An Agreement signed between Qatar Fund for Development and the RAND Corporation to conduct a Study on Opportunities for Refugees and Host Countries in Middle-Eastern Labor Markets

The study aims to provide a socio-economic assessment of labor markets and the supply of jobs in host countries. It will identify specific sectors that would benefit from additional workers, document the skills of refugees to understand where and how they might be gainfully employed in ways that may also help their host countries and identify critical steps that could be taken to facilitate long-term economic opportunities as well as social cohesion.

The study builds upon existing collaborative work of RAND researchers with United Nations agencies, as well as the broader existing knowledge base on the refugee crisis.

Ali Al Dabbagh, Executive Director of Corporate Strategy at QFFD said, “Qatar has been persistently delivering on its pledges towards the humanitarian crisis in the region, including Syria, Yemen and Iraq. We intend to highlight through this study the mutual economic opportunities that exist, but remain untapped, for both the refugees from these countries and the host communities.”

Charlie Ries, Vice President of RAND Corporation commented on the agreement: “We look forward to undertaking this research on this very important issue, and helping refugees and their host communities to find mutually beneficial economic opportunities pending their return to their countries of origin.”

He added that the desired results of this study is a great benefit to the international donors, especially those who pledged support in the 2016 London conference and 2017 Brussels conference. Ries said these conferences aimed to collect money to face the current humanitarian crisis in Syria, noting that Qatar responded to both conferences and pledged amongst other donors to provide more than $200 million in aid for the Syrian people, and it has already paid a large portion of the aid.

About QFFD and RAND Corporation:

Qatar Fund for Development is a public development institution committed, on behalf of the State of Qatar, to improving the livelihood of communities around the world by providing financial tools to developing countries in order to promote education, health care, social services, infrastructure and economic development in these communities.

RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. RAND has used rigorous, fact-based research and analysis to help communities throughout the world be safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.