Since 2009, the IKEA organisations have been supporting refugees through grants, training and upskilling programmes, employment and crucially, recognising the diversity and skills they bring to our organisation and our communities. As part of the Global Refuge Forum 2023 in Geneva on 13-15 December, we’re announcing new and renewed commitments to creating a better life for refugees through initiatives across IKEA.
At IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, we’ve been supporting socially inclusive businesses that improve the livelihoods of vulnerable and marginalised communities, such as refugees and migrants since 2012.
In partnership with NESsT and the Cisco Foundation we last year launched the Refugee Employment Initiative that aims to create 3,000 long-term jobs and positively impact over 5,000 refugees and migrants in Poland and Romania by scaling 15 socially inclusive businesses.
In our accelerators, we have a wide range of social enterprises that focus on inclusive employment - all the way from Chile and Mexico to Germany and Portugal to Singapore and Indonesia, supporting thousands of migrants and refugees to sustainable livelihoods.
In partnership with Jordan River Foundation, we co-create beautiful handcrafted products for IKEA that creates long-term employment for 370 refugee women and local female artisans in Jordan, like those in the LOKALT collection.
As more people are forced to leave the place that they called home, the many IKEA organisations such as IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, Inter IKEA Group, Ingka and the IKEA Foundation continue to support refugees in finding meaningful work, social inclusion, and empowerment to advocate for their rights.
