World Refugee Day 2022

World Refugee Day is commemorated annually on the 20th of June. JET Education Services reflects on some of our work.

On this international refugee day, we look back at JET researcher Kelly Shiohira’s visit to the Kakuma refugee camp to explore ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) could provide opportunities to address the needs of vocational and lifelong learners in the camp, including in the area of teacher education. Read the report here

In more recent work, we consider the challenges faced by migrant workers and refugees who find themselves displaced from their home countries in their quest to enter the labour market in their new homes. The recognition of qualifications across borders becomes an important issue. Under the auspices of the International Labour Organization (ILO), JET has been involved in several research initiatives that aim to contribute to boosting labour mobility and the free movement of people to enable access to decent work opportunities:

JET researchers James Keevy, Andrew Paterson and Kedibone Boka with Hoosen Rasool produced a report on ‘The potential of skills development and recognition for regulated labour mobility in the IGAD Region A scoping study covering Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda’ for the ILO. Read the report here
The ILO commissioned JET to undertake a study on ‘Barriers to effective labour mobility in the African leather industry: Skills recognition and labour market barriers in Eastern, Northern and Western Africa’. The report was authored by Andrew Paterson, Hoosen Rasool, Zaahedah Vally, Zahraa McDonald, Patrick Molokwane & James Keevy.
In 2022, JET commenced a Feasibility Study on ‘Skills recognition mechanisms for selected occupational profiles of migrant workers’.
JET is currently undertaking a skills profiling exercise for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) in order to extend understanding of how similar and different skills profiling and skills recognition mechanisms function in different labour market and migration environments. The study focuses specifically on refugee and asylum seeker circumstances and needs.

Coupled with this work, JET has contributed to the development of the African Qualifications Framework (ACQF), an initiative of the African Unions’ Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA), in partnership with the European Training Foundation. The ACQF is an important mechanism for facilitating the recognition of diplomas and certificates, and thus supporting the mobility of learners, workers, and services across the African continent. Read the ACQF report here

Pictures by: Hazel Laura, Leather Migrants, Kenya