Stories from the Creative Economy: Making the Case for Refugee Artisan Enterprise

The Artisan Alliance has travelled across the globe, conducting field visits to learn more about the social and economic impact artisan work has on refugees. Today, there are 68 million refugees whose average length of time as a refugee is 20 years. Refugees have a special status and cannot generally assume formal wage employment in their host country, reliant instead on humanitarian assistance. Many refugees live for decades without the dignity of productive employment and the ability to earn an income for their families.

In this set of case studies, the Artisan Alliance explores Indego Africa, RefuSHE, and the Jordan River Foundation, three diverse social enterprises working with refugee artisans in Africa and the Middle East. During these field visits, the Artisan Alliance surveyed program participants, conducted in-depth interviews, and documented the insights of relevant stakeholders from the public and private sphere.

While each story is unique, we found many common threads that tie together to create successes working with refugees in the artisan sector. Local staff, the teaching of transferrable skills, psychosocial support, and business and financial literacy training all play a role in the creation of a successful artisan refugee and social enterprise.

To read the full case study report, click here.

Case Study Launch Event

In December 2019, the Artisan Alliance welcomed over 60 guests to the REACH at the Kennedy Center to celebrate and discuss the findings of our new case study report, “Stories from the Creative Economy: Making the Case for Refugee Artisan Enterprise.” Audience members included Artisan Alliance members, USA for UNCHR colleagues, and representatives from leading organizations working in the field of refugees, including Refugees International and the UN Refugee Agency. This event was co-hosted by One Journey, an organization aiming to shape the narrative about refugees in the United States through food, art, music, entrepreneurship, technology, and storytelling. One Journey’s mission of creating a world where refugees and their host communities can thrive together aligns with the purpose of “Stories from the Creative Economy:” to provide a strong case towards the value of artisan enterprise in the lives of refugees around the world. 

Speakers included Peggy Clark, Artisan Alliance Director, Vanda Berninger, Co-Founder of One Journey, Donna Greenfield, Artisan Alliance advisory board representative, Karen Yelick, CEO of Indego Africa, Enaam Barrishi, Director General of Jordan River Foundation, and Jailan Adly, CEO of RefuSHE. The discussion centered on the impact of their organization on the lives of artisan refugees in Jordan, Rwanda, and Kenya, the value of integrating culture and societal norms into the new economic independence of their refugee artisans, the challenges with developing and running global supply chains, and hopes they have for the future of the creative economy.