📣 Help Shape the Future of UKRI's Gateway to Research (GtR)

We're improving UKRI's Gateway to Research and are seeking your input! If you would be interested in being interviewed about the improvements we're making and to have your say about how we can make GtR more user-friendly, impactful, and effective for the Research and Innovation community, please email gateway@ukri.org.

Out of camp or out of sight? Realigning responses to protracted displacement in an urban world

Lead Research Organisation: International Institute for Environment and Development
Department Name: Human Settlements Group

Abstract

For decades, the response by the international community to mass movements of people fleeing war or political persecution has been to provide humanitarian assistance in camps. Yet despite highly-charged debates on the negative impact of maintaining forcibly displaced people in often inhospitable and remote regions and dependent on humanitarian assistance, camps have continued to be a default response to new refugee crises. Camps are not, however, the choice of the majority of the world's displaced people, and estimates suggest that over 60% of refugees and half of internally displaced persons (IDPs) now live in towns and cities. Research, international policy discourse and local action have been slow to catch up.

The experiences of urban refugees and IDPs, their understandings of well-being and self-reliance, and their contributions to host communities remain understudied. There is a critical need for evidence to inform innovative solutions to protracted displacement that support both the specific vulnerabilities of displaced people and the needs of the urban poor amongst whom they often live.

With the ultimate goal of improving self-reliance, well-being and the productive livelihoods of refugees, returnees and IDPs this research examines the potential of an urban response to protracted displacement to assess how cities can foster displaced people's self-reliance and local integration, while benefitting host governments and communities. The research is the first large-scale study to compare experiences of displacement in cities and camps and provide evidenced analysis of the comparative outcomes for displaced people in these different settings. It focuses on four countries with large displaced populations: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya,

The ultimate goal is to improve the well-being and productive livelihoods of displaced people and to enable their full participation in urban life and contribution to host cities. The overall aims of the research are to:
1. Build an evidence base for national and local governments, humanitarian agencies and donors on the opportunities and challenges of hosting displaced people in camps vs. urban areas
2. Promote an assessment of current responses to urban protracted displacement, raising awareness of unmet need and the potential economic and social contributions of refugees and IDP for host cities
3. Build the capacity of municipal authorities, displaced people, organisations of the urban poor and other local actors to use participatory planning to develop innovative, inclusive solutions to forced displacement.

The countries studied host some of the largest refugee and IDP populations in the world. All four countries rely on international aid to support the costs of the displaced - particularly those in camps who lack the right to work and whose freedom of movement may be limited. Three of the four countries are piloting the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, the UN's 2016 vision for managing forced displacement.

Through partnership with displaced and host populations, and collaborations between international experts, operational actors, developing-country academics, local NGOs and affected communities, this research project will produce: an assessment of how an urban response can support a rights-based approach to local integration; guidance for municipal governments facing large influxes of people, and evidence to support international policy and decision-making on innovative solutions to protracted displacement.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit from this research?
The ultimate goal is to improve the well-being and productive livelihoods of people living in protracted displacement, to enable their full participation in urban life. Direct beneficiaries of this research include:
- Displaced people and members of low-income host communities in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya
- Municipal authorities, service providers and CSOs/NGOs in Kabul, Addis Ababa, Amman and Nairobi
- National authorities with responsibility for refugees, IDPs and returnees
- International, humanitarian and development actors and donors (NGOs, UN, Red Cross, bilateral/multilateral donors).

How will they benefit from the research?
The research will examine the potential of an urban response to long-term displacement, to assess how cities can be welcoming and productive spaces for displaced people, fostering self-reliance and local integration and benefiting host governments and communities. It thus has considerable benefits for a wide range of stakeholders.

The research will benefit displaced people and hosts in the focus cities, generating locally-appropriate policies and practices that remove barriers to productive livelihoods and access to basic services, and identifying interventions promoting collective/individual well-being.

Urban refugees and IDPs in other countries will benefit from international policy engagement of the PI and Co-Is on how towns and cities can promote self-reliance of displaced people, and why urban interventions should be prioritised.

The research will directly benefit municipal authorities, service providers and local actors by developing capacity to generate, analyse and use data via participatory planning processes that are sensitive to the needs of the displaced and hosts. National authorities will benefit from improved social and economic integration of displaced people with host communities.

International humanitarian actors and donors will benefit from actionable policy and programming recommendations for urban refugees/IDPs on supporting self-reliance, displacement economies, and municipal capacity through outputs of international relevance.

What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this activity?
The research programme will promote productive interaction between urban refugees/IDPs, the urban poor, municipal authorities and other local actors. A participatory planning process in each country includes 6-monthly stakeholder workshops throughout the project. These ensure that beneficiaries are involved in the design of research tools, validation, analysis and co-produced solutions that support self-reliance, well-being and productive livelihoods in cities.

