Michael Lerner

Background

About Michael Lerner

I'm currently working in the Dominican Republic, where I am helping UNHCR engage with development actors and the private sector to advance protection, solutions and socioeconomic inclusion for refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons. My focus is on developing analyses, strategies, and partnerships to expand access to rights, solutions, livelihoods, social protection, and resilience-building opportunities for forcibly displaced and stateless populations, while ensuring alignment with national development priorities. Previously I was in Madrid, Spain, supporting the government in engaging the private sector to promote the hiring of refugees and asylum seekers, and prior to that I worked in Colombia as Senior Development Officer & Head of the Solutions, Livelihoods and Socioeconomic Inclusion Unit. In that role, I coordinated with international development institutions and the private sector to promote livelihoods and economic inclusion, including employment, entrepreneurship and financial inclusion for internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants. I have also worked on resettlement and complementary pathways. I have over 25 years of experience working with international organizations and NGOs on human rights, the rule of law, labor, migration, development and humanitarian assistance in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.