Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee community leaders have helped provide masks, language accessible documents and videos, and put their lives on the line for their community.

A compact agreement is an innovative model for bringing together donors, development and humanitarian agencies, the private sector, and civil society under host-country leadership to achieve sustainable outcomes for refugees and host communities. We offer three key principles and 10 recommendations for policymakers to build effective compacts for refugee-hosting nations.

After escaping the war in Syria, two friends start a unique plumbing business to support themselves and their families.

Meet an ambitious Syrian woman who operates a beauty salon in her home in Jordan with support from the IRC.

After fleeing their home in Damascus, a family restarts their furniture upholstery business with help from the IRC.

Whether it’s through restrictive laws that prohibit them from working, or through language and cultural barriers that make it extremely difficult to earn an income, refugees have to try to survive another disaster—a life lived in limbo. Here's how supporting refugees to build careers benefits everyone.