Lebanon is hosting more than one million Syrian refugees. For a country of its size, and a population of around four million, this influx of Syrians into Lebanon has exposed many of its already established ailments. A prevailing perception is that Syrians are establishing businesses and competing with the Lebanese, leading to violent reactions on the part of host communities. In this paper, we see to debunk the reductionist framing of 'the Syrian refugee' as a burden, and showcase the economic contribution that some Syrian entrepreneurs have been making to urban neighborhoods. While entrepreneurs certainly represent a minority of the refugees in Lebanon, we argue that, rather than being competition, Syrian entrepreneurs are complementary to Lebanese businesses in urban areas, and that Syrian businesses are enriching spatial practices in the city. As such, we claim their experiences are significant to document as they can inform useful policy interventions that can render Syrian self-employment opportunity for local economic development in cities and towns.
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the ways refugees in displacement manage to organize themselves and act upon their needs. The growing recognition in the UN system of the importance of localization of aid and the potential role played by local actors has given refugee-led organizations (RLO) a space to grow. In this paper, we analyze refugee agency and solidarity through the organization of the refugee communities in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. In doing so, we examine: (1) the reasons behind the creation of these organizations and their dynamics; (2) the role of host states toward this drive to organize refugee communities; and (3) the patterns, forms, and structures that these organizations take in providing humanitarian services, as well as community support and empowerment.
The global spread of a web-based digital economy raises questions about its potential as a lifeline to people affected by severe economic and humanitarian crises. As local markets crumble and unemployment rises, online freelance work offers a seemingly accessible source of income that is independent of the constraints of local markets and national regulations. This article scrutinizes this promise against the backdrop of multiple evolving crises in Lebanon, asking to what extent a transnational digital economy can serve crisis-affected populations, including refugees, as a secure source of income and work. The research is based on interviews and surveys with Syrian refugees and host community members in Lebanon, who participated in digital skills training programmes and worked as digital freelancers for Social Impact Platforms and Enterprises. Their experience shows how the impact of Lebanon's crises undermined the feasibility of web-based digital work precisely at a time when they needed it most. Syrian refugees in Lebanon are affected by particular layers of regulatory restriction, including their exclusion from digital platforms, skills training programmes, and the financial system. As these layers of exclusion intersect with the precarity of self-employed digital jobs and a severe economic crisis, Syrians’ displacement in Lebanon is reconfigured into a digital space of exile within a transnational digital economy. Viewed from this perspective, the digital economy fails to live up to its inclusive promise and fails to transcend the restrictive regulations, economic instability, and precarity that characterizes crisis-affected states and populations.
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