LocationsWhat displacement looks like beyond the crisis
World Refugee Day
June 17, 2026
Cash for work programmes are one of the ways UNDP and its partners in Chad support communities hosting refugees from Sudan.
Photo: UNDP Chad
Imagine being forced to run away from your country with little more than a suitcase. Leaving behind your family, friends, the house you have grown up in and the life you had built.
For 117.8 million people around the world, this is reality.
They had been forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, disasters and climate-related shocks. Behind these numbers are individuals striving to rebuild their lives and the communities working to welcome and support them.
Displacement does not end when people cross a border or return home. The real challenge is what comes next: accessing healthcare and education, finding the means to restore livelihoods and rebuild a sense of belonging in a completely new location.
Across more than 60 countries, UNDP works alongside governments, local authorities, UNHCR and other partners to help refugees, returnees, host communities and local and national governments rebuild together by meeting immediate needs and creating opportunities for displaced people to put their skills and experience to work.
UNDP is working with its partners in Chad to strengthen services, infrastructure and resilience in communities hosting 1.3 million refugees from Sudan.
Photo: UNDP Chad
A warm welcome in Moldova
When Ukrainians crossed into Moldova following the escalation of war, local communities opened their doors. But the arrival of displaced Ukrainians, over 100,000 people, also placed pressure on services and household budgets in one of Europe’s poorest countries.
To help both refugees and vulnerable Moldovans cope with rising energy costs, Moldova’s Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund provided support to households across the country. It helped families stay warm while strengthening national systems to respond to displacement and crisis.
For Elena and Alexei Severin, who fled Ukraine’s Kherson region, the support helped them afford firewood to heat their temporary home.
“Even if it wasn’t much, we are grateful for this help,” says Elena.
To help refugees and vulnerable Moldovans cope with rising energy costs, Moldova’s Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund provided support to households across the country.
Photo: UNDP Moldova
Public compensation helped families stay warm while strengthening national systems to respond to displacement and crisis.
Photo: UNDP Moldova
The programme also supported Moldovan families facing their own hardships. Maria Vioară, who lives with her mother and young son. Both women use wheelchairs, and winter heating costs quickly overwhelm limited incomes.
“Every penny counts in our household,” she says. “Thanks to the compensation, we escaped part of the burden.”
Maria Vioară lives with her mother and young son. Both women use wheelchairs, and winter heating costs quickly overwhelm limited incomes.
Photo: UNDP Moldova
Moldova hosts around 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and this has required extra support for those families who rely on basic services.
Photo: UNDP Moldova
Building opportunities in Colombia
Across Latin America and the Caribbean, governments and local authorities are investing in solutions that support both people on the move and the communities that receive them.
In January 2025, escalating violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region triggered one of the country’s largest recent displacement crises, forcing more than 60,000 people from their homes. Indigenous communities were among the hardest hit, including the Barí people, whose ancestral territory faced growing insecurity.
Despite these challenges, the Barí community of the Catalaura ancestral reservation showed remarkable resilience. Under the leadership of Judith Azoira, the reservation’s first woman governor, the community welcomed displaced families while preparing for further conflict escalation. With UNDP support, community authorities strengthened emergency preparedness through first-aid training, emergency communication protocols and satellite internet connectivity, helping maintain contact with authorities and coordinate response efforts when access becomes difficult.
At the national level, Colombia is also strengthening support for displaced populations. With UNDP technical assistance, the government has developed a methodology to measure progress towards durable solutions for internally displaced persons, helping authorities better identify needs and support long-term recovery and inclusion. Together, these efforts show how community leadership and stronger institutions can help people move beyond crisis and rebuild their futures.
In January 2025, escalating violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region triggered one of the country’s largest recent displacement crises, forcing more than 60,000 people from their homes.
Photo: UNDP Colombia
Breaking bread in Chad
In eastern Chad, the arrival of refugees from Sudan has reshaped life in already fragile communities.
