This year, UNHCR announced that the number of forcibly displaced people globally exceeded 100 million for the first time on record. This means that 1 in 78 people were forced to leave their homes. The number of internally and externally displaced people due to weather disasters, hunger and unemployment is also increasing. Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) estimates that there could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050.
A proactive approach is needed to help manage this perennial challenge and improve the lives of refugees. Or, in the words of the mayor of WarsawPoland, “it is time to phase out improvisation and instead create a strategy to cope and adequate systems to help refugees.”
To create more effective and empathetic systems for refugees, governments and their partners should consider adopting a life events approach. The life event approach to digital service delivery includes bringing together a range of services to coincide with a specific event such as a birth, marriage and death. Rather than people having to contact a variety of agencies to access different services, governments can integrate information and resources to deliver these services more uniformly.
More mature approaches also include coordinating services and sharing data between agencies, as well as with private sector and civil society organizations.
Some governments, including the US federal government, have begun to adopt a life-event approach to disaster response, from floods to wildfires. These sudden and unplanned life events require citizens and residents to access services from multiple agencies and require a more empathetic and personalized approach.
The same may apply to the arrival of a refugee. When refugees arrive in a new country, they generally need to register for residency and digital identity, either through the government or an NGO, and need immediate access to food, cash programs and shelter. These short-term needs then turn into long-term needs, including access to health services, education and the labor market.
Taking a life events approach and combining these services can help navigate bureaucratic systems and services more easily. This is even more important for vulnerable populations in a time of need and uncertainty. It can also improve efficiency, save time and reduce costs for government agencies.
For example, in New Zealand, the government created SmartStart, an online inter-agency service to help parents navigate government services around the birth of a child. In its first year, the service resulted in 6,000 fewer visits to the Ministry of Social Development and was well received by parents, midwives and NGOs.
However, this should not be seen as a substitute for face-to-face support when needed. Some refugee groups, such as unaccompanied minors or people with cognitive or physical disabilities, may require additional specialized and practical support from governments and NGOs
Source: IDC 2022
The Government of Portugal is a leader in providing common services for refugees. The Border and Immigration Service has established the Temporary Protection Regime for Ukrainian refugees. When Ukrainian refugees register through the online portal or in person, they receive ID numbers from key agencies, including a tax identification number, a social security identification number and a National Health Service user number, so they can access key services.
Providing integrated services organized around planned or sudden life events comes with its own challenges. It requires governments to establish the right governance mechanisms to collaborate across departments, share data in a secure and reliable way, and share budgets to enable integrated service delivery.
This is no small operation and requires a strategic approach and strong leadership, but there are examples of governments that have successfully overcome these barriers.
National and local governments and international institutions seeking to improve the lives and livelihoods of refugees should adopt this approach.
Using technology for humanitarian purposes—HumTech—will require the right political motivation and leadership to transform refugee management from an ad hoc response to a crisis to a more systematic response to a perennial challenge.
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