Investing In Impact For Refugees Hope
Gideon Diasuka Moembo, 21, arrived from DRC to Nigeria as a child, and has spent his entire life in the country. He is now a brilliant student in microbiology at the Yaba College of technology, thanks to a DAFI scholarship, supported by UNHCR. Life is good now, and he longs for a future job in the biomedical field, in Nigeria or abroad, while keeping up with his passion, computer graphics. “I thank UNHCR for the support to all refugees' children like me, to help them to get a better future and dream big”. The DAFI scholarship programme, supported by the German government and UNHCR, constitutes one of the five core pillars of the strategy to achieve 15 per cent enrolment of young refugee women and men in higher education by the year 2030 ; The DAFI scholarship programme, supported by the German government and UNHCR, constitutes one of the five core pillars of the strategy to achieve 15 per cent enrolment of young refugee women and men in higher education by the year 2030 © UNHCR/Emmanuel Campos

Aiming Higher Provides Refugees with New Opportunities

Education provides refugees with a sense of purpose and dignity after the trauma of displacement. It provides the building blocks they need to recover, to create new lives in their host countries and to gain vital knowledge and skills to take back to their country of origin.

USA for UNHCR and its compassionate donors have been strong supporters of Aiming Higher – the largest and longest-running higher education refugee scholarship program in the world – committing to fund 600 scholarships from 2022 to 2025.

The UNHCR scholarship program offers support that extends beyond academics. Scholars receive psychosocial services, preparatory courses and career readiness training. The program is designed to ensure that each student graduates not only with the certification and skills needed to pursue a career, but also with the motivation and experience to act as positive leaders for change, both in their community and the world.

In 2022:

  • 2,533 new refugee scholars were enrolled in higher education with Aiming Higher scholarships.
  • 4,619 existing scholars continued to be supported.
  • 1,516 students graduated and obtained their degrees.