Economic Inclusion of the Poorest Refugees: Building Resilience Through the Graduation Approach

Humanitarian and development actors are exploring strategies to build resilience and livelihood opportunities for people who are displaced to enable them to better cope with the economic and social stress over the long term. The Graduation Approach—a carefully sequenced, multisector “big push”—can increase refugees’ ability to earn income and increase their self-reliance and resilience

This brief discusses how the Graduation Approach can increase refugees' ability to earn income and increase their self-reliance and resilience. Applying a "Graduation lens" to its operations helps the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to carefully sequence its existing interventions so the poorest refugees who qualify for Graduation receive the appropriate support at the appropriate point in their development—cash assistance in the early phase as participants get their footing and participate in skills training activities, seed capital grant or job placement to boost their income, and individualized mentoring throughout.