Strategic Partnerships (draft 2)

Refugees face many constraints that limit their ability to sell their products to external markets. Legal restrictions, isolation, limited design knowledge and a lack of access to basic business support services are major obstacles. As a resuIt, refugees are often left out of the global artisan economy.

MADE51 has been created as a global collaborative initiative that relies on the support of Strategic Partners. 

Our focus areas for Strategic Partnership

• Product design 

We pursue collaborations with designers to ensure product design is both contemporary and a reflection of patterns, motifs and techniques relevant to refugees’ culture.

• Business toolkit & legal support 

We work with business consultants and legal firms to offer a business toolkit, tailored business development coaching, and legal support to our social enterprise partners to ensure they have the acumen and resources to effectively set up and manage refugee-made product lines.

• Technology solutions

Through collaboration with technology firms, we are creating and implementing technological solutions to ensure efficient production by closing communication gaps, helping artisans manage orders and controlling quality. 

• Marketing platform 

Together with firms specialising in branding and communications, we market refugee-made products under the MADE51 brand. Building a recognisable brand enables us to create trust, generate demand amongst retailers and consumers, and tell refugees’ stories. As the brand grows, we can uplift our local social enterprise partners and refugee artisans through increased orders.

Our current partners are industry-leaders who have committed to offer long-term support to UNHCR to build and scale MADE51.  We seek additional support from experts in the following areas: retail, design, tech solutions, impact measurement, project funding, logistics, fulfilment, and access to finance. If you are interested in collaborating with us in these areas, please learn more about our current needs or get in touch.