Rethinking education and entrepreneurship for refugees: Interplay between policies and realities of five refugee groups


Preeti Dagar, University of Glasgow

Developing countries in Global South host 83% of the world’s refugee populations (UNHCR, 2023 [1]) and are struggling to create education, livelihoods, and social inclusion opportunities for these marginalised groups (Bartlett and Ghaffar-Kucher, 2013 [2], Jacobsen and Fratzke, 2016 [3]). To sustain these refugees in their host countries, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNESCO promote skills and vocational training linked to self-employment and entrepreneurship, termed as refugee self-reliance. This paper combines capabilities and intersectional lenses to examine the effects of race, gender, class, ethnic, and religious identities of refugees on entrepreneurial skills development and utilisation. it provides policy implications for refugee education and entrepreneurship initiatives in protracted refugee situations. Finally, the study provides empirical evidence to support SDG [4] 4 and 8, particularly targets 4.3 and 8.3. These two targets promote equal and affordable access to education and encourage entrepreneurship. Drawing on qualitative research, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participatory drawing sessions were conducted with 66 respondents from Afghan, Rohingya, Somali, Chin, and Tibetan communities, and staff members from refugee organisations. The research examined skills and vocational education and livelihood opportunities available for refugees from five refugee groups in three cities of India: Delhi, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. The study was based on a qualitative research [5] design intending to capture refugee participants aspirations and expectations from the available skills training opportunities and avenues of utilising these learned skills to generate livelihoods. By bridging capabilities approach and intersectionality approaches, the paper draws attention to intertwined systems of power (education, skills, labour, and refugee policies), social structures (cultural norms and social hierarchies) and identities (gender, race, class, religion, nationality, and so on) of refugees that affect refugee skills utilisation for enterprise development, income generation, and well-being. Although all refugees are disadvantaged, some refugees, particularly refugee women, encounter more significant difficulties than others in attending training, generating livelihoods, and creating the lives that they desire. This study showcased refugee women had fewer resources, freedoms, and opportunities for skills enhancement and entrepreneurship engagement than refugee men. Refugee women, with their complex intersecting identities of race, religion, culture, ethnicity, religion, and nationality, find it hard to use their earned skills in the market to create entrepreneurship opportunities. By drawing attention to structural, legal, economic, and social factors, the paper deals with the freedom and agency of refugees in choosing what kind of education and work they want to be engaged in. By combining capabilities with intersectionality, the paper argues that the idea of entrepreneurship for refugees should seek to move beyond the neoliberal agenda of self-employment and self-reliance and towards well-being, social integration, and holistic development.

This paper will be presented at the following session: