COVID-19 Response

Major Challenges and Pathways for Solutions During & After COVID-19

Like with any global crisis, COVID-19 is affecting the most vulnerable across our communities in worse ways than others, with migrants and refugees among the groups disproportionately affected by this virus. In the wake of the pandemic, we brought together our community of Hellopreneurs to collectively reflect on COVID-19’s impact on migration, asylum and integration, with the aim of aligning action most urgently needed. Working on the front-line, our Hellopreneurs bring new perspectives and solutions to respond to refugees and migrants’ needs in these unprecedented times.

Each piece in this article series addresses the pandemic from a different angle and puts forward a number of practical and implementable policy recommendations. Beginning with the most pressing needs refugees face, such as shelter and protection, the Hellopreneurs delve into ways to build communities of support that allow this population to not only become part of society, but improve it, and provide thought- provoking ideas on how to revisit the current migration system to make it more effective and just.

With this series, we aimed to facilitate a conversation where social innovation meets policy with a view to jointly design solutions that address these challenges.

These solutions were shared and discussed in a series of policy salons with policymakers and other stakeholders throughout 2020 and 2021 to co-create policies that build on them to achieve meaningful, long-term change.

The result and impact of these conversations are presented in the publication below which we hope will provide you with insightful perspectives into how social innovation is driving migration policy change.