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The Role of Technology in Supporting
Refugees and Displaced Populations

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Introducing HumTech for Refugee Management
For the first time on record, the number of forcibly
displaced people surpassed 100 million, propelled byconflict, hunger, unemployment, and climate change.
Supporting and empowering these populations will
increasingly be part of governments' realities andresponsibilities. More needs to be done to increase
operational and digital resilience.
Technology can play a role in improving the lives ofrefugees, from more efficient identity verification andbetter access to information to facilitating better access toschools, health care and employment.
This eBook provides examples of how humanitarian
technology (HumTech) can be leveraged to support
displaced populations.

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees
and Displaced Populations

Globally, the Number of Refugees Continues to Rise

1 in 78 people
have been forced to flee their home
Source: UNHCR Refugee Data Finder, June 2022

21.5 million
people on average are displaced byweather-related disasters per year.
This is expected to rise to 1.2 bilionby 2050
Source: IEP, 2022

At the end of 2021, the UNHCR (UN's Refugee Agency) estimated that thenumber of people forcibly displaced stood at 89.3 million, including 27.1
million refugees.
Since then, the war in Ukraine and the deteriorating situation in Myanmarand Burkina Faso has led the number of displaced people to reach 100
million for the first time on record.
The number of people displaced by weather related disasters, famine andunemployment is also rising. The Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP)
estimates that the annual average of people displaced as a result of weatherrelated disasters is 21.5 million and is expected to rise to a massive 1.2 billion
by 2050.

"By working together to build urban resilience, we can reduce our reliance on crisis asa driver of change and proactively plan for a future that is bright for all migrants andresidents living in our cities"
100 Resilient Cities

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

The Russia-Ukraine War has Triggered the Largest and Fastest Refugee Movement in Europe since WWII
The number of Ukrainian refugees forced to flee their homes reached over
6.5 million, this far supersedes earlier predictions of how the crisis would
unfold. This is larger than the population of Denmark.
Poland has received the largest number of refugees - 4.1 million andcounting - with the population in Warsaw increasing by 17% in just a month.
Many will move on to other family and friends living across Europe, andsome have started braving the journey back home, but a large number will
also stay in these neighbouring countries. This is putting enormous pressure
on host countries to provide the necessary support, services, and security. ​Countries with the highest influx of Ukrainian
refugees

4,146,144 Poland
1,305,018
691,412 Romania"Most of the administrative burdens associated with this care are being dealt with by local authorities.
We are responsible for registering refugees, which includes assigning them identity and social security
numbers and for distributing government stipends to those hosting them. Warsaw is slowly becoming
overwhelmed. "Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of WarsawRussianFederation

Source: Arrival Statistics from UNHCR June 28, 2022

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Digital Technology is More Important than Ever for Refugees andMigrants
Most refugees access information about the services and resources available tothem via online platforms, access funds digitally, and stay in contact with loved ones
at home through social media. Research by the UNHCR shows us the extent to which
technology is critical for refugees: they found that refugees living in Tanzania andMalawi sacrificed significant portions of their food rations to buy mobile data.​
Supporting and empowering refugee populations will increasingly be part ofgovernments' realities and responsibilities. Yet, the response mechanisms andsystems put in place for refugee management are often responses to individual
crises rather than proactive approaches to a perennial challenge.
Tech firms and other stakeholders are asked to help respond to a crisis rather thanan ongoing situation. They are also usually approached as part of a CSR engagement
rather than being brought on board as a partner to deliver sustained services.
For a sustainable approach to managing mass migration, International Financial
Institutions (IFIs) and governments need to strategically invest in the systems, safety
nets, and technologies that we know will be needed.

"It is time we phased out
improvisation and instead created astrategy for coping and appropriate
systems for helping refugees."
Rafal Trzaskowski
Mayor of Warsaw

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Refugee Crisis Management: Navigating and Accessing Services and Resources
Refugees need support and resources at each step of theirjourney.
Short-term, refugees, many of whom arrive without identity
papers, need to be granted access through border control.
Their next checkpoint is typically a reception centre,
government or NGO-led, where they can register and accessfood and shelter.
These short-term humanitarian needs then morph into alonger-term reality that centres on access to the healthcare,the labour market, welfare and social services, education,and community integration.
Technology can play a role in each of these steps. Take, forexample, telehealth services to provide access to specialists,chatbots to ameliorate language barriers, automated onlinetransfers of welfare payments, and online platforms whererefugees can access information about local services.

