About UNHCR
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.Activities by UNHCR
Global Early Warning System on Forced Displacement
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States LuxembourgThis predictive analytics project harnesses nowcasting, forecasting, and machine learning to develop an early warning system that detects escalating risks of forced displacement and provides timely displacement forecasts before emergencies occur.
Activity Type AI Tools/SolutionsResearch/Reports/AssessmentsAgentic AI: a virtual assistant to help refugee entrepreneurs create their business plans in Paraguay
Latin America and the Caribbean Paraguay
Challenge: UNHCR focuses on livelihoods and economic inclusion as a pathway to protection, dignity, self-reliance, and support their integration into their host communities. UNHCR supports its partners and governments counterparts by:
- Providing seed capital for small businesses and orientation to access the labor market.
- Advocating with financial institutions for refugees to access banking services.
- Providing training programs and digital tools to help refugees develop viable business plans, particularly for those without digital skills
Solution: Co-designed with refugees, UNHCR Paraguay developed an AI-powered business planning assistant to help refugees and asylum-seekers transform ideas into sustainable businesses for applying to seed capital funding. The tool provides a guided journey from identifying customers and market strategy to calculating financial viability and creating an actionable roadmap. The tool incorporates Paraguay’s legal framework for business registration, guiding users through steps such as entity selection, tax ID requirements, and licensing. It offers a structured journey from market analysis to financial viability and an actionable roadmap.
Key Features:
-24/7 availability, breaking technical barriers and providing real-time projections.
-Legal compliance guidance tailored to Paraguayan regulations.
-Developed by MCO Argentina with support from the UNHCR Data Innovation Fund and regional experts.
Impact: Transforming refugee talent into economic development: strengthening dignity and autonomy. Provides personalized insights and future projections for strategic decisions for refugee entrepreneurs. Empowers refugees with dignity and autonomy, reducing aid dependency. Automated business plan evaluation and real-time reporting and reducing processing times for livelihood grants provided by UNHCR and partners.
Joint Data Analysis Framework – DAF Mexico
Latin America and the Caribbean MexicoThe Mexico Joint Data Analysis Framework (DAF) is a comprehensive platform for data management, analysis, and collaborative decision-making. It integrates and analyzes data from various sources and uses automated machine learning to generate predictive insights.
Activity Type AI Tools/SolutionsVirtual Legal Assistant (VLA) for UNHCR Rights Mapping and Analysis Tool (RIMAP)
Global Not ApplicableUNHCR is integrating an internal Virtual Legal Assistant (VLA) powered by AI into its Rights Mapping and Analysis Platform (RiMAP). The VLA will process and analyze legal documents to facilitate legal data collection and policy analysis, and its functionality will be expanded to a chatbot to provide user-friendly legal information.
Activity Type AI Tools/SolutionsPolicy/Regulatory Guidance