Kontakt
E-Mail:
wan04@mail.aub.edu
Background
Watfa Najdi is a project coordinator at the Refugee Program at Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. She holds an MS in Urban Planning and Policy from the American University of Beirut. Her graduate thesis investigated the impact of Syrian-owned businesses on the city of Beirut. She also holds an MA and BA in Architectural Engineering from the Lebanese University. Her interests and research are primarily orientated around urban and refugee studies; this includes urbanization of refuge, urban informalities, the right to the city, social and economic integration of refugees including informal adaptive mechanisms, transnational solidarity networks, planning theory, and urban political economy.
Research project
In her project, she aims to investigate how entrepreneurship facilitates the integration process of refugees in host countries. She is keen on debunking the reductionist framing of ‘the refugee’ as a burden and research the contribution that some refugees can introduce to the city. The research is based on interviews with Syrian business owners who were able to establish micro, small and medium businesses in Lebanon following 2011. Building on Kloosterman et al.’s (1999) framework, her work explores the barriers that face Syrian-owned businesses amidst the Lebanese institutional framework and societal environment, as well as the human capital and social networks that enable their entrepreneurial experience. Using her interdisciplinary background in architecture and planning, she also seeks to highlight the socio-spatial impact of Syrian refugees on the city.