Image Courtesy : www.facebook.com/UNHCR

Higher education is essential in allowing youthful people to prosper and build better futures. However, only 5 percent of all refugee youth have a key to higher education – far below the global average of 40 percent of non-refugees registered in higher education.

On 1 September, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launched the photo exhibition- Becoming Who We Are, which indicates the transformative influence of higher education on people propelled to flee. The event tells the optimistic stories of refugee students and graduates who have pursued higher education in Malawi, Chad, Egypt, and Zambia. They are connected by other young refugees who did not let their circumstances represent who they are across the world. Who overcame barriers and misfortunes in order to unlock their potential. These are stories of determination, resilience, and hope.

One of the pillars to accomplish this goal is UNHCR’s Refugee Scholarship Programme, DAFI, which marks its 30th anniversary this year. In three decades and with the help of authorities, donors, and education stakeholders – the programme has supported over 22,500 refugee youth from more than 50 countries to access higher education.

One of the recipients of the DAFI scholarship who features in the exhibition, Imam, says that education is the approach I have been building my future. He adds that with education, we can create a better generation.

UNHCR- The UN Refugee Agency also advocates for bolstering connected learning programmes, which take benefit of technical and digital platforms and solutions to ensure that more refugees are included in national systems and can enlist in national universities and for creating more educational pathways for refugees to access universities in secure, third countries, for example through student visas.

The exhibition has been carried out by photographer- Antoine Tardy and hosted by Kista Library in Stockholm for the whole month of September.

News Source: UNHCR- The UN Refugee Agency