The Project

AISHA: Resilient Refugee Women

Funded by the United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DfID), this three-year research project, aims at gaining a deeper, richer and more nuanced understanding of the experiences and empowerment of Arab refugee women displaced from Iraq, Palestine and Syria to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and how they alleviate poverty for themselves, their families and communities through entrepreneurship. 

To do so effectively, data will be gathered sequentially through two phases as follows:

AISHA Image 1

Phase 1:

A. Focus group interviews with key stakeholders from agencies supporting the refugee populations in Jordan. Lebanon and Turkey, to engage in the design of the ensuing project and conduct.

B. Individual semi-structured interviews with Iraqi, Palestinian and Syrian refugee women residing in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Phase 2:

A. Follow up focus group interviews with key stakeholders from agencies supporting the refugee populations in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, to share and deliberate the findings so far, and to inform the design and development of the ensuing follow-up survey with the women.

B. Follow up survey administered through individual interviews with the refugee women originally interviewed in Phase 1, as outlined above.

At the end of the project, the overall results and recommendations will be shared in two ways. Firstly, through a key stakeholder dissemination event in each of the three geographical locations, focusing on research, practice and policy development for displaced and refugee populations. 

Secondly, the project report will be made available in Arabic, English and Turkish through the projects dedicated website, and will be shared with agencies working with refugees in different parts of the world, to inform and contribute to the development of relevant guidance, strategies and policies.