Handbooks and Toolkits

This page gathers all recent handbooks and toolkits issued by UNHCR. They provide guidance, practical tools and resources on key topics related to UNHCR's work worldwide. 

If you are looking for data on global displacement and UNHCR operations, please see our Data page, which lists all UNHCR's main data publications and statistical databases, such as Global Trends, Global Report and Global Focus. 

If you are looking for older documents, please visit Refworld, UNHCR's leading source of information with a larger collection of reports, handbooks and toolkits. 

Handbooks

Emergency Handbook

This Handbook is a guide to agile, effective and community based humanitarian emergency responses. It is primarily a tool for UNHCR emergency operations and its workforce.

Integration Handbook for Resettled Refugees

This Handbook is a comprehensive guide for the integration of resettled refugees, with checklists, practical advice, and good practices.

Needs Assessment Handbook

This Handbook defines needs assessments and outlines the roles of different actors in refugee situations. It provides detailed practical guidance on how to conduct needs assessments in the field, which can be applied to all sectors, situations, methods, and populations of concern.

Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status Handbook

This Handbook is intended to guide government officials, judges, practitioners, as well as UNHCR colleagues in applying the refugee definition under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees.

Protecting Internally Displaced Persons

This Handbook analyses the role and activities of National Human Rights Institutions in addressing the human rights dimensions of internal displacement. It provides an overview of good practices and serves as a practical tool for NHRIs and other stakeholders around the world.

Resettlement Handbook

This Handbook offers resettlement management and policy guidance to UNHCR staff. It is a key reference tool for resettlement states and NGOs on global resettlement policy and practice.

Toolkits

Accountability on Affected People Operational Guidance Toolkit

This Toolkit provides staff and managers with practical methods for the operationalisation of UNHCR's accountability commitments, achieved through mainstreaming into performance management and protection and assistance delivery.

Assessing Mental Health and Psychosocial Needs and Resources

This Toolkit is designed for humanitarian settings and public health actors. It offers an overall approach to practical assessment tools to be used to improve people's mental health and well-being, depending on your capacity and the phase of the humanitarian crisis.

BIP Toolbox

This Toolkit describes UNHCR's case management framework for asylum-seeking and refugee children. It provides access to the range of tools and guidance necessary for implementing the Best Interests Procedure (BIP) for individual children. 

Border Shelter Toolkit

This Toolkit describes the best practices in sheltering asylum-seeking families at the U.S. southern border.

Cash Feasibility and Response Analysis Toolkit

This Toolkit aims to assist operations in determining the feasibility of cash-based interventions (CBIs) in UNHCR country programmes. It is to be used after a needs assessment has taken place, and serves CBI practitioners in the field.

Municipalities Toolkit

This Toolkit offers practical experiences of municipal authorities and local actors in translating national policies into solutions for the effective inclusion of refugees, with refugees being fully included in their design and development. 

Gender-Based Violence Toolkit

This Toolkit offers essential guidance and resources to Gender-Based Violence specialists and non-specialists working with or for UNHCR.

Gender Equality Toolkit

This Toolkit is designed to provide UNHCR personnel with practical guidance and user-friendly tools, tips, information and resources to support the achievement of gender equality.

 

Job Aid for Child Protection

This Toolkit presents learning resources on child protection for all UNHCR child protection workforce, protection staff and other staff as relevant. Please note that registration is required for non-UNHCR staff to access the materials, which are regularly updated.

Mitigating risks of abuse in cash assistance

UNHCR and WFP have jointly developed this toolkit to help humanitarian actors and cash recipients identify and mitigate risks of abuse of power in cash-based assistance.

Multi-Sector Market Assessment Guidance and Toolkit

This Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance and tools to enable staff with limited skills in market data collection and analysis to successfully carry out a Multi-sector Market Assessment and market monitoring - to be applied in all operational contexts.

Operational Guidance and Toolkit for Multipurpose Cash Grants

This Toolkit brings together worldwide expertise on cash-based interventions. It provides comprehensive and practical guidance for humanitarian actors to assess the feasibility, conceptualize the design and structure the implementation of MPGs.

Sport for Protection Toolkit

This Toolkit aims to harness the power of sport to strengthen the protection, development and empowerment environments for refugee and internally displaced young people. It guides the work of the Olympic Refugee Foundation and is intended for organisations and stakeholders.

Standard Operating Procedures Toolkit

This Toolkit includes guidance, templates, a workshop guide and examples from the field to develop and implement Standard Operating Procedures for BIP (Best Interest Procedures for refugee and asylum-seeking children). 

Teaching about Refugees

This toolkit contains a collection of UNHCR teaching materials on refugees, asylum and migration for primary and secondary education, as well as some guidance for teachers working with refugee children in the classroom. 

Working with LGBTIQ+ persons in forced displacement

UNHCR and IOM have jointly developed this comprehensive training package on the protection of people with diverse SOGIESC for personnel as well as the broader humanitarian community.