Refugee economies : forced displacement and development

268 Pages·2017·1.471 MB·English

by  Betts, Alexander, Bloom, Louise, Kaplan, Josiah David, Omata, Naohiko

Refugee Economies

Refugee Economies
Forced Displacement and Development
Alexander Betts, Louise Bloom, Josiah Kaplan,
and Naohiko Omata
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3
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Preface
Most books have a backstory. This one is the culmination of a journey that
began nearly two decades ago. Back in 1999, when I was an undergraduate
student in economics, I received an opportunity to do voluntary work in a
reception centre for asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands. While
there,Imetextraordinarypeople—fromKosovo,Bosnia,Iran,Iraq,Pakistan,
China, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. A Bosniak
lawyer taught me the basics of public international law and an Iranian
Olympian taught me table tennis. Despite their talents, the people I met
werestuckin limbowhileawaitingthe outcomeoftheir asylumclaims,and
deniedtherighttoworkuntiltheirbureaucraticsituationwasresolved.This
struckmeasnotonlybadforrefugeesbutalsoforthehostsociety.
WhenIreturnedhome,Iwantedtowritemyundergraduatedissertationon
the topic. But I was an economics student and, back at my university, there
was scepticism about whether refugees and economics could really go
together. Nevertheless, my supervisor, Frank Bohn, supported my idea to
write a dissertation applying ideas from microeconomics to the refugee con-
text.Afterwards,Ibroadenedmyresearchfocustowardsthepoliticsofrefugee
protection,believingIwouldleaveeconomicsbehind.
But, as I travelled to do research in refugee camps across Africa, the same
themesresurfaced.Talentedpeoplewiththecapacitytocontributewereleftin
intractablelimbo,sometimesfordecades,inrefugeecamps,wheretheywere
deniedtherighttowork.Thehumanitarianmodel,basedonlong-termassist-
ance, was failing. The rare historical examples of host countries giving refu-
gees greater opportunity seemed to rely upon taking a broader development
perspective.
Then,in2010,whilespendingayearatStanford,apossibilityarosetorevisit
someoftheeconomicthemesthathadstartedmycareer.Basedintheheartof
Silicon Valley, I was surrounded by tech, start-ups, and social enterprise.
I thought to myself ‘This is great—but how is it relevant to me? I work on
refugees,andsurelythat’saboutwhatgovernmentsandinternationalorgan-
izationsdo?’Andthenthepennydropped.Whatifwecouldrethinktherole
ofmarkets in relationtorefugees?Whatifwe hada betterunderstanding of
Preface
theeconomiclivesofrefugeesthemselves?Mightthatofferanopportunityto
movebeyonddependencyandtowardsmoresustainablesolutions?
Ataroundthesametime,inOctober2010,IwasinvitedtoTexasforthefirst
timetogiveaseriesoflectures.WhileinDallas,IwasintroducedtoStephanie
andHunterHunt,whohadrecentlycreatedtheHuntInstituteforEngineer-
ingandHumanity,andbecomeinterestedinhowtocreatemoreinnovative
solutions for refugees. Their visits to camps in Kenya and Thailand had led
themtosharethefrustrationsIfelt.Whycouldn’twefindbetterwaystohelp
refugeestohelpthemselves?
As a result, we co-founded the Humanitarian Innovation Project, based in
the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. The overall project’s
basicaimwastounderstandtheroleoftechnology,innovation,andbusiness
in relation to refugee assistance, with a focus on the initiative of refugees
themselves.StephanieandIbrainstormedideasfortheproject’sinitialfocus
country,travellingtogethertoUgandainearly2012,wherewehadprelimin-
arymeetingswithUNHCRinKampalaandtheKyangwalirefugeesettlements.
The decision to focus on Uganda was based on its exceptionalism. Unlike
most other refugee-hosting countries around the world, it gives refugees the
righttoworkandfreedomofmovement,aspartofitsSelf-RelianceStrategy.