Local researchers and partners will be encouraged to seek opportunities at national level to share findings from the research and communicate their experiences of the participatory processes.

The research team and Advisory Panel, with UN, NGO, donor and humanitarian actors as members, are exceptionally well-placed to produce high-level impact. Research findings will be disseminated through media targeted at national and international humanitarian and development actors and donors, including policy briefings, practitioner-oriented working papers, blogs and webinars.

Outcomes will include:
1. New methodologies based on co-produced knowledge and displaced people's own assessment of pathways to self-reliance and well-being
2. An assessment of how an urban response to protracted displacement can support rights-based approaches to local integration
3. The first large-scale evidence base to support national policy decisions on the merits for both host and displaced people of displacement solutions in urban vs. camp settings
4. Guidance for municipal governments facing large influxes of people, and
5. Evidence to support local, national and international policy on innovative solutions to protracted displacement

Publications

10 25 50

publication icon
Brown A (2024) The Displacement Economies Framework in Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies

publication icon
GarcÍa Amado P (2024) Inhabiting temporariness: the agency-in-waiting of Eritrean refugees in the city in Environment and Urbanization

publication icon
Brown A (2024) Urban protracted displacement and displacement economies in Environment and Urbanization

 
Title Protracted displacement and urban crises documentary 
Description Additional funds were secured to support partners to explore the impact of COVID-19 on urban displaced populations in Nairobi. The outcome of this was a documentary film that featured first-hand accounts of displacement. In their homes in the informal settlement of Mathare in Nairobi, refugees shared stories of fleeing conflict, the challenges of urban displacement (from negotiations with humanitarian and national authorities to securing wellbeing and livelihoods), and the impacts of COVID-19. The researchers, producers, and directors of the documentary film were all local youths from Nairobi supported through SDI Kenya's initiative Know Your City TV (KYCTV) to produce stories about the city from the perspective of the city's residents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-N9RhACfuI 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The launch of the film initiated a dialogue with the UN Refugee Agency in its Geneva HQ and office in Nairobi, Kenya. 
URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-N9RhACfuI
 
Description Work Package 1 - Displaced people's wellbeing
The team has created a framework to understand wellbeing across a range of different dimensions - bodily, economic, social, political and psychosocial - and designed

Displacement is now increasingly protracted, with many refugees and IDPs unable to return home for years or even decades. However, data collected about displaced people is often driven by tools designed for use in emergency contexts, which centre on meeting basic needs or on income. Instead of relying on these narrowly conceived vulnerability analyses, we developed a new framework based on displaced people's own understanding of what it means to live a good life in exile, and a metric to measure wellbeing along five dimensions: bodily, economic, social, political and psychosocial. This also allowed us to meet one of the main aims of the project: to compare the wellbeing of displaced people living in cities with their counterparts confined to camp.

The metric allows us to compute wellbeing 'scores' for each individual surveyed by the project. As a result, we are able to say that economic and bodily wellbeing are significantly worse for displaced people in camps than in urban areas across the four countries in the study. The differences in scores on the other 3 dimensions are not so clear cut, and suggest considerable wellbeing gaps for urban refugees. These findings have informed policy recommendations for refugees in urban areas, tailored to each of the four country contexts, on issues related to wellbeing and livelihoods. They have also informed debates and advocacy messages on the need to end the practice of building refugee camps.

The study exposed high levels of food insecurity, homelessness and inadequate maternal health services in camps - debunking the myth that camps provide a safety net for vulnerable people. We found that bodily and economic wellbeing are higher in urban areas than in camps. Displaced people also rate services in cities better in terms of quality and availability. The research also demonstrates how camps are poor value for money. They absorb the bulk of humanitarian funding for displaced populations, while, in most contexts, urban refugees do not receive any assistance. However, much needs to be done to improve life for displaced people in cities. While some urban refugees and IDPs had high levels of wellbeing, we found pockets of extreme poverty, particularly among women. Our findings on social, political and psychosocial wellbeing were not so clear cut and varied between countries. In urban areas, many displaced people feel they lack representation, are denied their rights and are limited in terms of the life they want to lead by the costs of rent and transport.

Work Package 2 (WP2) Livelihoods and Enterprises of refugees and IDPs.

The aim of WP2 was, in contexts of protracted displacement, to compare the difference that urban and camp settings make to the ability of refugees and IDPs to achieve self-reliance through livelihoods and enterprise, and their potential wider economic contributions to host communities and economies. Drawing on research and methods literature from refugee studies and informal economies literature, we identified gaps in knowledge on the collaborative and collective impact of the economic activities of displaced people, the links between livelihoods and enterprise and changes in these impacts over time.

