Refugee Resilience and Adaptation in the Middle East: Reclaiming Agency in the Informal Economies of Lebanon and Jordan

This edited volume investigates how refugee communities in the Middle East have adapted to secure their livelihoods within the informal economy.

Focusing on Lebanon and Jordan, which between 2011 and 2020 received more refugees as a proportion of their population than any other countries in the world, this edited volume investigates the informal mechanisms that Syrian refugees have adopted to fit into the informal economies of Lebanon and Jordan in the face of significant challenges and barriers. The volume investigates how legality, temporality, connectedness, gender, and geography, among other factors, have influenced the emergence of refugee communities’ informal adaptive mechanisms. Drawing on in-depth, original research among Syrian refugee tribal communities, agricultural workers, female-headed households, and micro-entrepreneurs, the volume provides tangible policy and practice recommendations to help to improve the situation of refugees and vulnerable populations that are employed in the informal economy.

Highlighting the resilience and agency demonstrated by refugees, this edited volume’s original community-based analysis will be of interest to students, researchers, and professionals from across Middle East studies, refugee studies, informal labor economics, and development studies.

Haya Al-Dajani, PhD, is a professor of Entrepreneurship at the Mohammed Bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship (MBSC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Maysa Baroud is currently an independent researcher. Previously, she was a project coordinator and researcher within the Refugee Research and Policy Program at IFI, where she coordinated and contributed to the project leading to this edited volume.

Nasser Yassin, PhD, is currently the Minister of Environment in Lebanon. He is also a professor of Policy and Planning at the American University of Beirut (on leave).