From 11 to 13 of June, JRS participated in the 2024 global consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with around 200 other representatives of NGOs, civil society organisations (CSOs), refugee-led organisations (RLOs), and women-led organisations (WLOs).

The three-day event, organised by UNHCR and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), this year focused on solutions and inclusion of refugees, displaced and stateless persons in national systems, and gender equality. Given the relevance of the themes to the JRS mission, a delegation composed of Anne-Christine Bloch, JRS Representative in Geneva, and Jill Drzewiecki, JRS Gender Responsive Education Specialist, joined the consultations.

“This is a pivotal moment globally concerning forced displacement. With an increasing number of active conflicts worldwide, traditional refugee support models are no longer sustainable. It was encouraging to participate in a gathering focused on solutions, where diverse actors, including women and refugee-led organisations from across the globe, collaborated with UNHCR as equal partners,” commented Jill, JRS Gender Responsive Education Specialist.

On Tuesday, 12 June, JRS also held the session “A lifecourse perspective to displacement: Durable solutions for girls and women of all ages,” co-organised with Caritas Internationalis and HelpAge International this side event was an opportunity to raise awareness of the barriers that girls and women of all ages face in situations of forced displacement and to highlight durable solutions to support their self-reliance. JRS’s intervention was specifically about increasing access and completion of secondary education. We presented the research “Breaking down barriers: increasing girls’ access to and completion of secondary education in Kakuma”, and the resulting gender-responsive and transformative secondary education project.

JRS strongly believes that only by joining efforts can we identify and pursue solutions for refugees, displaced, and stateless persons.

By participating in this forum, JRS once again renews its commitment to work more in synergy and solidarity with other stakeholders, in responding together to ever-increasing global challenges.