UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling for more investment in higher education for refugees and more employment opportunities for refugee graduates to help realize their potential.

In many countries, refugees continue to struggle to access higher education on an equal footing with nationals due to a lack of inclusive education policies, capacity constraints, prohibitive fees and administrative or bureaucratic impediments.

“Without policy and implementation changes, access to higher education cannot translate into sustainable livelihoods in a systematic way,” said Kelly T. Clements, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. “Greater investment in higher education for refugees is needed, as well as greater access to the job market for refugee graduates.”

Worldwide, approximately 4 million of 31.6 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate are aged between 18 and 24. Yet only 7 per cent of them have access to university or other higher-educational institutions. This is a significant increase from 1 per cent reported in 2019.

UNHCR is currently celebrating reaching the mid-point of a target set five years ago with partners to achieve 15 per cent enrolment of refugees in higher education by 2030 (the ‘15by30’ global pledge). However, further coordinated, committed and sustained engagement of partners is critical to reach this target by 2030.

A key component of the strategy is the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) scholarship programme. Since it began operating 32 years ago, DAFI has given over 26,300 refugees the chance to pursue higher education, transforming their lives and enabling them to pursue post-graduate opportunities. The DAFI programme is sometimes the only available mechanism for refugees to access higher education.

The latest annual DAFI report examines the paths to employment of alumni after they graduate, emphasizing the critical linkage between the DAFI programme, job opportunities and other sustainable futures.

Last year, over 9,300 refugee students from 54 countries of origin were enrolled in DAFI scholarships in 59 countries. Women represented 42 per cent of the total, and achieving gender parity remains a core aim of the programme.

“I want to promote female leadership,” said 25-year-old Grace, a final-year DAFI scholar from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, studying public health at Bujumbura’s Université Lumière in Burundi. “We still have to fight the idea that an educated woman will not be a good wife, but we keep moving forward and mentoring younger refugee girls and women who come after us so that they can become leaders and have some impact in this world. Mentalities are slowly evolving.”

Grace is writing her final thesis, after having completed several internships in various health institutions across Burundi. She is also currently the President of the DAFI Women Power Club, a student-driven mentorship initiative that aims to prepare young women in the DAFI programme as future leaders and drivers of community change.

Many DAFI scholars and graduates have already put their education and skills into action by securing leadership positions, starting companies, obtaining employment or advancing innovation and research that can improve lives.

Nevertheless, legal or practical impediments to refugees’ right to work in many countries mean that many refugee graduates find it hard to fulfill their potential and contribute to their host communities. Two thirds of the 59 countries where the DAFI programme operates officially give refugees the right to work, but only one third facilitate this right in practice.

The DAFI programme seeks to mitigate this barrier, including by providing scholars with dedicated career support, facilitating networking and partnering with companies and employers to raise awareness, create internships and strengthen pathways to employment for graduates.

With the long-standing commitment of the Government of Germany, as well as funding from the Government of Denmark and private partners and foundations, the DAFI programme is the largest and longest-running scholarship specifically for refugee students.

Thanks to the commitment of private donors, foundations and companies, the Aiming Higher Campaign – a UNHCR global fundraising initiative for tertiary education – raised $8.8 million to directly fund scholarships in 2023. This campaign continues to support refugee youth to access higher education and to enable them to step into post-graduate pathways that draw on the skills, practical experiences and relationships built through higher education. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The bilateral relations and cooperation between Indonesia and Sudan continue to improve, including cooperation in the health sector.

In this regard, the Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin and the Sudanese Minister of Health Dr. Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim Awadalla on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 held a bilateral meeting within the framework of the 2nd Indonesia Africa Forum in Bali.

The Indonesian Minister of Health expressed his gratitude for the presence of the Sudanese Minister of Health and Sudan’s participation in the 2nd IAF event.

In his response, the Sudanese Minister of Health expressed his desire to increase cooperation with Indonesia in the health sector.

The meeting also discussed and signed the MoU on Health Cooperation between Indonesia and Sudan, which includes health support, exchange of experts, and cooperation in pharmaceuticals and medicines.

On the occasion of the 2nd IAF, the Sudanese Minister of Health also met with Sudanese entrepreneurs who attended the Indonesian product exhibition – IAF.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Khartoum, Sudan.

“As the heads of humanitarian organisations operating in Sudan, we urgently call on the international community to address the immense hunger crisis within the country.

“We cannot be clearer: Sudan is experiencing a starvation crisis of historic proportions. And yet, the silence is deafening. People are dying of hunger, every day, and yet the focus remains on semantic debates and legal definitions.

“Every opportunity to head-off the worst of this situation has been missed, and now the people of Sudan face a crisis unmatched in decades. As the peak of the lean season approaches, widespread death and suffering is advancing across the county. Children are starving to death.

“More than 25 million people – more than half the population – are suffering acute food insecurity. Many families have for months been reduced to one meal a day and have been forced to eat leaves or insects. The people of Sudan have shown immense resilience and strength over the past 17 months: they now have nowhere left to turn.