From this analysis we defined the concept of displacement economies as, "the collective economy created over time by refugees and IDPs through their livelihood activities, enterprise, need for services and consumption, and through their mutual support and diaspora inputs". We used this definition to develop the Displacement Economies Framework, a theoretical and programming tool which builds on the sustainable livelihoods framework to address those gaps, and which shaped our data collection. Following focus groups with refugees, we developed a large quantitative survey of over 3,981 quantitative interviews (make the number the same elsewhere in report), 220 in-depth qualitative interviews with refugee/IDP-run enterprises in the case study cities and camps, supplemented by key informant interviews. The approach and findings were refined through a series of five participatory forums in each main city.
A core theme running through our analysis was the understanding from the focus groups of the critical importance of economic integration for refugees and IDPs, in providing independence and hope for a better future. Many refugees and IDPs were working despite hostile regulation, often self-employed or in small enterprises where salaried jobs were not accessible. To quantify this role, we used principal component analysis of the quantitative data to develop two indices: the Livelihoods Assets index which analysed 29 indicators, and a Livelihoods Outcomes index. We used logistic regressions to identify key variables that were predictors in earning an income or being self-employed. Unsurprisingly, across the whole sample, having previous work experience or household savings were predictors of self-employment. This is important as many refugee populations include young people entering the labour force for the first time without savings or previous experience, so policy must find ways to bridge this gap if they are not to become sidelined, and to seek alternatives such as dangerous onward migration.
Comparing between camps and cities, and between countries, several findings stand out. Although few people were employed in camps, when jobs were available they were often more secure than in cities, but these were aid-dependent and not sustainable in the long term. In Nairobi's thriving Somali/Somali-Kenyan district of Eastleigh, a much higher proportion of people were working in our (representative) sample than elsewhere, especially women; for some, business was booming, but there was also extreme vulnerability particularly amongst single women who worked as mobile street vendors, extensively harassed by police. In Addis Ababa government controls restricted a well-educated Eritrean refugee population with previous work experience from finding work, a significant waste of human potential. In Jordan, a high proportion of refugees lives outside camps; many were working in the construction industry or building trades and were well-networked. In all three refugee-hosting countries, we found refugee-entrepreneurs working in partnership with hosts, so they could register their enterprises. Finally, in Afghanistan, surveys before and after August 2022, found that although life had become extremely difficult since the regime change, more people were working to survive.
Exploitation Route The methodological innovations of the work on wellbeing has the potential to inform the work of city officials, organisations working with displaced people, and international policy makers. The framework would benefit from further groundtruthing with displaced people - both those involved in the original data collection, and refugees/IDPs in other countries - to check the universal validity of the approach. The team at IIED has now secured significant additional funding to validate findings derived from quantitative methods using qualitative approaches, with original survey respondents in Nairobi and Amman, and to refine the wellbeing measurement tool. It will be piloted with different nationalities of refugees in Nairobi and Amman and then retested with the same nationalities of refugees living in Kampala and Istanbul. The overarching aim is to produce a user-friendly app-based tool that local authorities and other city actors can use to identify wellbeing deficits among displaced populations to inform and monitor programming.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Government