Among those rebuilding is a Sudanese refugee, Arbab Ganar, who fled the crisis in 2023 and sought refuge in the town of Adré. A baker by trade, he quickly built a simple oven and began producing bread for both refugees and host families.
Demand grew fast, but resources were limited. That changed when he joined a UNDP-supported cash for work initiative under the STARR project, implemented with the African Development Bank. The income allowed him to buy supplies and expand production.
Today, Arbab produces around 2,400 loaves of bread a day and employs seven people. His bakery is both a livelihood and a shared space, serving refugees and host families side by side. His story reflects wider efforts in Chad to strengthen services, infrastructure and resilience in communities hosting 1.3 million refugees from Sudan.
A baker by trade, Sudanese refugee Arbab quickly built a simple oven and began producing bread for both refugees and host families.
Photo: UNDP Chad
From returnee to employer in Afghanistan
When Kamela returned to Herat, Afghanistan, from Iran in 2022, she was 19 years old. She came back with limited savings, but valuable skills gained working in a shoe factory.
Determined to build a future at home, she opened a small shoemaking workshop serving her local market. But despite growing demand, limited access to capital made it difficult to expand.
A turning point came in 2025 when she joined a UNDP-supported savings group with 15 other women, many of them returnees. Through the group, she received business training and helped pool savings with other members. Combined with seed funding from UNDP, the group purchased new sewing machines that increased production and improved the quality of their products.
Kamela's shoe making business quickly took off, but despite growing demand, limited access to capital made it difficult for her to expand.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
“Before we didn’t have equipment or workers. UNDP and donors helped us achieve this," she said.
As demand grew, UNDP provided additional support to help Kamela expand production, strengthen her brand and reach new markets. Today, her enterprise employs 25 people, including 21 women. Her income has nearly doubled, and her products are reaching wider markets. What began as a small workshop now creates jobs and opportunities for others rebuilding their lives. Kamela’s story demonstrates how targeted support can help returnees turn skills acquired abroad into opportunities at home, giving a sense of hope as she settles back to her country.
When Kamela returned to Herat, Afghanistan, from Iran in 2022, she started a small shoe making business.
Photo: UNDP Afghanistan
Resilience in Raqqa, Syria
In the war-affected countryside of Raqqa, recovery is shaped by small acts of rebuilding that restore both livelihoods and dignity.
For Thamer Al-Dhaher, returning to his village in Raqqa after years of displacement brought a devastating new challenge. A landmine explosion took his left hand, ending his work as a farmer and the only livelihood he had ever known.
“I lost my left hand and felt that everything had stopped,” he recalls.
With a family to support, he opened a small shop near his home. It was a modest beginning, but a lifeline.
Support came through a UNDP livelihoods project funded by Germany’s Development Bank KfW. The project provided training in business management and a small grant to invest in equipment. Thamer expanded his shop, installing refrigerators to store food.
Today, he runs a stable business that supports his family.
“Now I can provide for my household and keep my three daughters in school,” he says.
His story reflects wider efforts to help families affected by conflict restore livelihoods, regain stability and rebuild their futures.
A UNDP livelihoods project funded by Germany’s Development Bank KfW provided Thamer with training in business management and a small grant to invest in equipment.
Photo: UNDP Syria/Osama Almhamd
Beyond displacement
On World Refugee Day, these stories remind us that displacement is not the end of a story.
What matters is what comes next. Working with UNHCR, governments and local partners, UNDP is helping create those conditions by strengthening services, expanding livelihoods and supporting the institutions that hold communities together.
This is at the heart of the partnership between UNDP and UNHCR, and of UNHCR’s “50 by 35” vision, which aims to halve by 2035 the number of refugees in long-term displacement who depend fully on aid for their basic needs. It focuses on moving from short-term assistance to long-term solutions that build self-reliance. This means investing in jobs, services, infrastructure and local institutions so refugees, stateless people and host communities can build stable lives together.
Because displacement does not end when people move. It ends when they can rebuild their lives, contribute to their communities and look to the future with hope and confidence.
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