The world is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis. At the end of 2015, over 65 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced.

Among this group, 40.8 million were internally displaced people, 21.3 million were refugees and 3.2 million were asylum seekers. These people were forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict, violence, human rights abuses and persecution. They come from a small number of countries but end up widely dispersed. Helping forcibly displaced people become self-reliant and economically active in their host countries is key to ensuring a sustainable solution to this global challenge. When it comes to refugees, at the end of 2015, 86% of all refugees under UNHCR mandate were in developing regions close to situations of conflict.

Financial services have a critical role to play in mitigating the crisis ensure resilience and greater self-reliance of forcibly displaced people in protracted situations. Emerging evidence shows that affordable access to financial services can help forcibly displaced people cope with negative shocks, reduce exposure to risk, and stimulate economic activity at community levels.

To encourage Financial Service Providers to reach this market segment, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) are launching a technical assistance (TA) facility hosted at UNCDF that will support Providers operating in developing countries to enhance their efforts and strengthen their capacity to reach refugee and other displaced populations, as well as host communities.

The TA facility will extend grants, loans and technical assistance to a range of Providers – Digital Identification, financial services, remittance services, mobile money operators, mobile network operators, and aggregators – via requests for support issued by the Facility. The expected use of funds from the facility includes, but is not limited to, feasibility and market assessments for the UNHCR priority countries, product and channel development, MIS updates and enhancements, and expansion of non-financial services such as financial education, access to IDs, and consumer protection.

The TA facility will initially target ten countries, the bulk of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. With UNHCR’s deep knowledge of refugees and its country presence joined with UNCDF’s technical expertise in financial inclusion of last mile populations, digital financial services, consumer protection, youth and women’s economic empowerment, this joint effort will result in increased resiliency of these underserved markets.

"The vast majority of forcibly displaced people today have no access to affordable financial services that can meet their needs. This is mainly due to legal barriers and lack of knowledge by financial service providers of this largely untapped financial market segment. Being financially excluded further exacerbates the state of vulnerability of forcibly displaced people and limits their ability to contribute to the economic development of their host countries. The Technical Assistance Fund established by UNHCR and UNCDF aims at changing the status quo by supporting financial institutions to successfully reach and serve refugees and other forcibly displaced, alongside financially excluded national communities."

Ms Micol Pistelli
Financial Inclusion Specialist, UNHCR

As UN’s capital investment agency focusing on developing financially inclusive markets, UNCDF is proud to work hand in hand with UNHCR to roll-out a Technical Assistance Fund to support financial, remittance and mobile money providers to reach forcibly displaced people and their host communities. These unbanked populations are economic actors who create jobs, purchase goods, and contribute to the host countries' growth. UNCDF and UNHCR look forward to designing cutting edge innovations which contribute to strengthened livelihoods of refugees, the forcibly displaced, and their host communities.

Ms Pamela Eser
MicroLead Programme Manager, UNCDF

For more information, please contact:

Ms Micol Pistelli
Financial Inclusion Specialist
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
@micolpistelli

Ms Pamela Eser
MicroLead Programme Manager
UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
pamela.eser@uncdf.org