January 2022 / Newsletter

Hello ! Welcome to the new Resilience Collective newsletter.

Happy New Year to all! Let 2022 be a beautiful and innovative year. But stay cautious and positive, and remember that together we are always stronger.

Here, you will learn about the latest developments and newcomers to our Collective. You will also be able to find out what we are doing within the RIFs and who are the champions of innovation and resilience.

First of all, maybe you’re wondering what the Resilience Collective is. No worries, we’ll explain! We are an international collective of humanitarian agencies and universities. We seek to deploy digitalized child-friendly spaces along migration routes and in refugee/displaced camps. Wow ! This digitalized and innovative accompaniment we do through the pilot concept of Resilience Innovation Facility (RIF).

But then, what is a RIF? Good question! A RIF is a safe and inclusive hybrid space for protection and innovation. It adapts according to the context and targets, meaning that its tools, services and connections are always designed for and with children and youth. Primordial, their rights are always respected and safeguarded. And what does a RIF seek to do? Well, with innovative methods and services, a RIF aims to strengthen children’s and youth’s agency, empowerment, and resilience by giving them access to resources, tools, learning, activities, and experiences that enable them to seize development opportunities and unleash their own potential.

So much for the theory, now what’s going on in these RIF? Here are some news from 2021.

IOM RIF Gaziantep (Turkey)

The Gaziantep RIF was implemented 2021 in cooperation with Gaziantep University and IOM Turkey and provides a place to prototype, create, mentor and invent: a place for learning and innovation. The Gaziantep RIF aims to develop skills through certified training for youth, with a focus on gender mainstreaming and gender awareness. It also aims to become a platform for private sector companies and humanitarian agencies to adapt existing technologies to humanitarian challenges.

New Tdh RIFs along the migration routes in Guinea and Morocco

Within the consortium “Children and Youth on Migration Routes in West and North Africa” formed with Helvetas and GIZ, Tdh has developed two pilot projects in 2021 based on the RIF concept. Among the possible migration routes, the consortium decided to choose those linking Guinea and Morocco, and passing either through Mali, Senegal or Mauritania. The first RIF was implemented in Conakry, Guinea (country of departure) and the other in Morocco (country of destination).

Tdh RIF Mogtédo (Burkina Faso)

The RIF in Burkina Faso was put in place in 2018 to give exploited children working in gold mines a place where they are protected and can build their skills. It is placed in a social protection centre of the government in a market town close to an artisanal gold mine.