Design Challenge
How might we elevate the positive contributions of refugees to their host countries?
Partners
U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration · Government of Canada · Global Nonprofit
Project
Participatory research, prototyping, and service design for an initiative supporting refugee-, migrant-, and host-owned small businesses in countries including Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Role
Project Lead
Overview
Between 2015 and 2018, I led a team tasked with designing and launching a new kind of programme - one that went beyond humanitarian aid to strengthen the economic ecosystems of refugee, migrant, and host communities.
In regions affected by conflict, we quickly encountered a major challenge: public perception. Headlines and conversations often echoed the same refrain - “Refugees are taking our jobs.”“Refugees get handouts while unemployment rises.”
To move forward, we needed to shift this narrative. With strong local partnerships, we gathered and analyzed data that revealed the tangible economic impact of refugee-owned businesses - how they were creating jobs, paying taxes, and contributing to vibrant local economies. But numbers alone weren’t enough; perceptions are shaped by emotion, not evidence.
So we turned to storytelling. By centering the lived experiences of entrepreneurs - people who happened to be refugees - we reframed what had been seen as a burden into a story of resilience, ingenuity, and shared prosperity. Storytelling became not just a communications tool, but a design principle that reshaped how we engaged with communities, partners, and the entrepreneurs themselves.
This narrative-led approach built trust, fostered collaboration, and ultimately led to the successful launch of the programme. Today, it has grown into a thriving network of over 2,500 refugee-, migrant-, and host-owned small businesses - each contributing to their communities and redefining what economic inclusion looks like.
Duration of Engagement
2015 - 2018