Zambia has long maintained a reputation as a welcoming host country for refugees. With a robust framework anchored in humanitarian values and international legal obligations, it continues to grant refugee status and protection to thousands fleeing instability across the region.
When refugee status is granted, the Government of Zambia issues a Refugee Recognition Certificate. This document legally acknowledges a person as a refugee, affording them protection under domestic and international law. However, that recognition often comes with geographical and economic limitations: refugees are required to reside in designated settlements, unless they are granted special permission to live in the community. Such permission typically takes the form of an immigration permit—a study permit, an employment permit, or an investor permit.
On paper, this framework reflects progress. But in practice, it reveals a major flaw—the unspoken barrier of critical skills.
The Policy Gap: Permits Without Skills
Zambia’s Immigration and Deportation Act does indeed make provision for refugees to obtain employment permits for purposes of local integration. However, a closer reading of the Act—particularly through the lens of the Zambianisation Policy—reveals a glaring challenge.
Zambianisation, as a long-standing policy, requires that any job opportunity first be offered to a Zambian national before it can be filled by a foreign national. This rule applies universally, including to refugees. For any foreign national, including a refugee, to obtain an employment permit in Zambia, they must demonstrate that they possess critical skills that are either scarce or unavailable locally.
And therein lies the problem.
The vast majority of refugees arrive in Zambia with limited access to formal education or technical training. Years—sometimes decades—of displacement have disrupted their educational trajectories and isolated them from professional development. As a result, most of them do not meet the threshold for “critical skills.”
A striking example is how refugees, despite having valid driver’s licenses or years of informal driving experience, are often denied employment permits as drivers because driving is not classified as a critical skill under current policy.
So, while immigration law technically allows for local integration through employment permits, the legal criteria to qualify for those permits create a silent exclusion. Refugees are caught between legal possibility and practical inaccessibility.
The Impact: Stalled Lives and Lost Potential
This gap has serious implications—not just for the refugees, but for Zambia as a host country.
For refugees, the inability to qualify for employment means:
-
Prolonged dependence on humanitarian aid;
-
Potential engagement in irregular migration activities;
-
Barriers to self-reliance and dignity;
-
A sense of exclusion from the economy and the host society.
For Zambia, it means:
-
Missed opportunities to tap into a potential labour force;
-
A lost chance to convert humanitarian challenges into economic participation;
-
Underutilized revenue streams from immigration fees, taxes, and services.
Ultimately, the system recognizes the right to integrate, but fails to equip refugees to actually do so.
FMAR’s Response: Skills for Integration, Empowerment for Sustainability
Recognizing this gap, the Foundation for Migration Advocacy and Research (FMAR) is launching an ambitious, forward-thinking solution.
Between now and December 2028, FMAR aims to train at least 350 refugees in Zambia in market-relevant, critical skills to support legal and sustainable local integration. This figure may increase with the availability of funding.
The project will be implemented in collaboration with accredited training institutions across Zambia. It is designed to:
-
Equip refugees with critical skills that meet the threshold for employment permits;
-
Facilitate study permits during training and employment permits thereafter;
-
Support legal integration pathways grounded in Zambia’s current immigration laws;
-
Promote self-reliance, social inclusion, and economic participation.
Why This Matters
This is not just a refugee program. It is a development program.
Here’s what FMAR’s project will contribute:
-
Revenue for Government: Through immigration permit fees, training levies, and economic activity.
-
Support for Institutions: Training providers and vocational colleges will benefit from expanded enrollment and tuition income.
-
Labour Market Strengthening: Trained refugees will help fill existing skills gaps, boosting sectors like construction, hospitality, manufacturing, mechanics, healthcare support, and ICT.
-
Economic Multiplier Effects: Refugees who work contribute taxes, support families, pay rent, buy goods—and help grow the economy.
-
Legal and Social Stability: Permitted refugees are easier to monitor, support, and protect. They integrate better, reducing tensions with host communities.
It is a win-win approach: migration as a tool for both human dignity and national development.
Looking Forward
Zambia has done well to provide protection to displaced persons. But protection without empowerment creates dependency. Empowerment without legal integration creates vulnerability.
This project seeks to bridge that gap—to move from policy to practice, from recognition to realization.
FMAR invites partners, funders, and stakeholders to support this bold step forward. The potential impact is real, measurable, and long-lasting—for the refugees, for Zambia, and for the shared goal of sustainable migration management in the region.
If you would like to partner, contribute, or learn more, please reach out to us via info@fmar.co.za.
Let’s make skills-based integration a reality.
