The world is witnessing a series of unprecedented major displacement crises with 68.5 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, including 25.4 million refugees, 3.1 million asylum seekers and 40 million internally displaced people (IDPs) (UNHCR, 2019). Cities are at the forefront of migration and receive more refugees and asylum seekers than rural areas. More than 60 per cent of all refugees reside in urban regions (World Refugee Council, 2018). In 2017, Asia hosted the largest refugee population of 14.7 million, followed by Africa with 6.3 million, and in total, the countries of the global South hosted 21 million refugees or asylum seekers (UNDESA, 2017). Therefore, contrary to common assumptions the vast majority of the world’s urban refugees are not relocating to cities in the global North, but are moving to neighbouring countries and developing cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East (UNHCR, 2019). 

Developing countries host 85 percent of all the displaced people worldwide (UNHCR, 2019). Four out of every five refugees were located in the neighbouring countries of their origin country (UNHCR, 2017). The refugee population in Asia has increased by 21 per cent between 2016 and 2017, primarily due to the displacement of people from Myanmar (UNHCR, 2017). UNHCR in India records that the country has granted asylum and is supporting around 200,000 refugees (UNHCR, 2017). However, research has often claimed that the actual figures are probably much higher (Field, Tiwari & Mookherjee, 2017; Sanderson, 2015; Zetter & Ruaudel, 2016). A significant number of refugees prefer to remain under the radar rather than formally register, in fear of deportation and discrimination. 

The UNHCR, as the largest international actor and coordinator in refugee crises, has started focusing on livelihood approaches as a major strategy. UNHCR livelihood programming promotes access to vocational, technical, skills and entrepreneurship training for refugees to generate employment. However, there are multiple challenges related to the success and sustainability of these programmes. I will present my recent research project aimed at measuring the direct impact of skills and vocational training for livelihood generation, and various factors that affect the perception, engagement and participation of refugees in these programmes.

The findings of this research have been analysed through the lens of capabilities approach and intersectionality. A conceptual framework of sustainable livelihoods has also been employed to reflect on the findings. 

The research included 66 participants from five different refugee groups including Afghan, Somali, Chin, Tibetan and Rohingya. Some participants of this research were staff and volunteers who worked with local and international refugee organisations. The research is a comparative case study of refugees in three big cities of India: Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur. The qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews, arts-informed participatory method and focus groups interviews as data collection methods with the participants to record their experiences and expectation from the available opportunities of skills and vocational training programmes and their usefulness in generating a sustainable livelihood. The participants were recruited through snowball sampling. Snowball sampling was employed as a data collection method for studying hard to reach marginalised populations (Volz and Heckathorn, 2008). In total, 48 semi-structured interviews, 4 focus groups and 14 one to one participatory drawing sessions were conducted. The research includes both documented and non-documented refugees. For the analysis of data, an inductive, interpretive approach (Blaxter, Hughes & Tight, 2010) is being employed in which themes and patterns of meaning are identified across a dataset in relation to the research questions (Patton, 2002).

In the presentation, I argue that the opportunities for skills and vocational training, and livelihood generation increase chances of repatriation for urban refugees, and contribute towards the socio-economic development of host countries. It is crucial to recognise refugees’ previous knowledge, qualifications and skills. Additionally, livelihood strategies should not only be targeted at income generation but also towards social and economic inclusion of refugees and supporting the sustainable livelihood of both the refugee population and the host community. The research contributes to the field of education by providing evidence-based policy recommendations to make the vocational and skills training programmes more useful and connected to the livelihoods of urban refugees. The research aims to propose practical interventions and create suggestions for further research. The study will be of considerable interest to policymakers, adult educators, transnational organisations, and related practitioners, especially in the context of creating inclusive learning cities and reducing inequalities in education.

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