Thisofferedauniqueopportunitytoexplorewhathappenswhenrefugeesare
given basic socio-economic freedoms. It is also a country with a large and
diverserefugeepopulation.
We began hiring the Humanitarian Innovation Project team, with Louise
and Naohiko joining as Research Officers in 2012 and Josiah following as a
ResearchConsultantin2013.Theaimhadbeentocreateaninterdisciplinary
team.Betweenus,wehadtraininginanthropology,economics,management,
engineering, and political science. Thereafter, Refugee Economies rapidly
becamethecentralfocusofourresearch.
Some academic research, notably the pioneering work of Karen Jacobsen,
had already taken place on the economic lives of refugees. But much of the
existing literature was based on localized qualitative studies. Although
extremely important, two things were missing: data and theory. One of our
primaryresearchgoalsbecametoaddressthesegaps,includingthroughquan-
titative data collection. To our knowledge, there had been no previous aca-
demic studies that had created an original dataset on the economic lives of
refugees.
Butwealsodidnotwanttodowhatsomanyeconomistsdo:turnupwith
our clipboards and our pre-designed survey, ask questions, and then simply
leave. Instead, we wanted to adopt an approach that would build lasting
relationshipswithinthecommunities,workwithrefugeesaspeerresearchers,
andhopefullyleaveapositivelegacyforrefugeesandthehostsociety.
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Preface
To balance these competing imperatives called for methodological innov-
ation.Itrequiredustobuildtrust—includingwithrefugees,thegovernment,
and UNHCR—and to be able to work at scale across a number of different
research sites, urban and rural. It needed us to use participatory research
methods and to invest immense time in building and nurturing research
capacityatthenationallevel.
Toachievethis,webuiltalargein-countryteam,allofwhoareultimately
theco-creatorsoftheresearchonwhichthisbookisbased.TheUgandateam
comprised three national research coordinators: Clarissa Tumwine, Rashid
Mwesigwa, and Hope Zainab Natukunda. It also comprised a large number
of researchers who also happened to be refugees: Wardo Omar Abdullahi,
HusseinAhmedAbukar,DavidBachy,WilliamBakunzi,SeinyaBekele,Caesar
Bishovu, Osman Faiz, Sada Faiz, Kiflu Hussain, Angelique Kabami, Cosmos
Lugala, Abdullahi Mahil, Bernadette Muhongaiyre, Robert Hakiza Ngirwa,
Gemus Ngirabakunzi, Ntakamaze Nziyonvira, and Abdirahman Sheik Mahi
Yusuf. Without their commitment to the project, this book would simply
notexist.
Surveyassistancewasalsoprovidedbyourteamofenumerators:Emmanuel
Baraka, Emmanuel Mbabzi, Clovis Bosco, Jean Claude, Mohamed Hasan,
Patricia Kalambayi, Rosemary Kamariza, Alexis Kubana, Hellen Mabonga,
EmmanuelMfitundinda,AbdallaMuhamed,AishaMuhamoodAbdi,Eugenie
Mukandayisenga, Damien Ndemezo, Christopher Okidi, Abdifatah Hassan
Osman, Bosco Pagama, Christian Salumu, Richard Tombe, Richard Veve,
JimmyWamimbi,JosephYuggu,andoursurveysitesupervisors,JoanAliobe
andHenryMugisha.
That team received training in research methods, led by Naohiko and
Josiah, and it has been gratifying to see so many of our researchers go on to
achievesomuch.RobertHakizawasawardedtheOckendenPrizeforhiswork
in developing a skills training programme for refugees at his community-
based organization, YARID. Kiflu Hussain was resettled to the United States
where he continued to work as a researcher at the Hunt Institute for Engin-
eering and Humanity. Ntakimaze Nziyonvira and Angelique Kabami both
receivedMastercardscholarshipstogoandstudyabroad.
WehavealsobenefitedimmenselyfromtheresearchsupportofourOxford
team. Eli Grant was our main statistician and did most of our data analysis.
AndreaAbellvanEsalsoprovidedassistanceondataanalysisatanearlystage.
