June 20: World Refugee Day

On World Refugee Day, we at PDRI-DevLab recognize that one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is the mass movement of people within and across national borders. These movements not only have enormous implications for those migrating but also for the communities they leave and those they join. As of April 2024, over 120 million people have been forced to flee their homes, which continues to rise.

Today, we recognize the incredible courage and strength of refugees and the enormous implications they face. With migration and forced displacement as one of our three key focus areas, we are committed not just to understanding the challenges faced by refugees and displaced persons, but also to creating actionable solutions that lead to sustainable outcomes.

PDRI-Devlab is committed to contributing to these efforts. Through our work in Uganda, Guatemala, and beyond, we are learning how to improve tolerance toward refugees in host communities, and how deportation impacts well-being and re-migration, among other critical issues. We strongly believe that rich evidence must be followed by effective policy actions through collaboration.

We have recently launched the Forced Displacement Migration Group, holding bi-annual, practical, policy-focused meetings where practitioners and researchers collaborate to improve the evidence available for policymaking concerning forcibly displaced people. These meetings will facilitate mutual learning: practitioners will outline their needs and challenges, while researchers will provide relevant findings and insights. Both parties will work together on actionable projects prioritized by policymakers and practitioners.