top of page
The Refugee Archive Hero Section.png

Female Head of Household
Global Policy Tracker 

What It Is


The FHH Tracker is a student-led policy tracker, examining how national laws shape the lives of displaced single mothers and female-headed households across conflict and displacement settings. This demographic is often treated as part of a broad “vulnerable populations” category. That makes it easy for the most common barriers they face to stay hidden in plain sight.


The Global FHH Policy Tracker is a country-by-country tool that monitors how laws, policies, and public systems shape the lived reality of displaced female-headed households, also known as single mothers, including refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). It is built to answer practical questions:
 

  • What protections exist on paper?

  • What can women actually access in real life?

  • Where are the gaps, exclusions, and contradictions?

  • What reforms are realistic now?


The tracker is designed for policymakers, program teams, funders, advocates, researchers, and journalists who need a clear snapshot of what is helping, what is blocking, and where change is possible.

Examine the Policy

How The Tracker Works

Each country page includes: Status Chips


A quick “at-a-glance” summary using three chips:
 

  • Policy Environment: Enabling / Restrictive

  • Trajectory: Improving / Stalling / Regressive

  • Coverage: National / State / Pilot


24 indicators grouped into two sections:


Core Policy Risks  12 indicators
These capture common policy and systems barriers.
 

Policy Windows and Reforms  12 indicators
These capture opportunities, reforms, and policy openings that can improve access, safety, and stability.
 

Written in plain language and backed by sources, separating what policy says from what implementation looks like.

Examine the methods

Methodology

Updated on a rolling basis as laws, policies, and program rules change, and as new, credible evidence becomes available.


Countries are included based on:

  • presence of conflict, insecurity, or disaster-linked displacement

  • scale and visibility of refugee and IDP populations

  • likelihood policy shifts are actively affecting households

  • geographic diversity and distinct displacement dynamics


Sources and Evidence

Country pages draw from a mix of:

  • national laws and policy documents

  • government program rules and eligibility 

  • UN and NGO operational reporting

  • research and policy analysis

  • local partner input and structured notes 
     

Three Status Chips and Twenty.four indicators:

  • Policy environment trends: expand access and protection or restrict it.

  • Trajectory reflects changes:  improvement, stagnation, or rollback.

  • Coverage reflects: applied nationally, limited to sub-national jurisdictions, or confined to pilots and time-bound. 

  • Limits and Integrity

  • This tracker is not a ranking of countries, and it is not a substitute for on-the-ground case management or protection assessments. It is a structured snapshot intended to support better questions and better decisions.

Youth tracking teams

The Tracking Teams

Youth-Led Research Model
 

A core feature of this project is its research model. Country analysis is supported by students and early career professionals working in their own countries, with guidance from The Refugee Archive and external mentors. Most of our researchers join the project from affiliated universities located in developing countries. Others are recent graduates interested in developing policy and analysis research portfolios and experience. 

This team demographic type strengthens local accuracy, builds accountability at home, and creates a practical training and portfolio pathway for emerging researchers.

Meet the teams on the FHH Policy Tracker country pages: 

MENTOR ORGANIZATIONS AND FUNDING PARTNERS

Private Sector

Policy Institutes

Universities

Public Sector

NGOs

bottom of page