INMIGRATIONCONTROL

INFORMATION POINT
AND RECEPTIONCENTRESREGISTERING FORRESIDENCY AND
DIGITAL IDENTITYIDENTIFYINGTEMPORARY
ACCOMODATIONENROLLING
IN SCHOOL

BOOKINGA MEDICALAPPOINTMENTAPPLYING FOR
WELFARE/HOUSINGALLOWANCEIDENTIFYING
NEW/REMOTE
EMPLOYMENTFINDING MOREPERMANENTACCOMODATION

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Technology is Being Used to Help Tackle the KeyChallenges, Including:Identifying individuals

Accessing relief

Providing welfare

Accessing medical services

Keeping refugees safe

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Access to Any Service, for Any Life Event Starts with Each Individual Being Identified

CHALLENGE“Many [refugees] flee theirhomes without formal
identification, and many more
have their identification
documents stolen or destroyed
during their journey.”“Having a trusted, robust andsecure digital identity is anecessary enabler to accessonline digital services –whether that is UNHCR’s
services, eGovernment or
online banking”
UNHCR

GOOD PRACTICE
Poland has provided PESEL identity
cards to over 1.1 million Ukrainian
refugees in the first month after thestart of the war.
In Estonia, once refugees and asylumseekers are enrolled in the national
identification system, they have theoption to apply for a digital ID whichallows them to access different
eservices. Refugees have equal accessto eservices as citizens.

LESSONS LEARNED
People – Refugees need to be made aware of
their digital rights to provide informed consentand understand the implications of not being
registered.
Process – Intermediaries (e.g., NGO) should beinvolved to facilitate data collection, but national
and international governmental institutions
should define and audit policies and processes
to enforce data protection, data lineage, datainteroperability guidelines.
Technology – Solutions should bring together
convenience for the user (e.g., access throughmobile phones) with security across the entirearchitecture (biometric data capture, accessdevices, registries, etc.).

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Offer Relief Services as a Lifeline

CHALLENGE

GOOD PRACTICES“I needed to know what theregistration procedure was inthe camps we moved through,what documents I needed tosupport my asylum
application, which agencies
can provide food, healthcare
and places to stay,” he says.
“There’s lots of information
but nothing is trustworthy,
and no-one knows the truth.”

RefAid is a software platform that consistsof Content and Communication System(CMS) and a mobile app to help refugees
across Europe.
The CMS enables the refugee aidorganizations to manage their services
by type and location.
The RefAid app uses geolocation toshow migrants, refugees, and aid
workers a map of the closest services
for food, shelter, healthcare, legal help,and more, within a radius of 180
kilometres.
There are over 400 non-profit organizations
using the platform.

A Syrian refugee living in Stockholm
after traveling through Turkey,Greece, Macedonia, and Germany.

LESSONS LEARNED
People – Combine digital solutions with help
desk to provide counselling to refugees, and torefer them to specialized services for vulnerable
groups, such as unaccompanied children, peoplewith disabilities, refugees from the LGBTI+
community, or women experiencing genderbased violence.
Process – User-centric front-end services mustbe supported by back-end data and content
management processes and tools that avoid
inconsistent, duplicate, or out-of-date
information across the whole ecosystem of relief
service providers.
Technology – Leverage natural language
processing capabilities to ease access forrefugees speaking different languages or having
different literacy levels.

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Provide Welfare Assistance as a Key Step Towards Inclusion and Dignity

CHALLENGE

GOOD PRACTICES“Our fridge is empty, so weneed to buy food. Somepeople have tried to give usfood, but I feel ashamed. I
want to buy it myself.”

The World Food Program has partneredwith credit card companies to provide
Syrian and Afghan refugees withvouchers and ecards that help deliver
aid to vulnerable families almost
immediately, expand the dietary
diversity and restore dignity and choicefor families purchasing groceries.

Ukrainian refugee in Poland

LESSONS LEARNEDPeople – Pay context-sensitive attention togender and vulnerability in designing andimplementation of programs, so that cash
assistance can empower the whole society.
Process – Work with local producers and traders,so that these become accepted methods ofpayment and help grow the local economy too.
Technology – Solutions should bring together
convenience for the user (e.g. credit and bankcard that they already own, or mobile wallets)with security of transactions (e.g. two factor
authentication and recording transaction
metadata in distributed ledgers).

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Implement Telehealth to Speed up Access to Medical Services,
Without Overwhelming National Health Systems
CHALLENGE

GOOD PRACTICES“Equitable access to vaccines
is a right for all, no matter
where they are. Vaccination
against diseases such as
COVID-19, measles, andpoliomyelitis (polio) is
especially important for the
population groups most atrisk of severe outcomesh.”Working with the Ludwig Boltzmann
Institute for Digital Health and Patient
Safety, SAVD Videodolmetschen [videointerpreting] and Philips, MedUni.
Vienna has launched a telehealthproject, in which specialists from morethan 20 disciplines, such asdermatology, paediatrics or internal
medicine, make themselves available
for one hour a day for specialist medical
online consultations for refugees on theisland of Lesbos.

