In 2022, former refugees and returnees came together in Juba to Luckista Unite, a refugee-led, community-rooted organization built on one shared conviction: that people displaced by conflict, and the host communities that welcomed them, did not need to be rescued. They needed a path to income they could build for themselves. Having lived through economic exclusion firsthand, our founders knew which kinds of support create dependence and which ones create a foundation. That firsthand knowledge became the Skills to Income Pathway, a way of connecting practical skills with the finance, markets and partnerships that turn ability into a sustainable income, rather than a single training session or a one-time transfer. What started as one community’s idea has since grown into partnerships with community leaders, government and international institutions who recognized that solutions built from inside a community tend to reach further than ones designed from outside it.