New development: From aid to empowerment—making refugee policy more sustainable

Abstract

IMPACT: Globally, refugee support has been rendered unsustainable by the contemporary pace and scale of human displacement. This article proposes that policy shifts towards greater opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers can complement humanitarian aid and ease the financial pressure building in the sector. This article examines what ‘opportunity-focused initiatives’ look like by focusing on refugee business support initiatives being piloted in several territories around the world. The authors consider the practical and policy implications of this shift and propose a research agenda to facilitate collaborations between public administrators, researchers, programme delivery bodies and refugee communities.