Refugee talent and the digital economy
A Conversation with the Private Sector
By Yasmeen Chaudhry, Programme and Partnerships Manager, TASC Platform
Two Converging Shifts: Displacement and Digital Transformation
As refugee displacement becomes increasingly long-term, driven by war, climate shocks, and political instability, and digital transformation reshapes how we work, two powerful shifts are raising an urgent and timely question about the future of labour mobility. Can digital and remote work become viable, sustainable pathways for refugee talent integration?
PROTRACTED DISPLACEMENTS,
SHIFTING LABOUR NEEDS
The growing need for digital labour inclusion as a response to long-term displacement
The TASC Platform and the International Trade Centre Refugees and Trade Team convened a private sector conversation to explore this question with 16 organisations across Europe and Africa. What we set out to understand seemed straightforward: how are companies engaging displaced talent today, and can the digital economy empower new, more inclusive models of work tomorrow.
Much of the conversation centred on the digital economy, where AI, platform work, and shifting labour demands are redefining how talent is sourced and developed. While some companies are beginning to test direct hiring of refugee professionals into digital roles, this is still the exception rather than the norm. What is emerging more strongly are alternative pathways: remote contracting, digital entrepreneurship, and upskilling-to-placement pipelines that align refugee talent with growing business needs.
Strengthening Talent Pipelines and Pathways
The paper identifies three core pillars of this evolving refugee talent pipeline:
Upskilling, where companies and partners are introducing innovative training models—often grounded in skills-first hiring and delivered alongside soft skills support.
Job Matching, where specialised intermediaries and sourcing partners help bridge legal, technical, and cultural gaps in connecting refugee talent with employers.
Employment, where hiring is beginning to shift from short-term response to long-term workforce planning—particularly through investment in virtual and physical talent pathways and pipeline partnerships.
Each of these stages presents its own set of tensions: from regulatory complexity, to operational friction, to team integration and retention. But across all three, we also heard stories of experimentation and progress—especially where companies partnered strategically with NGOs, social enterprises, or digital platforms.
In this context, refugee hiring is beginning to find its place in future-ready workforce strategies. Companies are not simply fulfilling CSR mandates, they are responding to digital skills gaps, rethinking access to talent, and building models that are more resilient and inclusive by design.
Two closed-door peer conversations held during this project confirmed this appetite. Companies are looking for more than good case studies. They want safe, structured spaces to ask hard questions, troubleshoot with peers, and explore solutions together.
This World Refugee Day 2025, we share this work not as a conclusion, but as a continuation. A snapshot of where things stand, and an invitation to strengthen the ecosystem of actors working at the intersection of displacement, digital work, and inclusive growth.