MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND September 2022 | Issue 1 BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN MAIN TAKEAWAYS BACKGROUND The Mashreq Gender Facility (MFG) focuses on The economic empowerment of forcibly displaced mechanisms to support the economic inclusion women (FDW) can contribute to greater resilience of forcibly displaced women (FDW). Highlights of and improved livelihoods for both displaced lessons learned from support to on-the ground people and host communities. Forcibly displaced activities include: persons – including both refugees and IDPs – a. Adopt a stakeholder-groups approach in have often lost many According to UNHCR investing: Refugee-focused investments that of their assets, suffered (2021), approximately identify FDW by labor market status will help to depleted human and one in five refugees maximize impact of investments and enhance social capital, and worldwide live in the their economic inclusion. experienced traumatic Mashreq1 events. They need b. Boost entrepreneurship: Private partners economic opportunities should support displaced women’s participation in to avoid falling into poverty or dependency, but businesses through targeted financing, capacity- they can face severe legal, security, or economic building, and networking for female entrepreneurs. restrictions on their ability to work or move freely (World Bank 2017). For example, in many host countries including the Mashreq, displaced women c. Overcome barriers of employment access: and girls face particular challenges: they often Infrastructural, legal, cultural, skills, and family face or are threatened by gender-based violence, responsibility-related barriers require deliberate may lack mechanisms for protection or recourse, attention as these factors may impede displaced are excluded from financial services, and face women’s economic inclusion. greater barriers to entry into local economies. As a result, FDW are less likely to be economically d. Provide tailored services and products: To active (7 percent) than displaced men (59 percent) best serve displaced populations and the needs or women in host communities (16 percent), of the market, services and products designed according to data from Jordan (Tiltnes et al. 2019). for displaced and host communities should be adaptive, sustainable, accountable, marketable, and clearly communicated. e. Create an enabling environment: Governments need to provide a legal framework for equal rights, reduce regulatory barriers, use gender- lens analysis to evaluate the success of policies, and develop programs that identify and support displaced women entrepreneurs in the long term. f. Generate disaggregated indicators: Indicators used to measure results - and, ultimately, inform future policies and programs - should be sex- disaggregated and multifarious, addressing multiple aspects of economic integration. Photo: World Bank/Raad Adileh 1 UNHCR (2021), Refugee Population Statistics Database, Refugee Data Finder, url 1 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN Beyond the intrinsic value of empowering women more investors towards making a difference in the and girls, the economic integration of FDW is smart lives of these women. economics. Women refugees and IDPs can contribute to the host country’s human capital stock, stimulate A first step for this to happen is to develop a set of trade and investment, fill in shortages in skills, criteria that will help investors make the difficult increase tax revenues, and stimulate growth (OECD decision of where to put their capital – and do so by 2017). And better economic integration fosters a providing a way to measure the potential impact of climate of trust and coexistence, leading to greater investments on the wellbeing of displaced women. social cohesion between displaced populations and This knowledge brief proposes a stakeholder-groups host communities (ILO 2020). As a result, there is an approach, according to which an investment could emerging acceptance that forcibly displaced people, be considered beneficial for displaced women if it and women in particular, should be allowed to seek supports one or more of the following categories: greater self-reliance through economic integration. | Displaced women as leaders. These This knowledge brief provides private sector actors companies and initiatives empower displaced and their partners in government, development, women. They are owned by FDW, have a and humanitarian agencies, and civil society with minimum share of displaced women on the recommendations on how to maximize the impact Board of Directors or management team, or of investments and business practices for FDW in are connected to firms owned by FDW through the Mashreq countries of Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. their value chains. While much of the knowledge summarized in this brief | Displaced women as employees and was developed from work in the Mashreq countries, contractors. These companies hire a high the principles espoused here are relevant for the share of displaced women relative to overall economic inclusion of FDW across many contexts. The employment figures in the sector, hire a high FDW label applies to both refugee women and women number of displaced women relative to the who have been displaced within their countries (i.e., overall number of work permits, or ensure IDPs), and the principles