Dr Siddhartha Datta, Regional
Advisor for WHO/Europe's Vaccinepreventable Diseases andImmunization Programme

LESSONS LEARNED
People – Train medical professionals and cultural
mediators that can support patients to get thebest value out of telehealth.
Process – Telehealth can be used for diagnoses,
triage and follow ups, but cannot be a standalone
tool. It must be integrated with the end-to-end
patient journey to improve patient outcomes andhelp the health systems cope with the increased
volume of patients.
Technology – Ensure connectivity, access tovideo capable and data capture devices (e.g.
blood pressure and glucose meters) and security
by design.

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Use Technology to Keep Refugees Safe

CHALLENGE“As a result of the pandemic,
many of those displaced are
now faced with increased
poverty, destitution andwidespread protection risks,from exploitation, trafficking,sexual and gender-based
violence, child labor, earlymarriage, to arrest, detention,deportation, andrefoulement.”
UNHCR

GOOD PRACTICESNGO Thorn has partnered withtechnology companies to develop asoftware tool that is being used byover 4000 law enforcement officers
in North America and has helped
rescue 6,000 sex trafficking victims, athird of whom are children, between
2014 and 2017.
Europol monitors social media toboth prevent and investigate
criminals involved in people
smuggling and trafficking.

LESSONS LEARNEDPeople – Train public safety officers andinvestigators to use technology to increase theirproductivity, not replace their expert judgement
and human empathy with the victims.
Process – Design policies that limit the use ofdata collected for public safety purposes (e.g.
identification of individual victims, retention,deletion, analysis and sharing) to be reused inother contexts, so that vulnerable people are nottargeted for political purposes.
Technology – Implement capabilities that enable
to collect, aggregate and interpret data frommultiple (e.g. social media, satellite, drones) toachieve more accurate intelligence about eventsand patterns.IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Governance Mechanisms
Getting the governancemechanisms right is critical toensuring the effectiveness andsustainability of initiatives.​IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Migration is a Complex Issue that Requiresa Multifaceted Public- and Private-Sector
Response
Getting the governance mechanisms right is critical. Thismeans having an organization in place to lead andcoordinate a diverse ecosystem of partners who canbring different skills, tools, ideas, and technologies to thetable.
These partners should span the public sector, private
sector, community groups, and inter-governmentalorganizations.
This coordination role is critical. In similar crises, we often
see NGOs or companies with valuable service offerings orsolutions not knowing who to contact in government. ​Central
Government

NGOs andCivil society

ECOSYSTEMPARTNERS

Intergovernmentalorganizations

Local
Government

PrivateSector

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Getting the Governance Mechanisms RightThe Athens Partnership

In 2015, the Mayor at time launched the Athens Partnership.
This partnership brings together municipal departments,
private sector companies, including technology firms, andcommunity groups to help transform municipal services. Thisnetwork has been held up internationally as an example ofbest practice.

Athens Coordination Center for Migrant and Refugee
Issues (ACCMR)

One of the special projects under the network is the Athens
Coordination Centre for Migrant and Refugee Issues, which
was convened in response to the rising number of refugees
and migrants fleeing conflict. The organization decided to takea strategic approach and worked together to create an action
plan for refugee and migration integration. The partners work
together to share data and pilot new ideas and act as a digital
hub for information for refugees.
A lot of the projects have been focused on skills development
and employment opportunities for refugees, including
Refugee Code Week led by tech firms, as well as social andcultural integration and appreciation activities. ​92 members

5 Municipal
departments

13 Minicipalitites inthe Cities Networkfor integration

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Conclusions
The key areas wheretechnology can support
refugees and displaced
populations

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations

Technology can be leveraged ateach stage and life event of a
refugee’s journey to strengthenand scale up service delivery

Create the right governancemechanisms; identify national andlocal government leaders that cancoordinate across the public andprivate sector and NGOs

Promote data sharing between
government institutions,intergovernmental organizations,and the private sector to enable
more coordinated services anddata-driven insights

IDC eBook

The Role of Technology in Supporting Refugees and Displaced Populations©IDC 2022. All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission.

Authors:
Louisa Barker, Research Manager - lbarker@idc.com
Massimiliano Claps, Research Director - mclaps@idc.com
Joe Dignan, Head of Government Insights - jdignan@idc.com
Further research on this critical area:
Humtech: How Data and Technology can Help Tackle Humanitarian
CrisesAligning Technological Innovation to Humanitarian Purpose:
Responding to the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

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