Ghana’s ability to translate its refugee-friendly laws into real economic value is being undermined by administrative failures rather than legal restrictions, according to new research by the Amahoro Coalition.

Findings from the coalition’s Pathways to Employment country reports were presented at a media roundtable in Accra, where participants examined how bureaucratic processes, documentation gaps and weak private sector alignment are preventing refugees from accessing formal employment despite clear legal protections.

Although the Refugee Act of 1992 guarantees refugees the right to work, move freely and access public services on the same basis as Ghanaians, the research indicates that fragmented systems and procedural delays continue to erode those rights in practice. “What the evidence shows is that the problem is not hostility or lack of policy intent, it is the failure of systems to align, which turns documentation and procedure into unintended barriers to employment,” the Strategy Custodian for Communications at Amahoro Coalition, Mercy Kusiwaa Frimpong, said while presenting the findings.

One of the most persistent obstacles identified is the requirement for refugees to secure work permits before formal employment, even though the permit application itself depends on an employer’s letter of commitment. The study notes that this circular process often collapses opportunities before they materialise, particularly when processing timelines that should take one week stretch into several months, costing refugees jobs they have already interviewed for.

Opening the engagement, the Private Sector Partnerships Lead for West Africa at Amahoro Coalition, Fred Mawuli Deegbe Jr, argued that refugee employment must be reframed beyond humanitarian assistance and treated as a labour market issue. “Jobs do not happen in policy documents, they happen when businesses are confident enough to hire,” Mr Deegbe said. “If we reduce uncertainty for employers and focus on skills, refugees move from being seen as a challenge to being recognised as contributors to economic growth,” he added.

The research, which spans 15 African countries, shows that the barriers confronting displaced people are broadly similar across the continent, with documentation challenges, unclear work authorisation and employer risk perceptions recurring more frequently than outright legal bans on employment. According to the report, these constraints push many qualified refugees into informal work in sectors such as agriculture, construction and petty trading, even where skills shortages exist in the formal economy.

The Principal Strategy Custodian for Growth at Amahoro Coalition, Bathsheba Asati, said refugee employment should be assessed within wider frameworks on labour mobility and regional integration, including ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Area. “Displacement is not a temporary issue for Africa, and neither is labour mobility. The question is whether existing systems can be adjusted to turn exclusion into opportunity, without creating entirely new structures,” she said.

The study further highlights how refugees already participate in regional labour markets, often informally, and argues that formalising this participation would boost productivity and economic resilience. Ms Asati said governments must rethink how identity systems, migration policies and labour regulations intersect, while employers should move towards skills-based hiring models rather than documentation-led exclusion.

Researchers point to Ghana’s relatively small registered refugee population, estimated at about 12,200 people, as an opportunity rather than a constraint. They argue that targeted reforms, including streamlining documentation and improving coordination among state institutions, could deliver significant economic and social returns and position Ghana as a reference point for employment-led refugee integration in Africa.

However, discussions at the roundtable also drew attention to the resource limitations facing the Ghana Refugee Board, which remains the lead agency for refugee support but struggles with infrastructure and capacity gaps that slow documentation processing and integration services.

The Pathways to Employment series was commissioned by the Amahoro Coalition and conducted by the Refugee-Led Research Hub at the University of Oxford with support from the Mastercard Foundation. It examines how labour markets, private sector demand and policy frameworks shape access to work for forcibly displaced people and host communities across 15 African countries.