Taking the Initiative to Help Refugees Around the World

IFC and the UNHCR are creating solutions to help millions of displaced people and their host countries.

Every day, thousands of people around the world are forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters, conflict, persecution, violence, and human rights violations. At the end of 2021, more than 89 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Climate-related disasters and the war in Ukraine have sent that toll climbing even higher, with more than 103 million people now displaced and living in increasingly dire circumstances.

We face a forced-migration crisis of historic proportions, one that creates challenges not only for the refugees themselves but also for their host countries. An estimated 74 percent of forcibly displaced people are hosted in low and middle-income countries, often by communities facing similar socioeconomic challenges. With these already-struggling countries unable to bear the weight of tens of thousands of new—and often desperate—immigrants, this crisis is too much for governments and humanitarian agencies to handle alone.

Increasingly, the international community is looking to the private sector for help.

Today, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency ) Filippo Grandi and I proudly announced a joint IFC-UNHCR initiative to advance solutions for both those who have been forcibly displaced and their hosts. These solutions will include job creation, financial infrastructure, provision of better, affordable services, and capital for small businesses.

With this partnership, we recognize the need to address not only immediate humanitarian needs but also long-term development challenges—the need for solutions that allow refugees to rebuild their lives, to support themselves and their families, and to ease the burden on their host countries.

The private sector has an important role to play in creating markets and attracting investment opportunities that can foster healthy financial ecosystems. IFC has some experience in this area, with a diverse portfolio of investment and advisory projects across several regions, and having completed successful projects around the world, including in partnership with the UNHCR.

• In Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, home to nearly 200,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, IFC created and operates the Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF) in cooperation with the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund and the UNHCR. KKCF funding helps attract private investment and boost economic outcomes. The camp now hosts thriving private enterprises, with refugees and host-community members launching business from tailors to farmers to bakeries.
• Türkiye has become a haven for refugees, particularly those fleeing the protracted conflict in Syria. Among those most affected by the influx of displaced person have been Türkiye’s micro, small, and medium businesses (MSMEs)—the biggest source of jobs in the heavily impacted regions. In 2019, as banks increasingly denied credit to small business owners, IFC provided a financing package of up to $133 million to one of Turkey’s leading commercial banks, Garanti BBVA . The funds—from IFC, the European Fund for Southeast Europe, Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG - OeEB (OeEB), and the Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF)—were earmarked for small businesses, women-owned enterprises, and energy-efficient and renewable-energy sectors.
• Brazil has long opened its doors to millions of refugees—from Congo, Angola, Haiti, Syria, and Venezuela—and has even allowed most refugees to work. But long-term integration of this forcibly displaced population into a productive life in Brazil proved to be a challenge. In 2020, IFC and the UNHCR created Making Markets Work for Forcibly Displaced Populations, a unique initiative aimed at giving refugees a chance to rebuild their lives in their new homes. The initiative helped show the private sector—including companies like Sodexo—the business case for employing FDPs. The project proved both successful and scalable—in Latin America and beyond.

This IFC partnership with the UNHCR is about changing mindsets: it’s about seeing displaced populations not only as victims, but as economic actors, consumers, and producers. It is a tangible, powerful example of how we can join forces to rebuild lives. It’s the ultimate impact investment.

More on the UNHCR - IFC Initiative to Boost Private Sector Engagement for Refugees and Their Host Communities