Understanding refugee livelihoods in protracted displacement: towards establishing a multi-methods network of expertise

This project will kickstart a network of expertise around the issue of refugee livelihoods, self-reliance strategies and employment in Jordan and other hosting countries. It pioneers a new focus on refugee women’s employment and the relevance of social reproduction and informal networks for creating sustainable livelihood opportunities. It will lead to a joint bid to explore these issues in Jordan, the first major country of first reception to partially legalise Syrian refugee labour, and then extend the lessons learned to other cases (e.g. Uganda, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Lebanon). This seed funding will cover a meeting in Amman, Jordan, to bring researchers from Bath and Oslo together with local stakeholders in order to establish the joint research agenda. Strand 2 - Europe & N. America 2019.

This project will establish a joint research agenda around how refugee and host community households (can) make a living, and will particularly take into consideration the many (paid and particularly unpaid) ways in which women contribute to the survival of poor households. Researchers from the university of Bath and from the Norwegian research institute Fafo will gather existing knowledge around these issues in Jordan, where many Syrian refugees are now legally allowed to work, and other cases around the world, and jointly apply for funding to expand this research agenda.