outlined in this brief will flexibility to address women-specific barriers to benefit the economic inclusion both groups. However, employment such as childcare, safe transport, some principles, particularly those pertaining to legal anti-sexual harassment policies and training, barriers, may apply better to refugees than IDPs. flexible or part-time workhours, and legal support. They may also devise processes to allow sourcing of services and products from PRIORITIZING REFUGEE - AND GENDER FDW. -LENS INVESTMENT | Displaced women as entrepreneurs. These Governments and international institutions have firms deliver entrepreneur-oriented services to recently made impact investing and sustainable displaced women, for instance by developing investing practices a key focus. This is good news in self, home-based and community employment the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and through entrepreneurship; providing its core tenet of Leave No One Behind. Indeed, gender- training, funding, innovation, and incubation lens and refugee-lens investing – that is, investing programs targeting FDW; initiating youth strategies that incorporate gender or refugee analysis entrepreneurship and employment schemes into investment decisions – have been undertaken with an impact on displaced women; and in recent years by prominent organizations and mobilizing talent and investments in support investors, including the IFC, the Refugee Investment for FDW entrepreneurs. Network, and the World Economic Forum. Given the growing interest in refugee-focused investments | Displaced women as community and the untapped potential of a growing population stakeholders. These companies contribute of displaced women, many of whom are heads of to improving the integration of FDW in a households, it is sensible to consider ways to nudge broader sense. They might specifically aim 2 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN to enhance the well-being, downstream women interviewed in Uganda and one-fourth in economic opportunities, and integration Jordan reporting strong plans to start or develop of FDW, or they might support advocacy their own businesses (FinDev Gateway 2018). Private initiatives or work towards long-term global businesses can support the entrepreneurial activities economic opportunities for women within local of displaced women, considering: communities and the displaced persons they host. | Integration. Private sector partners should support and promote women’s participation | Displaced women as consumers. These in businesses (whether driven by hosts or firms provide their services and goods to FDW, refugees) to increase economic integration of for instance by providing childcare services women as workers and entrepreneurs. to displaced women. This includes firms in sectors with development potential that may | Capacity building. Firms should ultimately result in goods and services for FDW. encourage women refugees to participate in entrepreneurship support programs inclusive | Other considerations. Investors should of newcomer and local entrepreneurs alike (e.g., also focus on companies that are: information and outreach activities) as these  Innovative – testing new approaches can help close education and skills gaps, and or instruments to enhance economic provide foundations for homebased businesses. opportunities and the wellbeing of FDW. The Africa Gender Lab has shown that a  Scalable – seeking to expand proven combination of technical business training successful or promising innovative and personal initiative training for women interventions. entrepreneurs can increase firm profits.  Catalyzing – conducive to future investments or de-risk opportunities in | Financing. Startups and enterprises driven support of FDW. by female refugees require greater access to  Crisis mitigating – with a special and promotion among financial institutions capacity to alleviate humanitarian as well as investors. Female refugees often pressures and tensions. face difficulties (structural or social norms  Impactful – with a greater positive impact for FDW and their families  Ethical – guided by the principle of do no harm. PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT FOR DISPLACED WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS New business founded and owned by FDW carry multiple benefits for displaced and host communities, from generating decent and productive employment to filling in market gaps for services and goods demanded by displaced communities. Displaced women, however, often face severe challenges to starting their own businesses. They are hamstrung by legal barriers such as documentation and address requirements, the loss of support systems and social networks, marketplace discrimination on the basis of gender or displaced status, insufficient infrastructure, undeveloped entrepreneurial skills, and lack of access to financial services and technology. Despite these barriers, displaced women show remarkable entrepreneurial ambition, with one-third of refugee Photo: UN Women/Christopher Herwig 3 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN barriers) in accessing finance, owning bank vulnerabilities of displaced women, not only accounts, and controlling the resources needed guaranteeing their freedom of movement, to run a business. Stakeholders are therefore civil documentation (including easing ability encouraged to take these