From its initial work REF-FIN has achieved excellent results, both in terms of establishing a group of leading researchers at the forefront of the topic of refugee and humanitarian finance; and in terms of engaging with key stakeholders involved in the creation and operationalization of refugee financial instruments, such as multilateral development banks, philanthropic and humanitarian organizations, development organizations and government agencies.
The work performed to date is fully in line with the project's timetable and has gone beyond what envisaged: to enable a more comprehensive theoretical framing of the financial instruments deployed to finance refugee responses, REF-FIN has broadened the scope of its fieldwork beyond Colombia to include emerging financial instruments and programs at EU level.
By the end of 2025, REF-FIN successfully mapped relevant financial products in Colombia and completed the first iteration of field work (carried out in 2025, as planned). All data were transcribed and analysed to reveal, for instance, the existence of new financial instruments that were introduced for Venezuelan refugees in Colombia: outcome- and performance-based contracts. This is a key finding of the project, since according to our interviewees, these contracts were found to be more suitable than social impact bonds when it came to supporting Venezuelan refugees. Outcome- and performance-based contracts allow for a simpler structure and, crucially, for private actors to implement the relevant projects without a governmental partner, thus avoiding national public procurement requirements (at least in the context of Colombia). Our findings are then tested in-situ with the second round of fieldwork (February-March 2026). Year 2 of the project has also seen a first-stage mapping of financial instruments in the EU, with a specific focus on refugee instruments and programs enabling access to labour markets, as well as preparation for fieldwork in Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands throughout 2026.
As planned, the project organized the first Humanitarian Forum meeting in order to engage with practitioners involved in setting up and delivering humanitarian projects for refugees with the use of innovative financial instruments. The event, entitled "Innovative Finance in the Humanitarian Sector for Refugees: Academic and Practitioners Dialogues", was organized in collaboration with the Anna Lindh Foundation and took place on 1 September 2025 in Lund (Sweden). It marked the first of at least three humanitarian meetings already planned by the project. The outcome of this event have resulted in further cooperation with the financial and humanitarian actors involved and has informed the preparation of the second event in Colombia in March 2026.
After the first two years of the project, 7 peer-reviewed publications, aimed at both scholars and practitioners, were already solid outputs of REF-FIN, presented at international events in various countries such as Colombia, Finland, Germany, Jordan, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These events were complemented by regular project meetings and annual engagement with the project's Advisory Board.
