Empowering Refugees

Robert Hakiza, an urban refugee expert and the co-founder of an organization called Young African Refugees for Integral Development, or YARID, delivered a talk on refugees for TED that illuminated the audience on how those living in cities can better enable newcomers to reach their potential and gain access to the resources they need.

As Hakiza states, over 60% of refugees live in urban environments on a global scale, showing that there is a strong need to make changes to benefit the majority of them. To do this, Hakiza communicates the importance of building resources so that they are able to help themselves. By allowing refugees to live a productive life, Hakiza shows that they are able to benefit the societies they live in as a whole as well. To demonstrate this, he takes from his own experiences with YARID, which helps refugees by giving them the resources they need to build necessary skills, such as English classes, access to sports facilities, computers, and more.

With his talk on refugees, Hakiza shows how investing in similar programming can yield positive results, and give people the skills they need to flourish in society. By taking sustainability focused steps, these programs enable them to seek out the jobs they desire, build positive communities, and become economically self-reliant.