⚡Refugee
Good morning everybody! Hope you’re all getting excited for the upcoming holidays.
As always, if you missed yesterday’s newsletter, you can find it here.
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Here are a few things that have been on our mind:
UN Global Refugee Forum
Over the last few days, I haven’t been writing (major props to Jonathan for covering) — instead, I was at the UN Global Refugee Forum in Geneva to share some of the work that Deloitte has done across the refugee resettlement journey. We met with both private-sector and public-sector players to discuss two of our solutions:
Migrant Housing Solution — a data-driven platform supporting resettlement agencies in more efficiently and effectively placing refugees around the country
A new home at work — a guide supporting employers in building a more inclusive workplace for refugee employees
Aya Mohammed Abdullah, a former Iraqi refugee now living in Switzerland, addresses delegates at the Global Refugee Forum. © UNHCR (Andrew McConnell)
It was an absolutely incredible experience and gave us tremendous insight into the space, both into what’s working and what isn’t. Here are some of my key takeaways:
Leverage Public-Private Partnerships: This theme was the central focus of the general assembly session, every panel, and one-on-one discussions. Public-sector players, both governments and international organizations, are looking for the private-sector to get far more involved, even more so than they already have — because of both their advocacy power and hiring capability.
Involve Refugees in the Design Process: There were a number of refugees present, advocating for their needs and their value to host societies. Their central message was clear — “include us in the process and as you design solutions.” Many have even formed the G-100 Initiative to continue bringing the refugee voice into the spotlight through a series of conferences.
Value Localized Actions: International and national solutions have a tremendous amount of potential, but the real impact can only happen at the local level. Mayors of some of the world’s most powerful cities were present to discuss localized solutions and share best practices across. The Mayors Migration Council is an international body looking to share these best practices widely.
All of this should sound familiar to our regular readers — these are the same themes that we try to touch on regularly across the stories we cover. Understanding and applying these themes is going to be very important for every activist.
It was exciting to see the significant pledges made by players around the world to support this population. However, a lot more work needs to be done — there are 25.9 million refugees around the world today, and the numbers are only going up.
If anybody else is passionate about this work and would like to get involved, please reach out! There is a lot you can do, no matter what space you work in. Also, check out these incredible organizations below:
Upwardly Global: a non-profit supporting refugees and migrants in navigating the job search process; you can either donate or volunteer as a mentor to support refugees through resume review and interview prep
Tent Partnership for Refugees: an ecosystem player focused on developing private-sector solutions to address the refugee crisis; check them out for inspiration on what your company can do (or may already be doing!)
International Rescue Committee: an organization providing wide-ranging support to refugees around the world, from education to job support; you can donate or partner with them on corporate volunteering work
Cheers,
Tej
Impact Investing in Emerging Markets
Around the world, more and more private equity funds have been trying to identify and invest in companies that can drive profit and impact at scale.
In emerging markets, the story is slightly different — there isn’t enough money for promising ventures, and the money that does exist is primarily flowing to a handful of later-stage companies (in the form of large checks).
In 2020, ImpactAlpha is predicting that impact investing funds in the emerging markets will start playing a bigger role in supporting “early-stage companies, women and other underrepresented founders, and second- and third-tier cities and towns,” especially as the private equity giants pull-out.
Let’s dive into how the investment landscape may change over the coming year:
Focus on global fintech and e-commerce. Entrepreneurs are building cheaper and better services for the emerging middle class in emerging markets. Impact fund managers are seeing great returns, and these kinds of investments are safe bets with the upcoming market volatility.
Female fund managers. Female-led and gender-balanced funds will be critical in driving more capital to “women across the economic value chain,” including female entrepreneurs, suppliers, and customers.”
Global financial innovation. Emerging markets have become a fantastic testing environment for new investment structures. Latin America is experimenting with outcome-based bonus payments for its agribusinesses, and countries around the world are developing social impact exchanges.
Development finance. Multilateral Development Banks (MBDs) and other development finance institutions will be continuing to drive more capital towards emerging market impact funds. Some say that these institutions need to take bigger risks to generate higher returns.
Fund II, III, and IV. Emerging market impact fund managers will be raising follow-on funds, and a lot of the money will come from local investors. This may also open up interesting co-investment agreements to give larger global players access to more dealflow.
Bigger deals. Deals are going to get bigger, but there is a major risk of companies drifting away from their core mission to maximize profitability. For example, Andela, an African tech-training and job placement venture that recently raised $100 million in venture financing, just cut back entry-level training and employment.
CAA: Latest Updates & Resources
Over the last week, we’ve put a significant spotlight on India’s Citizenship Amendment Act — here are some of the latest updates:
India has imposed a ban in parts of Delhi and throughout Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka — police have detained thousands who have continued to protest
Mobile data services have been suspended in parts of Delhi
Tens of thousands are continuing to protest peacefully around the country, including civil society groups, political parties, student-activists
Some protests have turned violent, like in Lucknow (UP’s capital)
We are glad to see that people are continuing to protest, and we hope that they can continue to remain peaceful. However, the Indian government’s protest ban and revocation of mobile data services is incredibly worrisome — for a nation that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy, things are looking very autocratic.
For anybody looking to get involved or more informed, please check out the below:
Protest Posters — printable posters, designed by Anjali Chandrashekar
Creatives Against CAA — images for social media
Short Takes
Trump has been impeached by the House on abuse of power and obstruction of justice charges. He will now face trial in the Republican-controlled Senate sometime in 2020, but it is highly likely that he’ll be acquitted.
The World Economic Forum released the Global Gender Gap report, looking at 153 countries and the progress made towards parity. The Nordic countries have made the most progress — but at the current global pace of change, it will take 257 years for women to have the same economic opportunities as men.
UN peacekeepers in Haiti sexually abused and impregnated girls as young as 11, leaving behind hundreds of children (this is absolutely disgusting).
Tomorrow Today
🎟️ We’re thinking February 6th! We’ll have a sign up link and more details soon.
Change cannot be achieved alone, only together. In that spirit, we are hosting community events at our space in New York City. Eat some food, learn from some seasoned, unconventional activists, and meet others aspiring to change the world!
Why are we hosting this?
For us, community is the center of everything. In an age of prolific digitization, there's a great need for greater human connection. It's almost necessary to carve out time and space to purposefully engage in person. While it's amazing to be able to discuss and interact with multiple people online and exchange stories and insights, we don't think anything beats the experience of sharing a meal.
Igniting Tomorrow
💰 $100k-$250k Pre-Seed Funding
UPDATE: We’ve already had multiple people reach out and share their ideas. It gets us super excited to learn more about the projects and companies everyone is working on. Please keep reaching out. We’ll be releasing more information around this in the upcoming year.
Many of you are either already working on a number of world-changing things or have ideas bursting out of you every day. Our goal is to see unconventional activists like you succeed. Let us help connect you into the space and access the financing you need to get started. If you’d like to share your ideas (or know a friend working on something exciting), please reply to this email!
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