Translating Academic Research into Effective Responses to Forced Displacement Session 2: Urbanisation: Refugee Economies and Access to Essential Services

Spotlighted research

Panel 1: Protracted Displacement Economies: Findings on Self-Reliance, Entrepreneurship and Livelihoods in Africa, MENA and Asia

Case studies of financial and non-financial exchanges between refugees in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Myanmar and Pakistan

Presented by: Michael Collyer

The Protracted Displacement Economies project investigates the replacement of a traditional humanitarian model with a new, development-orientated approach: the protracted displacement economy. The research focus is not just on displaced people but the ‘displacement-affected community’, including the host populations, amongst others. ‘Economy’ is defined by the project as involving both financial and non-financial transactions. The project was launched in September 2020 and runs until August 2023.

Responding to protracted displacement in an urban world project

Presented by: Alison Brown

Responding to protracted displacement in an urban world compares the livelihood experiences of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in cities and camps in four countries – Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya.This is the first large-scale comparative study of the outcomes of protracted displacement in camps vs. cities. Globally more than half of all displaced people now lives in cities, but camps remain the default response to new displacement crises. With the goal of improving the self-reliance and wellbeing of refugees and IDPs, this project compares experiences of displacement in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya, from perspectives of wellbeing and agency and displacement economies in cities, to help reframe urban response to protracted displacement.

Understanding the work of Refugee-led Initiatives in Asia Pacific

Presented by: Najeeba Wazefadost

Refugee-led initiatives (RLIs) often act as first responders to forced displacement and provide important protection support to refugees. Their work and contributions, however, remain poorly understood, underacknowledged and inadequately supported, including in the Asia-Pacific region. There is a lack of evidence documenting and recording how RLIs contribute to the protection of refugees, and the systemic barriers they face when undertaking this work. To fill these knowledge gaps and better understand the work and contributions of RLIs across the Asia Pacific, a research project was carried out by Asia Pacific Network of Refugees and Act For Peace that focused on four specific country contexts in the Asia Pacific region: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Panel 2: From inclusion to accountability: The role of cities and NGOs

Public policies regarding migrants and refugees, and their impact in Campo Grande Municipality, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Presented by: César Augusto S. da Silva

Brazil and the State of Mato Grosso do Sul had relative prominence in the context of migration and refuge, from the establishment of the State Committee for Refugees, Migrants and Stateless Persons to the Municipal Interinstitutional Committee for the Protection and Support of International Migrants and Refugees. This presentation is an update of the research originally published in 2019 and seeks to analyse the border region of Mato Grosso do Sul as a place of passage and settlement of refugees and propose solutions for challenges they face.

RECAP Research capacity strengthening and knowledge generation to support preparedness and response to humanitarian crises and epidemics

Presented by: Dr. Sarah Singer

The Refugee Law Initiative (University of London) collaborated with the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children to explore humanitarian organisations approaches to enhancing their accountability to the displaced populations they serve, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research critically assesses the effectiveness of new and existing accountability and communication strategies, and reflects on how positive changes in practice brought about by the pandemic can strengthen communication with, and accountability to, affected populations.

Speaker Bios

Alison Brown

Professor of Urban Planning and International Development, Cardiff University, and head of the Informality Research Observatory. Alison is an urban planner and development policy expert with experience in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe, and research expertise on urban informal economies, post-conflict cities, refugee economies and rights-based approached to development. She is Principal Investigator on several major development research projects, and livelihoods lead on the IIED-run GCRF-funded project on ‘Realigning Response to Protracted Displacement in an Urban World’. She has worked extensively with UN-Habitat and is a presenter on their ‘Global Urban Lecture’ series.

Michael Collyer

Professor of Geography, University of Sussex. During the 2012/13 academic year he held a Fulbright scholarship in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has held other visiting positions at Universities in Egypt, France, Morocco, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Before his appointment as lecturer at Sussex he held a three-year Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship, based at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was previously a Nuffield Foundation New Career Development Fellow at Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tétouan, Morocco. He completed his PhD, on the dynamics of the Euro-Algerian migration system, in 2002.

Rediet Abiy Kassaye

Professor of Geography, University of Sussex. During the 2012/13 academic year he held a Fulbright scholarship in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has held other visiting positions at Universities in Egypt, France, Morocco, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Before his appointment as lecturer at Sussex he held a three-year Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship, based at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was previously a Nuffield Foundation New Career Development Fellow at Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tétouan, Morocco. He completed his PhD, on the dynamics of the Euro-Algerian migration system, in 2002.

Prof. Dr. César Augusto Silva da Silva

Adjunct professor at the Law School (FADIR) of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS). He has experience in the area of Law, with emphasis in Human Rights, working mainly on the following topics: refugees, international migrations, human rights, international law, citizenship and international relations. Prof. Cesar holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1995), Master of Laws from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1998) and PhD in Political Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (2013). He holds an Academic Certification from the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights of San Jose da Costa Rica (2006) and is responsible for the implementation of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Chair at the Federal University of Grande Dourados.

Dr Sarah Singer

Brad K. Blitz is Professor of International Politics and Policy in the Department of Education, Practice and Society at the University College of London’s Institute of Education, Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics & Senior Fellow of the Global Migration Centre, Graduate Institute, Geneva. He is also a co-Investigator on Gender and Forced Displacement (Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Turkey) at the UKRI Gender, Justice and Security Hub

Najeeba Wazefadost

Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific Network of Refugees. She has graduated from a Bachelor of Medical Science at the University of Western Sydney and is now studying a second degree at the University of Technology Sydney. Najeeba has been actively involved in the development of refugee-led networks at both the regional and global level, which focusses on bringing together refugee-led organizations and refugee change-makers from around the world to discuss their lived experiences and propose solutions for more effective and sustainable refugee policy. She is the founder of an Afghan women business network in Asia Pacific, supporting women to establish their own businesses.