Resource Library

Forced Migration

Innovation Refugees

Publisher: Refugee Studies Centre

Place of Publish: United Kingdon, Oxford

Year: 2014

Page Numbers: 27

Series: 14-Sep

Acc. No: 378-J

Category: Journals

Subjects: Adult Education

Languages: English

The supplement is produced in collaboration with the Refugee Studies Centre's Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP). Innovation around displacement is not new. Displaced people themselves and those attempting to assist and protect them have always been having new ideas about how to deal with their needs. Yet the imperfections of current approaches are obvious in the challenges that we continue to face. By looking at old problems in new ways and by seeking and fostering innovation itself, new products can be developed, new ways of working can be devised and new modalities and paradigms can emerge to make the lives of displaced people better, more sustainable and less risky. Although innovation by way of adaptation to new situations and emerging technologies is present within refugee assistance, history suggests that innovation in the case of the main livelihoods assistance practices largely does not mean the creation of something new. It is instead their structure and implementation that have changed. Focusing on refugee livelihoods with this understanding may be one of the most innovative forms of assistance yet. These 11 articles reflect some of the thinking behind humanitarian innovation for displaced people, and some of its current manifestations, reflects the focus of the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP). The eleven articles include contributions from HIP's Humanitarian Innovation Conference (held in Oxford in July 2014) and reflect some of the thinking behind humanitarian innovation for displaced people, and some of its current manifestations.