Data and Analysis

Making decisions based on evidence is key to building and monitoring progress towards resilience and self-reliance of host and refugee communities and targeting aid resources in an optimal manner. 

The UNHCR-World Bank Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement aims to enhance the ability of stakeholders to make timely and evidence-informed decisions that can improve the lives of affected people. It aims to:

  • Ensure population and socioeconomic data are systematically collected and analyzed;
  • Facilitate open access to forced displacement data, while ensuring the integrity of the legal protection framework;
  • Promote innovations to enhance forced displacement data through satellite imagery, cell phones, and other new technologies;
  • Strengthen the global data collection system, establishing common norms, definitions, and methodologies, and support efforts to fortify country systems where necessary.

Improving the availability of comparable microdata on multi-dimensional poverty (or simply socioeconomic data) on forcibly displaced persons and refugees is a key area UNHCR is investing in its partnership with the World Bank.

Major initiatives in this area include:

  • The inclusion of forcibly displaced persons in national surveys that measure poverty. The World Bank and national governments have expanded the collection of poverty data to include refugees in three countries (Uganda, Chad and Niger). Discussions are ongoing to provide support in this area to more countries in 2020 and beyond. 
  • Conducting reduced versions of national surveys as part of UNHCR proGres verification exercises. Already implemented in two countries (Burundi and Kenya), discussions are ongoing to include more countries in 2020 and beyond.
  • Enhancing capacity of UNHCR registries to collect more meaningful socioeconomic data. This ensures that corporate refugee data systems, primarily PRIMES and proGres, are capable of directly generating analytical insights that are useful to decision makers.

Monitoring Livelihoods Programmes

We track the impact and the cost effectiveness of both UNHCR and our partners’ livelihoods programmes through a comprehensive monitoring framework. The framework uses a set of clearly defined impact and performance indicators to both guide the design and monitor programmes. Supporting the monitoring framework is a mobile survey tool that UNHCR field operations have been using to collect beneficiary data since 2017.

The impact of livelihoods interventions is presented through an open data platform, the UNHCR Integrated Refugee and Forcibly Displaced Livelihoods Information System, which presents performance and impact indicators in a standardized, systematic way that allows for comparison across countries and regions. Such results can be further disaggregated to view impact by age, gender, legal status, location and implementing partners. The platform displays results in real time, including anonymized household datasets for download, enabling timely adjustments to programmes.

Supporting the global rollout of the Livelihoods Information System, since 2018, UNHCR has partnered with the non-governmental organization CartONG, who provides training and other technical support to all global teams.

Further resources: 

Research and Policy Briefs

Estimating refugee poverty quickly using cross-survey imputation:
• Research paper (external link) 
• Summary 
• Blog post (external link)

Reaching the poorest refugees in Niger: Evaluation of food and cash distribution 

Impact of Venezuelan flow on Roraima State in Brazil: Implications for Public Policy

Improving employment outcomes for refugees in Uganda: Using socioeconomic data to promote solutions for employment 

Socioeconomic Comparisons of Forcibly Displaced Persons and Hosts

Kalobeyei Settlement
Full report - Summary - Infographic 

Stateless Shona Community in Kenya
Full report - Summary

Socioeconomic Assessment Toolkit

Socioeconomic Survey Planning Guide
Orientation for the early stages of planning a socioeconomic survey

Terms of Reference Template for Hiring a Survey Firm
Suggested template for preparing the terms of reference for procuring consultants

Developing a Standardized Employment Module
Capturing key employment indicators and ways to use the module  

Handling differences between cases and households
Bridging the differences arising from the use of "cases" in UNHCR's proGres database and the use of "households" prescribed in standard survey methodology