Democracy and Justice

URL http://www.protracteddisplacement.org
 
Description To date, the clearest impact from the project has resulted from systematic engagement, built into the project, with municipal governments. Through 5 'participatory forums' in each urban area where research has been carried out (Nairobi, Amman, Addis Ababa and Jalalabad), the research team and partners sought to open up space for displaced people and their organisations to dialogue with local officials, service providers, and (in some cases) national government. In all of the cities, bar Amman, participatory forums are continuing, supported by civil society organisations and with funding from philanthropies (Nairobi and Addis Ababa) or the UN (Jalalabad). In all three cases, the forums have served to generate debate, possibly for the first time, of the role that city governments can and potentially should play in responding to the needs of vulnerable, displaced people, and in promoting their integration. That participants have expressed an interest and sought funding to continue the forums beyond the research project, demonstrates their utility as space in which to discuss the needs, capacities and aspirations of the urban displaced. In Addis Ababa, the participatory forum has continued to meet, beyond the end of the project, with funding from the Hilton Foundation. This funding has also covered a 'Mapping of services and stakeholders in the urban refugees response' and an event to bring all stakeholders to mark World Refugee Day in June 2024 with an exhibition of refugee businesses, products and art works. In Nairobi, in 2024 the County government requested support from the research consortium to help draft a new policy on refugee integration. The team were able to raise HEFCW funding to cover costs of a Kenyan consultant and for a series of consultations and technical working group meetings. As a result of this support, Nairobi County now has a refugee integration strategy that has been approved by cabinet and will be officially launched in April 2025. While impacts on urban refugees are not yet visible, the fact that the strategy has been approved by Cabinet demonstrates a marked shift in attitude towards refugees within the municipal authority and amongst officials. The project partner, SDI-Kenya, now has an official MoU with the County to support implementation of the strategy and to convene the technical working group and steering committee that will help guide the process over the coming two years. The project PI has received an invitation to join the steering committee. In addition, SDI-Kenya and IIED have received a request from Manchester University's FCDO-funded African Cities Research Consortium to develop an action research proposal with the County on the implementation of the strategy. The proposal is in development and will be submitted to ACRC in March 2025. If successful, this will provide two years' of funding for partners to maintain their engagement with the County. Other emerging impacts of the project in Nairobi are a growing relationship between project leads IIED, and the World Bank, that is now considering how it can support Nairobi's hosting of refugees. More generally, IIED's new work to refine the refugee wellbeing framework and metric developed during the project with funding from Swiss Development Cooperation is drawing attention from potential end users of a new tool to measure refugee wellbeing. These include the UN Refugee Agency and networks of practitioner organisations, notably Cities Alliance and the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative.
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description Creating space for women's voices in Taleban controlled Jalalabad
Geographic Reach Asia 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
 
Description Findings from project used to inform lecture to MSc students at Cardiff Unviersity
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Materials from this project informed a graduate course on "Refugees and other Migrants" taught at Sciences Po, Lille.
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Materials produced and shared by the project have been used for teaching with Masters students in Socioeconomic Development Planning at Dilla University, Ethiopia.
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Materials produced by the project used in the teaching of a post-graduate courses at the University of Edinburgh
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Materials produced by the project used in the teaching of a variety of postgraduate courses at Dilla University, Ethiopia
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Materials produced by the project used in the teaching of two postgraduate courses at the University of Edinburgh
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Membership of advisory committee for International Rescue Committee Refugee Livelihoods Programme in East Africa
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Methodological design of displaced economies framework included in teaching materials for MSc Urban and Regional Design, Cardiff University
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Online presentation to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
URL https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2022/OEV220525.aspx
 
Description Participatory forums in Nairobi bringing together different levels of Kenyan government that were not previously interacting
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
 
Description Presentation at UN Member State briefing
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
URL https://www.unhcr.org/5fae3fda4.pdf
 
Description Presentation to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other refugee-focused organisations in East Africa
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
URL https://data.unhcr.org/en/working-group/190?sv=47&geo=0
 
Description Presentation to national refugee agency of Ethiopia
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
 
Description Project informing graduate teaching in Jordan
Geographic Reach Asia 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Recognition of urban refugees as a theme in participatory slum upgrading process
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description Support to Nairobi City County Government for the drafting of an Urban Refugee Integration Strategy
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Growing awareness among officials in Nairobi City County Government of their responsibilities vis a vis urban refugees. The strategy has not yet been officially launched, so its impacts on service provision etc are yet to be felt.
URL https://nairobi.go.ke/building-bridges-nairobi-city-countys-visionary-refugee-integration-and-commun...
 
Description Global policy engagement for the Protracted Displacement in an Urban World project
Amount £147,258 (GBP)
Organisation Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation 
Sector Public
Country Switzerland
Start 12/2021 
End 06/2022
 
Description Impact Acceleration Account
Amount £25,000 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2021 
End 06/2022
 
Description Impact award for preparation of a Nairobi City Refugee Integration and Community Building Strategy (NCRS), and initiating discussions with UN-Habitat and international agencies on 'alternatives to refugee camps'
Amount £33,946 (GBP)
Funding ID JA2610OD01 
Organisation Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2024 
End 04/2024
 
Description Refugee well-being and livelihoods in Amman: building understanding and exploring solutions for an inclusive city
Amount € 38,626 (EUR)
Organisation Bernard van Leer Foundation 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Netherlands
Start 09/2021 
End 08/2022
 
Description Refugee wellbeing in cities
Amount £465,941 (GBP)
Organisation Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation 
Sector Public
Country Switzerland
Start 09/2024 
End 09/2027
 
Description Securing local and global impact from IIED's research on urban protracted displacement
Amount € 133,605 (EUR)
Organisation IKEA 
Sector Private
Country Sweden
Start 06/2021 
End 04/2023
 
Description UN Year of Peace and Trust highlight notice
Amount £60,000 (GBP)
Funding ID AH/W009919/1 
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2022 
End 02/2024
 