challenges into to get such if ID is lost during displacement), account when working with female refugee right to work and to receive training, but also entrepreneurs. to protection, safety, and childcare measures that may help them enter and stay in the labor | Networking. Private sector actors should market. Such measures may decrease their invite FDW entrepreneurs into networks and reliance on aid and help the economy of the demonstrate the benefits of participating in host country tap the full potential of their skills such events, to facilitate business creation and and consumption. can overcome barriers to economic integration and accessing markets. This includes ensuring | Human resource policies. Female refugees representation of FDW speakers at practitioner may need additional support from businesses conferences as well as outreach specifically and policymakers to ensure access to the labor targeting refugee women. market, including childcare, safe transport, flexible work arrangements, relevant technology, and insurance. Social barriers OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO FORMAL (e.g., social norms regarding women’s right to EMPLOYMENT FOR ECONOMIC work), safety (e.g. from sexual harassment at INTEGRATION work and on the way to work), and the need to also take care of the household may discourage One of the best ways to integrate displaced female refugees from taking up work. Inclusive women into host economies is by providing decent HR policies may therefore help more FDW in employment opportunities. Displaced persons, and joining and staying in the labor market. women particularly, often face severe challenges in staying in education, obtaining relevant skills, | Intermediation. Employers’ representative entering job markets, acquiring work permits, organizations, government agencies and overcoming gender discrimination when jobs are the trade unions play a unique intermediary scarce, securing childcare and work hours flexibility, role ensuring in the economic integration of and traveling safely to work sites. As a result, FDW displaced women. often have much higher unemployment rates than host women – in Jordan, Syrian refugee women are | Skills. The qualifications and skills of female almost twice as likely to be unemployed (46 percent) refugees should be assessed, recognized, and as Syrian refugee men (23 percent) or Jordanian leveled swiftly, efficiently and in an equitable women (28 percent) (Tiltnes et al. 2019). When manner. Female headed refugee households FDW are forced to seek unregistered employment often demonstrate economic resilience and in the informal sector due to insufficient work appear committed to education, indicating that permits, they are typically denied social protection early training and youth programs, targeting and face exploitation including less pay, dangerous women (e.g., demand-driven soft and hard working conditions, and the threat of deportation. skills such as vocational training and financial This knowledge brief identifies the following ways literacy) could have positive benefits for their governments and firms can support the legal, formal, labor market inclusion. and equitable employment of displaced women: | Socialization. Women refugees should be | Governance and internal policies. The included in local programs, committees and legal framework for employment in the host networks, together with host communities country must pay particular attention to the to ensure comprehensive integration and representation of refugees. 4 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN TARGETING SERVICES AND PRODUCTS | Communication. Services and products TO DISPLACED WOMEN AND THEIR that target refugees should be communicated carefully by all stakeholders to minimize risks COMMUNITIES and enhance support for all, including private sector actors, governments, male and female Displaced women are not merely potential refugees, and host communities. entrepreneurs and employees, they are also consumers of services and goods. But displaced communities are often under-served by a private CREATING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT sector that can take advantage of vulnerable groups to offer substandard or over-priced products. To FOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION better serve the needs of displaced women, to increase commercial activity and tax revenues, and One of the national government’s crucial roles in to deepen economic ties between displaced persons the economic integration of FDW is to create an and host communities, governments and private enabling environment in which displaced women are enterprises should invest in firms that offer services considered as economic actors and not just recipients and products to displaced women. Best practices for of aid or assistance. The need is urgent: indeed, a firms to maximize their positive impact on displaced survey of Jordanians and displaced entrepreneurs in women and their communities include: Jordan found that government laws and policies were the top concern (per forthcoming WBG research). | Adaptation. Providers of services and products targeted to refugees and host communities need to follow adaptive and flexible responses, given the complexity of refugee situations and the dynamics of interactions between stakeholders. Particular sensitivity should be shown to challenges faced by women refugees, whether