Making Finance Work for Refugees, IDPs and Host communities Programme

The training course “Making finance work for refugees, IDPs and host communities” is targeting managers of financial services providers FSPs that currently serve or consider serving refugees and host communities with financial services.

Web page | 29 January 2021
With an emphasis on social justice, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Social Finance Programme supports efforts to extend financial services to excluded persons by addressing two main goals: the promotion of better employment; and the reduction in the vulnerability of the working poor.

Among other tools, the ILO invests in the capacity building of managers of various types of financial service providers (FSPs) to advance financial inclusion. Jointly with its International Training Center (ITC ILO) it has been developing and delivering management training curricula for almost two decades.

Not only the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record but also the number of forcibly displaced populations (FDPs) is growing every year and displacements are also lasting longer. Under the PROSPECTS partnership, benefiting from a four-year time horizon (2019–2023) and financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the ILO and 4 other partners (IFC, UNHCR, UNICEF and WB), together with national and local institutions, have joined efforts to develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises, particularly through the involvement of development actors.

As displacement has become increasingly protracted, the actors are more and more from the humanitarian development nexus, and the responses are becoming more focused on durable solutions, to support more dignified, inclusive and comprehensive programmes for refugees and the communities that host them. Self- reliance and empowerment need to be facilitated and, financial inclusion is part of the equation.

This new training course “Making finance work for refugees and host communities” is targeting managers of financial services providers FSPs that currently serve or consider serving refugees and host communities with financial services.

Training course

This training programme helps financial service providers to diversify their product portfolio through serving refugees and host communities, in a strategic and cost-effective manner. It is relevant to institutions that are looking for ways to serve these population groups more effectively, as well as institutions that have not yet diversified and are seeking guidance on where and how to start.

The course is designed for middle and high level managers of various types financial services providers. The course is also useful for funding agencies and technical assistance providers who are supporting financial inclusion of refugees and the diversification efforts of the FSPs.

Goals

Participants of the course will:
  • Be exposed to accumulated experiences, global, regional and local, in serving refugees and host communities;
  • Design a specific outreach strategy for serving the target group;
  • Obtain tools and strategies for serving the segment within a broader diversification context;
  • Prepare an action plan ready for implementation.

Past and future trainings for financial service providers

KENYA – Nairobi: February 22nd – February 26th 2021

ETHIOPIA – Addis Ababa: March 1st – March 5th 2021

UGANDA – Entebbe: May 31st – June 4th 2021.

IRAQ – Erbil: February 14th – 18th 2022

More information

Click on the image to read the course description: