Ethiopia hosts more than 1.1 million refugees, the second-largest refugee population in Africa. Since the 2016 New York Declaration and Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework pledges, it has built a progressive legal framework that includes the 2019 Refugee Proclamation, the right-to-work directive adopted in 2020 and revised in 2024, the Digital ID Proclamation and the Makatet Roadmap. This brief asks how far those commitments have translated into practice as funding contracts: by the end of April 2026, only 20% of the USD 340 million budget required for 2026 had been secured.
The brief draws on a two-day workshop convened by the Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) in collaboration with ReDSS. The first day brought technical experts together to examine what is happening on the ground. The second brought senior RRS management, government ministries, UNHCR, IGAD and donors together to reflect on those findings and agree next steps.
RRS reports significant progress, including 175,000 National Fayda IDs, 129,000 jobs, 31,071 residence permits, 17,327 refugees financially included, 15,856 work permits and 1,383 business licences. These gains sit alongside chronic underfunding, fragmented projects, limited awareness of the normative frameworks, host-refugee tensions and a mismatch between skills training and labour market demand. Durable solutions have also leaned heavily on local integration while repatriation and resettlement remain largely out of reach. Budget shortfalls are affecting livelihoods coverage, vocational training, food security, health services, documentation and relations between refugees and host communities.
The brief offers 14 recommendations covering durable solutions, thematic priorities, funding, coordination and data. They include balancing all three durable solutions, accelerating legal implementation, assessing the impact of socio-economic projects jointly, shifting to predictable multi-year funding, and investing in robust research. Workshop participants endorsed a refugee-focused Durable Solutions Working Group, with RRS drafting its terms of reference. The brief is relevant to government institutions, donors, UN agencies and durable solutions partners working in Ethiopia.
