On June 20, 2023 – The International Day of Refugees and Asylum-seekers

The Albanian Microfinance Association, in cooperation with UNHCR Albania, organized a joint discussion table on the topic “Hope away from Home“.

The purpose of this seminar was representation, raise of the awareness, advocacy related to assessment of the financial and legal needs of refugees. This serves to understand their involvement, the needed proper documentation, the demand for the use of financial services in the country, and the degree of  readiness from financial service providers, as well as the reach of the products and services by the refugee population.

The Association presented the opportunities for the financial sector to better serve refugees, and best practices followed by financial service providers in other countries. UNHCR Albania made it possible for the participants to become familiar with the socio-economic situation of refugees, the legal framework and living needs, also with the current international best practices regarding the effective inclusion of refugees, seeing it from the perspective of the approach at the local level.

In this meeting there were the representative of UNICEF Albania Mr. Toshitsuki Kawauchi and others, RMSA, INLSH and German Sparkassenstiftung Albania.