social, or economic. | Sustainability and accountability. Services and products are encouraged to be economically and environmentally viable, ‘do no harm’ and actively seek to deliver positive social impacts to the benefit of (male and female) refugees and host communities. | Partnerships. Private groups and business affiliates, non-profit organizations, development institutions, and government Photo: World Bank/Raad Adileh institutions are encouraged to partner These laws and policies might include increasing particularly with businesses and organizations legal access to employment through targeted work led by female refugees to create a level playing permits and the restructuring of documentation field for partnerships to deliver products and requirements and reducing barriers to market entry services to refugees. – including both those specific to gender and those that place burdens on all market participants but | Marketability. Commercial viability is a may have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable pre-requisite to sustain and scale a business populations. An enabling environment, created and that provides services and products to sustained by deliberate government action, is a refugees. Businesses should consider the precondition for economic integration through the economic capacity of women refugees to act other vectors identified in this knowledge brief. To in the marketplace to develop products and maximize the impact on the economic integration of services that cater to them and their families. displaced women, governments could: 5 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN | Develop a legal framework for equal rights. Displaced women exist at the intersection of two populations vulnerable to legal discrimination: women and displaced persons. The legal framework for economic opportunities must provide level playing field for the ownership and inheritance of assets, the opening of bank accounts and formalizing startups, and the operation of businesses. For instance, unregistered FDW need to be able to acquire some form of legal status which grants them increased agency and the confidence to engage in the labor market. | Reduce regulatory barriers to employment. Women, and in particular displaced women, face more barriers to entering the labor market and finding employment, and on average have fewer resources to overcome Photo: UN Women/Christopher Herwig these barriers. By reducing the legal barriers to entry, governments can increase the economic opportunities available to FDW. One key area MEASURING OUTCOMES AND RESULTS is by expanding the sectors legally open for WITH SEX-DISAGGREGATED AND WOMEN displaced workers. TARGETED INDICATORS | Ease regulatory burden on entrepreneurs. Measurement and evaluation are part of any Regulatory frameworks for enterprise effective economic intervention. Unfortunately, sex- creation, registration and operation need to disaggregated economic data on forcibly displaced be re-designed and more inclusive (addressing persons is often incomplete or inadequate. When needs of male and female refugees and host undertaking interventions that seek to increase the communities) to ensure fair competition and economic integration of FDW, governments and decent jobs for all. This includes granting equal private actors alike would be well served by collecting rights to access property, trade, financial data disaggregated by gender, sector and industry services, and equal freedom of movement. of business, size of business, and other indicators pertaining to how the business operates. To best | Identify key sectors for women and gender- inform responsive public policies and gender-based lens analysis. By focusing on areas where FDW work programs, interested parties could gather data predominate or play an important economic to create indicators and set targets that allow for the role, governments can target investments and monitoring of progress towards the closing of any initiatives to maximize their impact on displaced observed gender gaps. women and their communities. Additionally, governments should prioritize these sectors The table below identifies a series of potential for labor standard compliance enforcement to indicators for consideration. In addition to using prevent the exploitation of displaced women indicators for surveys of affected firms and workers. evaluations of reach and effectiveness, evaluators should use proven techniques to collect input from | Identify and elevate women leaders. a broad range of women. For instance, in recognition Programs to support and train leading women that women are not a homogenous group and that managers – not only business owners – through middle-class women may not be representative of all public recognition awards and productivity women or displaced women, data collectors should initiatives can encourage successful market tailor collection methods to reach women of all participation by FDW and create role models backgrounds, not just those accessible by phone or and mentors for other women. internet: 6 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN GENDER GAP AREA TO PROPOSED INDICATORS FURTHER DISAGGREGATION MEASURE Number and percentage of: (1) (A) sector; (B) size; (C) refugee status existing; and (2) new women owned of SME owners SMEs Increase in number of: (1) new services SME growth and business offered by women’s associations; and