Towards the establishment of cash waqf microfinance fund for refugees

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to propose cash waqf (endowment) to develop a conceptual model that can be utilised to extend microfinance for refugees.Design/methodology/approach -Qualitative method is used in this research. An extensive review of the literature has been conducted. Latest literature on refugees, microfinance has been critically examined beside the current cash waqf models.Findings -Empirical studies have shown that many refugees are equipped with marketable skills and talents that can be utilised to improve their socio-economic situations. The proposed modelcash waqf refugee microfinance fund (CWRMF)is structured to extend microfinance to potential refugee micro entrepreneurs. To address the lack of collateral, which is a requirement to gain any microfinance, CWRMF has been incorporated with a takaful unit (cooperation) by which refugees may guarantee each other. Additionally, the model has also been structured to address the challenge of sustainability of the institution that would provide microfinance. Hence, a reserve fund has also been integrated into the model.Practical implications -CWRMF represents a potential model to be implemented by humanitarian nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and aid agencies to support livelihood of refugees in particular for Muslim refugees. Positive outcome is expected from the implementation of this model. This is because of the various advantages of microfinance programs not only on refugees but also on concerned NGOs, host populations and donor parties. Additionally, this paper is a set of primarily thoughts aims to open the door wider for more researchers to explore the potential of cash waqf as one of the instruments to finance refugee microenterprises and business activities.Originality/value -Recently cash waqf has been into several models for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. This paper is proposing cash waqf as a source for a microfinance fund that can contribute in the improvement of socio-economic situations of millions of refugees around the world.

From Center to Periphery and Back Again: A Systematic Literature Review of Refugee Entrepreneurship

“…'Peripheral-peripheral' characterizes our third group, denoting publications by authors who have peripheral affiliations and have used peripheral publication outlets. These account for 15 of our sources (22%), and encompass works by (chronologically listed): Singh [86]; Halkias et al ( [98], one of the six authors holds peripheral affiliation); Ayadurai [74]; Sabar and Posner [75]; Călin-Ştefan [76]; Morais [77]; Omeje and Mwangi [78]; Pulla and Kharel ( [79], one of the two authors holds peripheral affiliation); De Jager [80]; Raijman and Barak-Bianco [81]; Abdel Jabbar and Ibrahim Zaza [82]; Kachkar, Mohammed, Saad and Kayadibi [83]; Crush, Tawodzera, McCordic and Ramachandran ( [108], two of the five authors hold peripheral affiliations); Kachkar [84]; as well as Lankov, Ward, Yoo and Kim [85]. Three of these can also be counted in the first pattern -central affiliation, peripheral outlet ( [79,98,108]) with professional associations in India, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Malaysia, Romania, and South Africa.…”

“…This leads us to infer that refugee entrepreneurship has been stifled as a potential consequence of its peripherality, what Baker, Aldrich and Liou [128] have identified as a "thwarting of assumptions". Continuity in empirical work is low, as only a few authors have produced more than one contribution in relation to their examined populations (i.e., Gold [32,[66][67][68][69][70], Crush and colleagues [108,109], Kachkar and colleagues [83,84], as well as Wauters and Lambrecht [25,71,72]). Moreover, since central-peripheral publications recognizably encompass an important body in the field of migration studies, they contribute to maintaining refugee entrepreneurs as subjects of social studies rather than as agents of change in economies and entrepreneurship.…”

“…Noted are the differences in macro-environmental circumstances (e.g., legal frameworks), including country-specific institutional arrangements as well as socio-political contexts and perceptions within CORs. For instance, Abdel Jabbar and Ibrahim Zaza [82], Gold [32,[67][68][69][70], LaTowsky and Grierson [91], Miyares [114], Sheridan [96], Singh [86], Tömöry [97] and van Kooy [106] have demonstrated the positive function of approaching refugees as beneficiaries of, e.g., specialized social and governmental programs, including the right to self-employment opportunities and microfinance [83,84,123].…”

“…Individually, and in concert, these all influence refugees' state of mind [12,82,95], often leading to a lack of confidence experienced by refugees. In addition, refugee entrepreneurs continue to report on the pivotal impact of language and communication barriers in CORs [12,78,96,104,107,114,116], a lack of business knowledge and access to capital [12,25,74,78,86,111,114,126], including finance [12,25,63,84,92,114], a lack of support resources, information and advice [12,104], a lack of formal education credential recognition in CORs [25], and a lack of understanding of the competition [81], as well as socio-political environments and contexts in which they find themselves [25,74,78,83,126,130]. Moreover, the cross-cultural challenges refugees face [74], including inequity [77,95,108,109,126], compounds the adversities they face with entrepreneurship.…”

“…Micro-level barriers, however, can be visibly overpowered with interventions. This has been demonstrated within camp settings, as well as in mainstream societies [32,[67][68][69][70][82][83][84]86,91,96,97,106,114,123].…”