Forced displacement has reached a scale not seen since records began. It has not only increased to an unprecedented level, but so too has its average duration. Latest reports indicate that over 110 million people are currently estimated to be forcibly displaced, and two in three refugees are projected to live in a long-term displacement situation (ten years or more, on average).

Traditional responses to forced displacement crises, which are based on providing emergency aid for prolonged periods of time, do not meaningfully contribute to forcibly displaced people's long-term resilience and self-reliance. The global drive to achieve durable solutions for forcibly displaced people has never been stronger. Refugees have frequently shared that they do not want to be dependent on humanitarian assistance. It is due time to listen and provide the tools and support they have been asking for to ensure they can reach their goals and the right solution to their displacement.

This publication shares the individual stories of South Sudanese refugees and host communities in Uganda and Kenya that have benefited from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) agricultural livelihood interventions in refugee settings. It explores FAO’s life-saving and resilience-building work with refugees, and calls for a shift in the way durable solutions are achieved.

FAO believes that participating in agriculture can transform the lives of forcibly displaced people; that it can build their resilience to climate change, their self-reliance to dictate their own futures, and contribute to local peace between refugees and host communities. Based on FAO’s experience in displacement settings and the testimonies of people affected by forced displacement, the publication also lays out the needed responses required from stakeholders to deliver durable solutions.