Raffi Gostanian came to the United States from Syria 15 years ago on a student visa. A jazz musician who plays the saxophone and piano, he intended to study music but graduated with a political science degree from William Paterson University. As a front desk volunteer at IRC for the last 10 months, Raffi has diligently trekked twice a week from Paterson, home to a large Arab community, to IRC’s office in Elizabeth.

2023 has been a turbulent year, and the IRC predicts humanitarian crises like Gaza and Sudan will worsen in 2024. But while the headlines worldwide may be dire, there are still many positive stories and uplifting moments from 2023 worth remembering.

Compact models—in a variety of forms—have been used to address the development and humanitarian needs generated by refugee crises. This brief outlines a particular iteration of a compact approach that incorporates critical components into a systematic model with clear requirements and accountability.

This paper discusses how humanitarian actors may help strengthen existing service delivery infrastructures and assist local service providers to meet increasing demand from displaced populations.

This brief makes four overarching recommendations to address these challenges and ensure implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and World Bank financing leads to positive changes in the lives and livelihoods of refugees and host communities.

New research on effective early childhood development programming in humanitarian settings.

IRC initiates programs in response to the Middle East Crisis

The report highlights six interconnected themes: understanding the system, ownership, collaborative partnership, adaptive management, co-design for scale, and investment for scale.