Description Urban refugees in East Africa
Amount £170,000 (GBP)
Organisation IKEA 
Sector Private
Country Sweden
Start 03/2023 
End 12/2024
 
Description Wellbeing and Livelihoods of Displaced People in Semera, Afar Region of Ethiopia
Amount £30,000 (GBP)
Organisation Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2021 
End 10/2021
 
Title Dataset on wellbeing and livelihoods among refugees/IDPs and hosts in Kenya, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Jordan 
Description This dataset holds information on refugee/IDP and host wellbeing and livelihoods in Kenya, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Jordan. In each country 360 camp-based refugees, 360 urban refugees and 180 urban hosts were surveyed. Additional surveying was carried out in an small town close to the camp location in Ethiopia, to increase the comparability of the data. Additional surveying was carried out in a second neighbourhood of Nairobi, to ensure data was useful for ongoing participatory planning processes at the city-level. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This is the first large-scale comparison of refugees living in camps and urban areas. Data analysis is ongoing, but the development of the dataset has raised the profile of the research project with UN agencies and international humantiarian and development donors. 
 
Title Development of a new methodology to analyse the economic outcomes of protracted displacement. 
Description Drawing on data from our four-country survey of displaced people in camps and urban areas, we have created two new ways to assess economic outcomes, these are the 'Livelihoods assets index' and 'Livelihoods outcomes index' 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The indexes are still being refined, but are already providing the research team with a comparative picture of livelihoods outcomes between camps and urban areas in Kenya, Afghanistan, Jordan and Ethiopia. 
 
Title Refugee wellbeing framework and metric 
Description The team has used survey data to create a metric with which to measure refugee wellbeing, across five dimensions: physical, economic, social, political and psychosocial. Alongside indicators on basic needs (access to food, healthcare, education, shelter and other urban services), it incorporates a range of other measures that recognise the critical interplay of social connections and leisure, income earning opportunities, legal recognition, subjective wellbeing, hope and aspirations, in producing positive outcomes for the urban displaced. The metric provides a score for each of the five components of wellbeing, calculated by principal component analysis. 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact There are currently no tools developed specifically to measure the wellbeing of refugees in urban areas. This allows the research team to compare outcomes for refugees living in camps with their counterparts in urban areas. Following further refinement, the aim is to share this tool with policy makers and practitioners, to encourage a more holistic assessment of wellbeing for people living in protracted displacement. 
 
Description Dr Engida Dube, Co-I, invited to join Network of Ethiopian Scholars on Forced Displacement 
Organisation Dilla University
Country Ethiopia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Dr Dube has actively participated in the inaugural meetings of the Ethiopian Network of Academics on Forced Displacement (ENAFD). This has included regular meetings with the Regional Durable Solutions Secretariat (ReDSS) - a group of NGOs working on displacement issues hosted by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). The launch of ENAFD happened in the first week of December 2023.
Collaborator Contribution The network has only recently been established. However, it is anticipated that Dr Dube will draw on methodological work developed through PDUW, and on findings, to contribute to the collaboratio.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2023
 
Description A blog on organising a participatory forum with municipal actors in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. 'Tricky questions and frank discussions: a participatory forum on protracted displacement in Afghanistan' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The blog aimed to raise awareness of the project's work in Afghanistan, and the novel participatory methods being used to engage stakeholders in municipal and regional government.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://iied.org/tricky-questions-frank-discussions-participatory-forum-protracted-displacement-afgha...
 
Description A blog on qualitative interviewing with urban displaced populations. 'Research with refugees: taking care not to cut a long story short'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A blog about applying ethical research protocols to research with urban refugees in Kenya.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.iied.org/research-refugees-taking-care-not-cut-long-story-short
 
Description A blog on the participatory design of a survey tool for the Protracted Displacement in an Urban World project. 'Researching Displacement: How do we know we are asking the right questions?' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A blog that captured an innovative participatory process that was used by the project team to design a survey tool for the quantitative analysis component of the research. It has been viewed 960 times in its first 11 months on the IIED and protracteddisplacement.org sites.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.iied.org/researching-displacement-how-do-we-know-we-are-asking-right-questions
 
Description A long-read article for IIED's website summarising the Institute's approach to urban refugee issues. 'The Road from Refugee to Resident' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A journalistic long format article drawing on IIED's work on protracted displacement, and setting out our approach to research on urban refugees. The long-read has been accessed 1050 times in the 9 months since publication. The article references the impact of the cuts to the GCRF budget. IIED was able to share this with potential donors and it may have had some impact on the positive decision to fund the project from SDC, IKEA and BvL foundations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.iied.org/road-refugee-resident
 
Description Article on UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact Following an address to UN Member States at a briefing on progress towards the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees, the project PI was invited to publish an article on UNHCR's Global Compact for Refugees platform. After its publication on UNHCR's website, the article was carried by ReliefWeb, Nigeria News Shafaqna, South Africa News Shafaqna, Humanitarian News, in addition to IIED and the project website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://globalcompactrefugees.org/article/city-residents-and-urban-refugees-shared-living-shared-fut...
 
