The Women’s Refugee Commission is engaged in a three-year research and advocacy project aimed at improving the effectiveness of economic programming targeting refugee, internally displaced and returning women and youth.
The project includes ten field assessments covering camps, urban settings and early return contexts. Under the program, six innovative pilot projects have been funded to allow operational organizations to try out new approaches and capture new learning.
The American Refugee Committee (ARC) implements the pilot project in Southern Sudan. This project utilized an extensive value chain approach and analysis of market systems in areas of return to facilitate refugees’ preparations to engage in enterprises that would provide the greatest employment and income generation opportunities. These types of in-depth market analyses have traditionally been neglected by relief and development agencies. They provide an important learning opportunity to determine the impact of applying more sophisticated market techniques to refugee livelihood programs.
Based on market analysis, the project identified apiculture (beekeeping) and lulu nut processing as suitable high-return sub-sectors for refugees. Women process lulu nuts (also known as shea nuts) which are used in high-value goods such as oil, shea butter, soaps and body lotions. The goal of the value chain approach in both subsectors is to:
- Generate research through these pilot activities to identify innovative, commercially viable solutions for current obstacles to high-quality shea nut oil and honey production;
- Improve the information flow among value chain actors and between levels of the shea nut (lulu) and apiculture value chains, expanding and strengthening market linkages; and
- Encourage suppliers and processing firms to invest in new production areas and techniques.
Through facilitation of activities in the targeted subsectors, the project targets sustainable improvements in honey and shea nut oil production, leading to increased wealth for women and their families.
On-going evaluation has led to adaptations in order to reach the overall goal of facilitating sustainable livelihood interventions for refugees. For example, it was determined that the program can have higher impact on transferring marketable skill sets when participants have a “go-and-see visit” to their place of origin. The project capitalizes on these visits to include a vocational training component, since conducting trainings in areas of return not only transfers skill sets but also contributes to social cohesiveness.
Terrence Isert (terryi@archq.org) or Connie Kamara (conniek@archq.org)
American Refugee Committee International
430 Oak Grove Street, Suite 204
Minneapolis, MN 55410
August 2006 - October 2009
For more information on the whole program, see the Promoting Appropriate Livelihoods for Displaced Women and Youth activity profile, or contact Dale Buscher at daleb@womenscommission.org.