support (2) membership in existing women’s associations Percentage of business owners reporting increase in revenue after (A) sex; (B) refugee status receiving business training Number of workers per year: (1) employed; (2) newly employed; (3) (A) sex; (B) refugee status retained, and (4) trained Progress related to Number and percentage of women women and refugee (A) business sector and industry; (B) business owners, managers, and women in employment size of business; (C) refugee status workers Salaries of workers employed in (A) sex; (B) refugee status; (C) job representative clusters category Number and percentage of SMEs (A) sex; and (B) refugee status of holding an account with a financial business owner institution Progress related to Number and percentage of businesses (A) sex of business owner; (B) refugee women and refugee receiving: (1) continuing financial status of business owner; (C) business women in employment loans; and (2) first financial loans sector; (D) size of business Number of financing loan schemes: with favorable terms for: (A) women; (1) currently offered; and (2) newly (B) refugee women borrowers developed Number and percentage of business owners reporting an increased ability (A) sex; (B) refugee status to advocate for economic reform Number and percentage of business owners reporting difficulty in (A) sex conducting trade due to challenges with customs policies Number and percentage of Policy matters regarding respondents reporting ease of women and refugee (A) sex; (B) refugee status access to customs and trade-related women information Number and percentage of businesses engaged in export owned, managed and majority-operated by: (A) women; (B) refugee women (A) sex; (B) refugee status of business Number and percentage of businesses owner; (C) business sector; (D) size of engaged in export business 7 MASHREQ: MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF GENDER-LENS INVESTING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED WOMEN REFERENCES FinDev Gateway. 2018. Getting It Right: Providing Financial Services to Refugees. Blog: 22 October 2018. https://www.findevgateway.org/blog/2018/10/getting-it-right-providing-financial-services-refugees. International Labour Organization (ILO). 2020. Employment and Decent Work in Refugee and Other Forced Displacement Contexts: Compendium of ILO’s Lessons Learned, Emerging Good Practices and Policy Guidance. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/publications/WCMS_763174/lang--en/index.html. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2017. Assessing the Contribution of Refugees to the Development of Their Host Countries. Paris: OECD. https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=DEV/DOC(2017)1&docLanguage=En. Tiltnes, Åge A., Huafeng Zhang, and Jon Pederson. 2019. The Living Conditions of Syrian Refugees in Jordan: Results from the 2017-2018 Survey of Syrian Refugees Inside and Outside Camps. Fafo. https://www.fafo.no/images/pub/2019/20701.pdf. World Bank. 2017. Forcibly Displaced: Toward a Development Approach Supporting Refugees, the Internally Displaced, and Their Hosts. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25016 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. Photo: World Bank/Raad Adileh This Knowledge Brief was prepared by Daniel Hemenway, Djeina Kalidi and Jonna Lundwall, with additional contributions made by Samantha Constant and Nour Al-Moghrabi under the MGF activity on Regional Displaced Women’s Economic Empowerment (R-DWEE) that aims to identify and promote employment opportunities for displaced women living in the Mashreq. Key content for this brief is derived from work by the Private Sector for Refugees Platform (PS4R), a WBG program helping stimulate economic growth and increase employment opportunities for refugees and host communities in the Mashreq region and globally. As part of the PS4R work on the Refugee Investment and Matchmaking Platform (RIMP) in Jordan, in partnership with the R-DWEE team, the following three notes feed into this brief: 1) Investment selection criteria to maximize the impact of investments on the economic inclusion of displaced women; 2) Recommendations for Gender Dimensions of the ‘Charter of Good Practice in the Role of the Private Sector in Economic Integration of Refugees’; 3) Including a gender and forced displacement dimension into the work of a export promotion public-private agency. These notes were finalized in 2021 by the RIMP team under the leadership of Benjamin Herzberg, in coordination with the R-DWEE team led by Signe Sofie Hansen and Djeina Kalidi. As part of the RIMP team, inputs were prepared by Julia Barrera, Cordelia Chesnutt, Yara Asad, and Gina Farraj. The Mashreq Gender Facility (MGF) provides technical assistance to Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to strengthen the enabling environment for women’s economic participation and improve women’s access to economic opportunities. The MGF is a World Bank – IFC initiative mainly supported by the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) in partnership with the governments of Canada and Norway. UFGE has received generous contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. For further information, please visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/mashreq-gender-facility or contact the MGF Secretariat: Jonna Lundwall, jlundwall@worldbank.org | mgf@worldbankgroup.org 8