aid organizations to support them, of resort to harmful measures to survive. These may particular concern as funding to support protracted include working as commercial sex workers, putting displaced populations decreases over time.4 themselves at risk of rape, violence and abuse through the collection of fi rewood in unsafe areas or trading sex for food to compensate for the often The Women’s Refugee Commission developed this inadequate humanitarian aid provided. fi eld manual with the goal of providing practitioners with tools, guidance, lessons learned and promising Access to safe,
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