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The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children will be releasing a livelihoods handbook in early 2009 aimed at practitioners working with conflict-affected women and youth. Our aim is to assist the field in implementing more effective market-driven economic programs. We'd love to work with you to make this happen. A number of researchers have prepared draft chapters, drawing on available experience of best field practice in implementing livelihoods interventions for displaced women, youth, older persons and individuals with disabilities. We are aware, however, that we would benefit from much more experience and learning. The Commission would be most grateful if you could help contribute to our understanding by contacting us if: • your agency has experience designing/implementing/evaluating livelihoods interventions for refugees/IDPs • you can direct us to online sources of information about your agency's livelihoods-based projects • you have case studies you are willing to share for possible inclusion in the handbook as program examples (case studies would include: program objectives, brief implementation strategy, target beneficiaries, outcomes and any further follow-up evaluations on longer-term impact) It would be greatly appreciated if you could share with the Women's Commission any in-house material which is not in the public domain. We would, of course, seek your approval of any text we might propose to use, as well as whatever form of acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement you would prefer. Would it be possible to briefly answer these questions? • What are the key lessons your agency has learned from livelihoods programs for displaced people? • What advice would you give to agencies considering a livelihoods intervention in a displacement context? Would you be able to provide more information to our researchers—either by email or by phone? If so, how should they reach you? If you are able to provide more information to our researchers, we would be most grateful. The two consultants working with us on this initiative are Jenny Reid Austin—who is US-based—and Tim Morris—based in the UK. Their email addresses are: [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask], respectively. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information about the handbook. With best wishes and many thanks, Dale Buscher Director of Protection Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children 122 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10168, USA Tel: +1 212 551-3115/3000 Email: [log in to unmask] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Department of International Development, University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. List archives are available at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.html.