Description Article published on UNHCR's Digital Platform for the Global Compact on Refugees. 'From refugees to residents: a win-win for cities' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact IIED is a member of UNHCR's Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network and was invited to submit an article for a virtual exhibition space to coincide with the High-Level Officials Meeting on the Global Compact on Refugees in December 2021. The article drew on recent fieldwork with refugees in Nairobi, Kenya.
This article was also posted on the Protracted Displacement website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://globalcompactrefugees.org/article/refugees-residents-win-win-cities
 
Description Blog series on urban displacement 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact The project PI and an IIED researcher have published three blogs. The content of the engagements ranged from discussing the aims and scopes of the project to commenting on specific aspects of urban displacement (such as urban planning and the effects of COVID-19). These are:

A world without refugee camps? (https://www.iied.org/world-without-refugee-camps-iied-launches-research-urban-refugees)
Bringing urban refugees into local planning (https://www.iied.org/bringing-urban-refugees-local-planning)
Displacement and the pandemic (https://www.iied.org/displacement-pandemic)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org/resources
 
Description Changing the narrative on urban refugees 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact In episode three of the Displacement Urbanism podcast, Lucy Earle, lead researcher for IIED on the protracted displacement project, discusses changing the narrative on urban refugees with Dr Romola Sanyal, of the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science,

The podcast series engages with a range of speakers who have both experienced being refugees as well as been involved in the management and study of refugees.

It looks at how cities and refugees come to shape each other, how different actors think about the question of urbanism and displacement and why these issues are important to one another.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.lse.ac.uk/geography-and-environment/research/displacement-urbanism-podcast
 
Description Cities for refugees: places of economic productivity, participation and wellbeing 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact An event hosted by the Swiss government's Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at the Geneva Cities Hub, to coincide with the UNHCR High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges. This was a hybrid event with approximately 40 participants in the room and a further 60 online. The aim was to present preliminary findings from the research, launch a policy brief, and hear reflections from Nairobi city county government, and from the leader of a refugee-led organisation in Uganda. It resulted in various requests for more information and collaboration, including from the Swiss government, on how to ensure the findings of the research have the maximum impact on policy making.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org/cities-refugees-places-economic-productivity-participation-an...
 
Description Convening expert panels in each of the study countries 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The project convened [virtually] an expert panel in each of the four countries where the project is working (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Kenya) in order to provide feedback on the draft survey tool developed for quantitative data gathering. Experts who took part ranged from experienced researchers in local universities, research institutes and centres, representatives from local and international NGOs, directors of civic society organizations, and refugee community leaders. In addition to being able to comment on and give feedback on research tools, these experts are also the most likely to be interested in the research findings once the data is collected. These panels, convened with a wide range of experts in each local context, ensured local engagement with the research project from the very start.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Dissemination of Jordan findings and launch of policy brief and discussion among local government stakeholders 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Event co-hosted by the Greater Amman Municipality to present on findings, launch a policy brief and hold a debate with city stakeholders on future plans for refugee integration
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Dissemination of Kenya findings, launch of policy brief and debate 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A workshop co-hosted by ReDSS in Nairobi to present on Kenya findings from the project, and a debate between UN, NGO and local government representatives on next steps for integration of urban refugees
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Diverging paths and the route to self-reliance 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A photostory in an exhibition space at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, following the lives and aspirations of Somali refugee women in Dadaab Camp and the Nairobi neighbourhood of Eastleigh, Kenya.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.iied.org/diverging-paths-route-self-reliance
 
Description Event to plan future participatory engagement between IDPs and local authorities in Afghanistan 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The event was held in the offices of UNHCR in Jalalabad, with the participation of UN agencies: UNHCR, UNHABITAT, IOM, UNWOMEN, international NGOs: the Danish and Norwegian Refugee Commissions (DRC and NRC), DACAAR (an local Afghan organisation) CSOs, and IDP and women representatives from Jalalabad. The research team presented findings from the series of Participatory Forum Planning processes, that have been held over the course of the project, and launched a 'city note' for Jalalabad, which provides the consensus document validated by the Jalalabad municipality and other municipal stakeholders, the result of two years of dialogue.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Film Screening and Debate: Far Away from Home: Exploring City Responses to Refugees 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This hybrid event explored innovative city responses to refugee hosting from the global South and North. It focused on inspiring examples from Bristol, UK, known for its 'sanctuary city' model, and Nairobi, Kenya, where a groundbreaking refugee strategy has recently been approved.

