The Refugee Economies Programme is a research programme based at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. It investigates the economic lives of refugees and the conditions that enable self-sufficiency and positive contributions to host societies. Its interdisciplinary approach draws on economics, anthropology, history, and political science, combining original qualitative and quantitative research with participatory methods, including collaboration with refugee researchers. The programme works with governments, international organisations, NGOs, refugee-led organisations, universities, and businesses, aiming to produce policy-relevant evidence.

Its research examines socio-economic rights, refugee mobility and livelihoods, household responses to shocks, and ways of connecting representative data with personal stories. The programme has published reports, books, and briefings on refugee economies and their effects on host communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. It also makes research resources available, including a panel dataset covering refugees and host communities across six sites, with more than 16,000 participants. The programme’s first phase ran from 2016 to 2021, and its current research builds on work on refugee inclusion in East African camps and cities. Its work is mainly funded by the IKEA Foundation.