Comparison of four different livelihood programmes for urban refugee women: Insights from the capability approach

The study presents a comparison of four different livelihood programmes for refugee women, offered by Refugee Social Services, a Durban-based non-governmental organisation. These programmes cover home-based childcare, peer/community education, beauty salons, and product development. The first two programmes are social innovative as these directly and creatively respond to social needs of local communities in Durban. Examples of community demands are the need for childcare and HIV/AIDS prevention. The latter two programmes mainly focus on gaining economic advantages. The research methodology is qualitative, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with ten staff members and eight clients of Refugee Social Services. The capability approach was applied to identify and review enhancing and impairing aspects of the programmes with regard to the refugee women’s capabilities and human agency to self-settle in an urban context. The enhancing factors include training, support to start up and maintain a micro-business, a safe and child-friendly workspace, integrational benefits of enhanced social capital, and income security. The impairing factors include institutional barriers, an unsafe workspace, and insufficient and/or unstable income. The paper makes suggestions for interpreting the outcomes of the programme comparison. The study highlights that in order to effectively expand refugees’ capabilities and human agency to self-settle in an urban context, stakeholders should start partnerships while advocating for a combination of two intervention strategies: implementing validated livelihood programmes and addressing structural obstacles to refugees’ ability to become self-reliant. Recommendations are proposed to fulfil these objectives.