Employment and decent work in refugee and other forced displacement contexts

Compendium of ILO’s lessons learned, emerging good practices and policy guidance

In line with the structure of the 2016 ILO’s Guiding Principles on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market, the compendium synthesizes the main lessons learned and emerging good practices on ILO’s refugee response programmes that have been more systematically captured since 2013 in the areas related to governance framework, economic and employment policies, labour rights and equality of opportunities, along with partnership, coordination and coherence.

The compendium is built on the ILO’s expertise in providing access to decent work, notably through its large-scale and comprehensive interventions in responding to the Syrian refugee situation in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and more recently in supporting constituents to address the labour market challenges posed by the Venezuelan displacement situation and in the Horn of Africa and North Africa under the Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities (PROSPECTS), funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

This compendium makes the case as to why employment and decent work should be part of a comprehensive response for refugees and FDPs and host communities, and for the ILO’s increased engagement in this area. Through the compendium, the ILO also seeks to reinforce coordination and coherence across its technical branches and field offices, as well as with partner organizations in operationalizing access to decent work for refugees and other FDPs.

The compendium is the result of a collaborative effort within the ILO between the Labour Migration Branch (MIGRANT), the Development and Investment Branch (DEVINVEST) and the Office of the Director General for Policy.