The event opened with a special screening of 'Far Away From Home', an AHRC-funded film that follows the lives of urban refugees navigating Nairobi's dynamic streets. Created in collaboration with young community filmmakers, urban refugees and researchers, the film offers an intimate look at the daily struggles and aspirations of refugees and asylum seekers in an urban context.

Following the screening, the panel explored lessons learned from different city responses and offered reflections on how urban strategies can reshape the future of refugee hosting. Participants examined how cities can lead the way in building inclusive, resilient communities for displaced people. The PI of the ESRC-funded Protracted Displacement in an Urban World study, Lucy Earle, introduced and moderated the event, and the Co-I, Alison Brown, spoke on the panel. Both referred to the special issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization that they recently co-edited, that features a number of articles related to the project.

This event was hosted by IIED in partnership with the Mayors Migration Council and was supported by Bristol University's Migration Mobilities Bristol Research Institute and Ashley Community and Housing (ACH) Bristol.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.iied.org/far-away-home-exploring-city-responses-refugees
 
Description Help cities help people - bringing everyone together in the refugee response 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The podcast discusses challenges and lessons from 'participatory forums' - part of a 3.5-year research project - that brings together different stakeholders and refugee representatives.

Samer Saliba discusses the crucial role of mayors in responding to the needs of displaced communities in their cities: "Mayors are familiar with the local context. They are inherently multitaskers, working on housing issues, economic issues and with different populations in different parts of the city. They are mandated to serve all city residents, regardless of where they come from."

Jack Makau describes the project's progress in Nairobi, and the different approaches of bringing government, at city and national level, into conversations about refugees and IDPs, and how to shift attitudes to get different groups engaged in the refugee response.

Nassim Majidi, drawing on experience from the forums in Addis Ababa and Jalalabad, explains how convening stakeholders with seemingly different viewpoints can quickly build trust.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.iied.org/help-cities-help-people-bringing-everyone-together-refugee-response-make-change...
 
Description IIED Better Cities Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact A facilitated discussion between an architect and a planner - one working for the UN, one based in a UK university - on the future of refugee camps.
Speakers reflected on the disconnect between humanitarian response and urban planning, discussed opportunities to bridge these gaps through recent innovation, and the potential for new research
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.iied.org/environment-urbanization-better-cities-day
 
Description IIED Debate 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This hybrid IIED Debates event brought together three leading thinkers to reflect on the possibility of a world without long-term refugee camps.

It discussed how we can disrupt the current system that incentivises the building of camps, and the political and institutional barriers to a change in approach by the international community and hosting governments. It also examined the evidence that could help to dissuade decision-makers from establishing camps in the first place, or for keeping them open once a displacement crisis has become protracted.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.iied.org/how-can-we-achieve-world-without-long-term-refugee-camps
 
Description Launch of Afghanistan country working paper and policy brief 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact The event in Jalalabad provided a platform for the local research team to present the following two research outputs:
? The country paper "Afghanistan's unfolding crisis: Displaced wellbeing and livelihoods before and after regime change"
? The policy brief 'Displaced people in Afghanistan's cities need support.
NGOs and civil society members were invited to critically reflect, discuss, and respond to the key themes presented in the paper and policy brief, and how they could catalyse actionable strategies for empowering women economically, fostering inclusive development, and enhancing participatory planning processes in challenging environments.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Launch of Protracted Displacement website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The project website is live and hosts various resources that engage different audiences, including a project flyer that discusses the project's aims in an accessible language, links to newsletters that provide updates on the project, and video presentations that reflect the project's thinking-in-progress on topics including methodological processes to identify themes and indicators for the research tools.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org
 
Description Launch of documentary on urban refugees and Q&A with filmmakers 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact In September, IIED hosted a virtual screening to launch the documentary Protracted displacement and urban crises produced by project partners SDI Kenya funded through additional contributions from IIED and NOREC (explained in the partnerships and collaborations section). The documentary features first-hand refugee accounts from men and women who fled conflict in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and now live in Mathare, an informal settlement in Kenya. They share the events that caused them to flee, their struggles finding work and shelter in Nairobi, how COVID-19 has impacted on their lives and livelihoods, and the challenges they face dealing with authorities and humanitarian agencies. The documentary makes a valuable contribution to ensuring the views, needs, and capacities of displaced people are communicated to a broad audience in their own words.

