In December 2021 RIN kicked off a partnership with the IKEA Foundation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to build the field for ‘refugee lens investing’ (“RLI”) in East Africa.
The partnership is centered on developing an evidence base to mobilize finance and exploring how catalytic capital can advance climate resilience, refugee self-reliance, and social cohesion between those displaced and their hosting communities in the region.
The project aims to identify concrete approaches to financial innovation and investment strategies to advance social and economic integration of forcibly displaced people within their communities. It will also help bridge labor gaps and build a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in East Africa that will generate dignified work opportunities for forcibly displaced people (FDP) and their host communities.
As part of Phase I of this work, RIN and Acumen hosted an inaugural Refugee Lens Investing Summit in Nairobi to convene 100 key stakeholders representing the emerging refugee lens ecosystem in East Africa.
Phase I
The work linked below has been completed in Phase I of this initiative; Phase II is currently under development.
RLI Market Assessments: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda
RIN’s in-depth Refugee Lens Investing (RLI) market assessments highlight barriers to refugee self-reliance, financial & policy mechanisms to help mitigate barriers, opportunities presented by refugees and host communities, and RLI investment pipelines.
Responding to Barriers Through Refugee Lens Investing: Uganda Study
RIN identifies high impact business models and sectors for Refugee Lens Investing (RLI) in Uganda, featuring a pipeline of specific market actors and potential partners.
RLI Market Analysis & Strategy for Secondary Cities in Ethiopia and Uganda
With support from Cities Alliance, RIN identified key challenges and opportunities specific to investing in refugee lens companies in secondary cities in Ethiopia and Uganda to offer guidance to investors, donors, and NGOs seeking to support these enterprises.