Other research assistants have included Georgia Cole, Evan Easton-Calabria,
RomyFaulkner,BenKenneally,andCherieSaulter.AnneliChambliss-Howse
providedlanguageeditingonanearlydraftofthismanuscript.Finally,from
withinOxford,ourworkwasonlypossiblebecauseoftheroleofourresearch
coordinators,MafaldaPicarraandthenNinaWeaver.
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Preface
Institutionally, we are incredibly grateful to both the Office of the Prime
Minister (OPM) of the Government of Uganda and the Office of the United
NationsHighCommissionerforRefugees(UNHCR)forsupportingourwork,
especiallyinthefield.Amongthemanycolleagueswhoassisted,wearegrateful
to Charles Bafaki, Douglas Asiimwe, Betsy Lippman, Theresa Beltramo, Line
Pedersen,GaelaRoudy-Fraser,Steve Corliss,SakuraAtsumi,OlivierDelarue,
andChrisEarney.
The work benefited immensely from a series of presentations and lectures,
throughwhichwereceivedincrediblyhelpfulfeedback.Theseincludedpresen-
tationsatDFID,GIZ,theWorldBank,UNHCR,theDanishRedCross,Harvard
University,StanfordUniversity,andtheWorldHumanitarianSummit’sGlobal
Consultations, as well as a seminar series on ‘Refugee Economies’ held at the
RefugeeStudiesCentre.
Wealsopublishedanearlypolicybriefwithsomeofourdescriptivestatis-
tics and human stories as ‘Refugee Economies: Rethinking Popular Assump-
tions’,whichwelaunchedinJuly2014atourownHumanitarianInnovation
Conference.Thisenabledustoreceivefurtherfeedbackonthework,aswellas
increasinginterestinourUgandastudy.Wewerealsoabletoholdsubsequent
launcheventsinbothKampalaandNairobi,generouslyhostedbyUNHCR,as
wellasoneintheNakivalesettlement.
However, it was the so-called European refugee crisis, beginning in April
2015, which created unprecedented interest in our work on Refugee Econ-
omies, and especially our Uganda study. The work has received coverage on
the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Central China Television, and National Public
Radio. It has also been highlighted in The Guardian, The Independent, The
Economist, New Scientist, World Finance, and Fast Company, among others. It
hasalsobeenafocusoftalksIhavegivenatTED,theSkollWorldForum,and
theGlobalPhilanthropyForum.
Above all, we are incredibly grateful to Stephanie and Hunter Hunt, not
onlyforfundingthisresearchbutalsoforbeingterrificfriends,collaborators,
andadvocatesforourwork.
We are thankful for the support of our other colleagues at the Refugee
Studies Centre, especially Tamsin Kelk for dedicating so much time to com-
municationsrelatingtotheproject,andherpredecessor,IanMcClelland.
WithinandbeyondOxford,wehavealsobenefitedfromtheadvice,guid-
ance, and support of many friends, colleagues, and students. These include
Jean-François Durieux, Alex Aleinikoff, Paul Collier, Kathleen Newland,
MichaelDoyle,ChristianeAmanpour,GregoryManiatis,EmilyPaddon,Erik
Abild, Emily Arnold-Fernandez, Sasha Chanoff, Kate Weaver, Faith Nibbs,
Meredith Byrne, Pamela Hartigan, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Joanna
Macrae, Eva Csaky, Mikey Tomkins, Jim Hollifield, Jim Hathaway, Jane
viii
Preface
McAdam,ThomasThomsen,TanyaMeurer,JamesMilner,RanAbramitzky,
ThomasGinn,TinoCuellar,EricaHarper,VladGozman,andJaneWales.
WeareimmenselygratefultoAdamSwallowatOxfordUniversityPressfor
showing such enthusiasm for this project and ferrying the book through to
publication.
Finally,theauthorsallhavepeopleinourlivesthathaveenabledallofusto
commit thousands of hours to the research behind this book—Emily, Alex,
Helena,andAkiko.
AlexanderBetts
April2016
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