The challenges of marketing and income generation training to support women in exercising their right to self-reliance in a refugee camp context: a case study from the Thai-Burma border

Abstract

Until recently there has been insufficient attention to livelihood rights as a protection tool for refugee women confined to living in camps, particularly in protracted environments such as the Thai-Burma border, despite recognition by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of self-reliance as a tool for seeking durable solutions and avoiding protection problems such as exploitation and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). New UNHCR protection policy developments emphasise the link between self-reliance and protection for refugee women, but do not specifically address how to achieve this in the context of structural barriers typical of protracted refugee camp situations, such as the absence of legal employment opportunities and lack of host government support for self-reliance. Based on fieldwork with Karen refugee women in Mae Sot in north-western Thailand, this article discusses some of the challenges of interventions such as income generation training and home-based cottage industry development for combating protection risks and building self-reliance beyond basic survival needs. The article concludes by recommending a rights-based approach to handicrafts income generation and marketing training, in which identification and discussion of rights are integrated into practical production sessions, to support refugee women in putting a higher value on their labour and in exploring and finding ways to circumvent the barriers to earning a fair living wage and addressing protection gaps.