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Building pathways to prosperity for those affected by mass displacement
70 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide – we need new ways of understanding and building true prosperity for them and their host countries. The RELIEF Centre at UCL is creating a blueprint for better integration that can be applied worldwide.
Today, over 70 million people have been forced from their homes and countries worldwide for many reasons, including war, climate change and political instability.
UCL researchers are working on one of the world’s most pressing problems: how to build a prosperous and inclusive future for communities affected by mass displacement.
In conditions of mass displacement, there is huge pressure on infrastructure of all kinds. Resources and public services that people need to share, such as water, transport, food and waste, are impacted upon. This affects everyone’s quality of life.
The RELIEF Centre, based in the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, and directed by Professor Henrietta Moore, carries out research focused on measuring prosperity and inclusive growth.
Their research focuses on Lebanon, a country where there are around 1.5 million refugees, the highest concentration per capita of refugees in the world.
With communities, the team is co-designing solutions to some of the infrastructural crises caused by mass displacement and exploring how to deliver a better quality of life for everyone, using new ways of measuring prosperity.
Working with partners from across the university in civil and environmental engineering, education and security and resilience, and many local partners and universities, the centre aims to bring in the experiences of the community in Lebanon to develop practical real world solutions.
Their project also explores the role of education as a practical intervention that can help both displaced people and hosts, and contribute to the creation of inclusive growth and prosperity.
Henrietta added:
“By exploring diverse themes including urban design, education and skills development, public health and inclusive economic growth, we hope to co-create a new model for sustainable prosperity that can be resilient even in the face of the most extreme circumstances.
Meet the minds behind this discovery at the It's All Academic Festival on 5 October.
Links
- The RELIEF Centre website
- UCL Institute for Global Prosperity
- Professor Henrietta Moore’s profile
- The Bartlett
- The RELIEF Centre launches new MOOC: "Transforming Education in Challenging Environments"
- See most recent figures from UNHCR
Image
- Credit: Perry Grone, Source: Unsplash