Overview

Displacement is at an all-time high and is projected to climb in the coming decades. There is limited evidence, however, about how to best respond. How do we effectively strengthen outcomes for displaced and host communities? What kinds of interventions can help displaced populations access employment, integrate into local labor markets, and become self-reliant? How do we scale impactful solutions? 

The IPA and J-PAL Displaced Livelihoods Initiative, with support from the IKEA Foundation, is building the evidence base on these questions. Through a new webinar series, IPA and J-PAL will profile results from completed and ongoing projects on displaced livelihoods, aimed at enabling informed policy and programmatic decision-making.

Recordings will be available approximately 1-3 business days after each event. For more information on each webinar and registration, please see below.

For more on the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative and its studies, see this page.

Webinar 1: Emerging Evidence on Refugee Employment in Cox’s Bazar

After fleeing Myanmar in 2017, today nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Now the world’s largest stateless population, the Rohingyas in Bangladesh are barred from public education and formal work, relying almost entirely on humanitarian assistance. Strong evidence on how best to support the basic needs of this population, let alone provide for sustainable livelihoods, is limited.

New research is shedding light on the impacts of employment for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. In our first webinar of the series, our speakers presented their own contributions to this emerging evidence:

• Reshmaan Hussam presented her recent work on how employment affects the mental well-being of men, women, and their households.
• Fatima Zahra discussed her ongoing research on the link between Rohingya fathers’ employment, psychosocial well-being, and engagement with their children during early childhood development.

UNHCR Economist Md Iltemas Amin Adee then provided commentary on the policy and practice implications of this research.

Please see below a recording of our webinar, which took place on April 22, 2025. Thank you to our speakers for such a thoughtful discussion!