“International attention and action have amounted to too little, too late. Currently the Humanitarian Response Plan is only 41 per cent funded, with much of this funding arriving too late to prevent deaths from starvation. Pressure must be applied to ensure that humanitarian aid can flow in and reach those who will otherwise pay with their lives.

“Our teams in Sudan have spoken of the huge loss of life resulting from the extreme violence that has swept the country, and now tell us that famine will likely eclipse that death toll. The conflict significantly impacted food production, destroying agriculture and livestock sectors.

“Staff also witness the weaponisation of food on a mass scale, in areas held by both sides of the conflict.  In June alone, about 1.78 million people have had no access to critical humanitarian assistance due to logistics constraints, arbitrary denials, and bureaucratic obstruction. Even where aid is getting through, it is in such scarce supply that meagre individual rations are being divided between groups of people. In some places, ten-person households have received 2kg of millet to last an entire month – this is not enough even for three days. Such is the situation for many in “fortunate” areas where some aid is getting through.

“The level of suffering endured by the Sudanese people in recent months is impossible to express with words alone. Their endurance and resilience will be in vain if we continue to look the other way. The indifference must end.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Norwegian Refugee Council.

In a startling turn of events, KnowBe4 (www.KnowBe4.com), a leading cybersecurity awareness training company, recently uncovered an elaborate scam when it unwittingly hired a North Korean spy. This incident (https://apo-opa.co/47eiR1n) has sent shockwaves through the business community, highlighting the growing risks associated with remote hiring practices in an increasingly digital world.

The incident occurred in July when the cybersecurity firm’s US branch hired what appeared to be a qualified candidate for a remote position. Despite rigorous background checks and video interviews, the fraudster infiltrated the company by leveraging a stolen US identity. Using a virtual private network (VPN) and logging in at night from wherever he physically was (either China or North Korea), the imposter convincingly portrayed themselves as working from the United States.

Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy&Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, explains, “Technology is making it easier for bad actors to infiltrate your organisation. They use sophisticated strategies helped by artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake, but believable identities which get them hired and then use proxies in country to gain access to the company’s IT systems.”

KnowBe4 uncovered the deception when the company-provided laptop immediately began downloading malware upon first use. Fortunately, KnowBe4’s security measures detected the attempted attack  early, and they prevented any data compromise. However, the incident has raised serious concerns about the vulnerabilities in remote hiring processes, even for companies specialising in cybersecurity.

Lessons learnt

The incident gave KnowBe4 a lot to think about and a chance to discuss how they could enhance their hiring process. “For a cybersecurity company like us to get caught with egg on our face was a big wake-up call,” admits Collard. “We could have kept quiet, but instead we shared our story hoping other organisations could learn from it.”

As a result, KnowBe4 implemented several process changes to catch this kind of incident earlier. “For example, in the US, we will only ship new employee workstations to a nearby UPS shop and require a picture ID,” she says.

Red flags and safeguards 

Because of sophisticated technology, it’s difficult for companies who are hiring to distinguish between who is real and who is fake. “Some methods fraudsters use include fake identities and relying on AI images to evade detection. Their motive is usually to gain access to sensitive company data, either for financial gain or to support the North Korean regime (https://apo-opa.co/3X3wPOY).”

Despite what they are up against, organisations can still outfox these fraudsters, provided the right HR measures are in place.

Inconsistent CV details: Look for discrepancies in birth dates or unexplained gaps in employment history.
Reference checks: Go beyond email verifications; conduct phone calls to confirm references.
Overqualification: Be wary of candidates who seem overqualified for the role, as this may be a tactic to avoid scrutiny.
Camera avoidance: Candidates refusing to appear on camera during interviews should raise suspicion.
Digital footprint: Conduct thorough background checks, including social media analysis. A “digital ghost” with no online presence is a red flag.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Implement MFA from day one, using hardware tokens sent to verified addresses.
Secure devices: Provide pre-configured, secure devices to new hires, restricting access to sensitive information until trust is established. Also scan your remote devices to make sure they have not been compromised.
Limit access: New employees should only be able to access a minimal number of necessary apps to go through the new employee training, and their workstations should be locked down with no data residing on them, except for the company’s endpoint security and management tools.

Conclusion

The KnowBe4 incident serves as a stark reminder of the growing challenges in remote hiring and cybersecurity. As organisations continue to adapt to a global workforce, the need for robust security measures has never been more critical.

“Your HR and IT processes need to work in tandem and be watertight when recruiting,” concludes Collard. “By adopting stringent security practices and remaining vigilant, companies can mitigate the risks associated with remote hiring and protect themselves from sophisticated scams.”

This wake-up call underscores the importance of continuous improvement in security protocols, even for industry leaders. “As the digital landscape evolves, so too must our approach to safeguarding our organisations against increasingly cunning threats.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of KnowBe4.