Financial Inclusion and Digital Connectivity in Refugee Governance

The project examines emerging trends in refugee governance: debit cards for cash assistance and digital connectivity initiatives. We analyse uptake and challenges of these technologies in four countries: Greece, Jordan, Lebanon and the UK. We include these countries because each has innovated solutions to refugee governance and integration, but in different ways with different outcomes. Our project includes surveys of organisations working in this field and in-depth case studies with humanitarian and refugee-led initiatives. Working across four countries, we are uniquely able to identify both local and global trends in techno-humanitarianism. Working with refugee-led organisations, the project will generate alternative models of financial inclusion and digital connectivity and work with international stakeholders to overcome exclusion.

As the first transnational study of connectivity and debit cards for refugees, this research produces a timely and rigorous intervention in the context of refugee governance, where enduring refugees' forced displacement and destitution are matched by rapidly changing and often experimental governmental approaches using digital technologies. Our study of connectivity and debit cards for refugees maps their operation, effects, and long-term impact. Our study improves the understanding of these digital solutions offered to refugees beyond the promotional or anecdotal slogans that reduce complex processes to either 'innovations' that speed and individualize aid, or 'traps' that disguise surveillance under service provision.

The research includes intensive fieldwork and participatory research in four countries, an innovative approach that addresses gaps in migration and refugee governance research. In Phase 1, we will survey organisations employing debit card and digital connectivity initiatives. In Phase 2, the research team will interview key stakeholders, experts and policy-makers to better understand the aims and challenges of these initiatives. We will also perform scoping workshops to plan participatory research with refugee-led initiatives. In Phase 3, PDRAs perform in-depth case studies of debit card and digital connectivity initiatives in Greece, Jordan, Lebanon and the UK to better understand how local context affects implementation. In Phase 4, PI/CIs co-produce research with refugee-led financial inclusion and digital connectivity initiatives. In Phase 5, we focus on data analysis and communicating our findings. Our Durham-based PDRA will be tasked with framing our findings for non-academic audiences and building relationships through which to communicate transformative approaches to cash assistance, financial inclusion and digital connectivity.

Our research design and relationship-building will allow us to:
1. understand both common and diverse digital connectivity and debit card practices for refugees in Greece, Jordan, Lebanon and the UK,
2. compare and conceptualise how financial inclusion and debit card practices changes relationships between refugees, host communities, NGOs, state agencies in and across our research sites,
3. work with refugee-led initiatives to develop innovative models of financial inclusion and digital connectivity and to share them with key stakeholders, and
4. contribute cutting-edge empirical research to conceptual debates on finance-security assemblages, techno-humanitarianism and refugee digitality.

Who will benefit from the research and how?

Our impact objective is to chart, challenge and change existing approaches to digital connectivity and financial inclusion. To achieve this, we combine a multi-method research design with collaborative research in the UK, Greece, Jordan and Lebanon.

We will chart existing approaches to digital connectivity and financial inclusion through our Phase 1 survey of debit card and digital connectivity initiatives, Phase 2 semi-structured interviews, and Phase 3 in-depth case studies in Greece, Jordan, Lebanon and the UK. This primary empirical research will produce the first comprehensive findings on this topic and allow us to share comparative insights with collaborators in Phases 4 and 5. These results will benefit organisations like UNHCR who are responsible for implementing cash dispersal systems and refugee inclusion.

We will challenge existing approaches to digital connectivity and financial inclusion by working with refugee-led initiatives that seek to overcome barriers and propose novel solutions to exclusion. These projects both identify barriers to connection and inclusion and propose alternatives. Phases 4 and 5 provide research support, videos and written material and workshops to refugee-led projects, allowing them to articulate locally-appropriate models of financial inclusion and digital connectivity. The research process will benefit participating organizations by providing research and communication skills and a forum for articulating their visions of inclusion and connectivity. Refugee service providers will benefit from examples of best practice and alternative models, as well as reflection on context-sensitive implementation.

We will change existing approaches to digital connectivity and financial inclusion by taking our in-depth case studies (Phase 3) and refugee-led models of connection and inclusion (Phase 4, 5) to key stakeholders: international humanitarian organisations, advocacy networks, journalists and policy-makers. Phase 5 includes publication of videos, policy briefs, and a final report, which will be hosted on the project website in the long-term. To ensure that these circulate, we will publish our final report and hold a public briefing session for journalists and policy-makers at our final conference. The final conference will draw together refugee-led organisations, international NGO representatives and experts to discuss the project's final results. This conference will also identify next steps for amplifying the project's outcomes, networking amongst stakeholders, and identifying next steps in supporting refugee-led initiatives. These stakeholders will benefit from stronger networks and examples of best practice.

Research and Communication Strategy: Our research design includes primary data collection and participatory, co-produced projects, allowing our initial findings to reach refugee organisations quickly. Ordering primary and participatory research in this way also builds in critical reflection on early findings from directly affected refugees, allowing us to adapt later phases of the project to emerging trends. Phases 4 and 5 include scoping and design workshops with refugee-led organisation; virtual workshops with organisations in UK, Greece, Jordan and Lebanon to share knowledge and practice; refugees' videos explaining barriers and novel approaches to inclusion; briefs on initial findings and policy implications; flyers for refugees on local financial inclusion and digital connectivity processes; a final report, training and conference communicating refugee-led approaches to inclusion and connectivity. Videos and training materials will be supported by Durham University's Institute for Hazards, Risk and Resilience after funding period.