The launch was held to coincide with the opening of the UN General assembly and featured a panel discussion (with contributions from SDI Kenya's executive director and project coordinator, IIED's director and project PI, and NOREC's head of section of NGO portfolio) and was followed by a Q&A with the documentary makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.iied.org/film-launch-protracted-displacement-urban-crises
 
Description Life much tougher for refugees living in camps rather than cities 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Press release reporting on preliminary findings on refugee wellbeing from the PDUW study
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org/life-much-tougher-refugees-living-camps-rather-cities
 
Description Mental health, wellbeing and sense of hope among vulnerable Afghans plummeted in wake of Taliban takeover 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact A press release drawing attention to the findings of follow-up research with original participants of the PDUW survey in Afghanistan. We were able to demonstrate how life has changed in the year since the Taliban takeover.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org/mental-health-wellbeing-and-sense-hope-among-vulnerable-afgha...
 
Description Panel Session at the World Urban Forum - Towards inclusive solutions to urban internal displacement: a global framework for governments, UN agencies, the resident coordinator system and partners 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact This panel event at the World Urban Forum, hosted by UN-Habitat and held in Cairo in November 2024, was focused on a recent assignment undertaken by IIED for the UN system that has resulted in a new framework on urban internal displacement. The framework draws on findings from the Protracted Displacement in an Urban World project. At this event, the project PI, Lucy Earle, introduced the idea of the 'urban first' approach to displacement, which is informed by the work of the project and is explored in the editorial to the special issue of Environment and Urbanization that showcases the work of the consortium.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Podcast - Reimagining refugee futures: cities, not camps? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact For World Refugee Day, IIED staff discussed research comparing refugees' experiences of life in urban areas to that in camps, examining Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya, as part of IIED's Make Change Happen Podcast series. The podcast also provided the opportunity for the Kenya co-I and an advisory board member from UN-Habitat to make interventions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL http://soundcloud.com/theiied/6-iied-podcast-refugees-final
 
Description Public Event to disseminate Ethiopia findings and launch policy brief 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact An event co-hosted by ReDSS in Addis Ababa to present Ethiopia findings and launch the Ethiopia Country Working Paper, plus discussion with local stakeholders
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Side event at the European Union's Brussels VIII Syria Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The project team alongside the International Rescue Commission (IRC) co-hosted a side event at the European Union's Brussels VII Syria Conference. Findings from the project were presented to policymakers including members of EU delegations, representatives of MEPs, EU envoys, and international humanitarian and philantropic organizations. . Discussions focussed on implications for programming based on research findings, particularly the need for a more urban response to displacement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/reimagining-future-syrian-refugee-response-jordan_en
 
Description Tackling urban internal displacement in the global South 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A blog to document discussions held at an Institute of Development Studies event on urban protracted displacement
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/tackling-urban-internal-displacement-in-the-global-south/
 
Description The cost of camps: the impacts of a temporary fix for a protracted problem 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Following a briefing on IIED's research on protracted displacement at a meeting with the Institute's donors, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) requested the principal researcher to prepare a webinar on the project and other associated IIED research. This was followed by a Q&A session. It resulted in new connections with the SIDA office in Uganda, and follow up meetings in Kampala to discuss how the PDUW approach to participatory urban planning could be replicated in the country.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5uLbVpV-fY
 
Description Towards inclusive solutions to internal displacement in cities and towns 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In December, the Institute of Development Studies' Cities Cluster hosted a hybrid seminar examining the challenges and opportunities presented by the growing phenomenon of urban internal displacement in the global South.

Moderated by Cities Cluster lead, and urban displacement expert, Dr Dolf te Lintelo, the event offered a snapshot on the state-of-the art in research, policy and operational work on the often over-looked facet of urban internal displacement in so-called 'protracted crises'. Such crises are defined by long durations, and often entail multiple, overlapping crises (e.g. conflict, forced displacement and disasters).The first presentation, by Dr. Lucy Earle, Director of IIED's Human Settlements Group, presented lessons-learned from IIED's recently-completed four-year, four-country Protracted Displacement in an Urban World (PDUW) study. PDUW represents the first large-scale comparative study examining protracted displacement in camps versus cities. It analysed the wellbeing and economies of refugees, returnees and IDPs in both camp and city contexts in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya, to produce evidence and recommendations on the pathways to a more strategic urban response to protracted displacement. As discussed by Dr. Earle, this required first countering several powerful 'myths' that have tugged at policymakers' imaginations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Wellbeing in refugee camps: life inside a bottle 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A blog reflecting on preliminary findings of the study. This was launched on the same day as an event in Geneva, and has served to raise awareness that the PDUW project will be sharing findings over the coming year.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.protracteddisplacement.org/wellbeing-refugee-camps-life-inside-bottle