About the conference

fi-compass organised the workshop ‘Financing of refugee labour pathways: challenges and opportunities’, on Thursday, 27 November 2025. The workshop took place in Brussels and online.   Refugee labour pathways are skills-based legal avenues that support people in need of international protection to access employment in the EU, matching their skills with labour-market gaps and enhancing their self-reliance.

This workshop – organised together with European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) as part of the fi-compass AMIF workstream - examined how financing mechanisms, including blended finance and financial instruments combined with grants, could help address financing gap and attract investment to scale-up refugee labour pathways across EU Member States. 

Building on insights from recent initiatives as well as feedback from key stakeholder groups, the discussions aimed to: 

1) identify needs on the demand and supply sides of financing 

2) explore possible models for future financing solutions. 

The workshop brought together resettlement policy experts, AMIF managing authorities, financial intermediaries such as ethical banks and microfinance institutions, as well as representatives of international organisations, public authorities, and social economy actors working on migrant and refugee employment and integration. The session was also relevant for other stakeholders interested in developing and financing sustainable models for refugee labour pathways in the EU.

Presentations

Policy context: Innovative financing solutions to support refugee labour pathways in the EU

Working session I: Current needs and financing gap to support refugee labour pathways in the EU

Working session II: Possible models and testing, how to harness and set up innovative financing solutions, including blending and financial instruments

Summary

Event recording

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