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1. Planned Relocation of Climate-Vulnerable Communities: Preparing Multilateral Development Banks

Author:
Steven Goldfinch and Samuel Huckstep
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Planned relocation of highly climate-vulnerable communities is becoming increasingly necessary as climate shocks become more frequent and intense. It is also becoming more feasible as modelling of future scenarios improves and adaptation limits become clearer. Despite this, many governments are underprepared for planning and implementing planned relocation projects. In the absence of an intergovernmentally agreed framework or set of principles on planned relocation, development finance, and specifically climate finance, is not well positioned to respond to this emerging demand from countries. This is heightened by a widespread absence of coherent domestic policies, and by institutional gaps in international assistance. Multilateral development banks, in particular, could be well-placed to fill this gap. They have extensive experience in undertaking relocation projects, including in contexts of climate adaptation. Multilateral development banks will increasingly field borrower country demand for both technical and financial assistance. They are, however, not yet prepared to meet this demand, nor are countries adequately equipped to make applications for support. This paper outlines emerging public policy regarding planned relocation, draws from existing standards on development-forced displacement and resettlement, and explores entry points for development financiers in providing technical assistance and finance. The paper proposes recommendations to multilateral development banks and the global climate funds on engaging in this emerging area.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Refugees, Displacement, Resettlement, and Banking
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Role of Gardening in Mental Health, Food Security, and Economic Well-Being in Resettled Refugees: A Mixed Methods Study

Author:
Rashmi Gangamma, Bhavneet Walia, and Shaelise Tor
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
Home and community gardening is emerging as a beneficial intervention for resettled refugee populations. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we examined whether gardening influences mental health, food security, and economic well-being. A mixed methods study (n = 29) was conducted with quantitative surveys to assess indicators of mental health, food security, and economic well-being. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews explored gardener participants’ experience of gardening benefits (n = 10). Participants had on average been in the United States for seven and a half years, with most having lived in refugee camps prior to arrival. Findings showed gardeners reporting fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression, and trauma, and lesser food insecurity than non-gardeners, and similar indicators of economic well-being. Non-parametric regression analysis showed that being a gardener significantly predicted less psychological distress. Qualitative data substantiated these findings with gardeners reporting improved mental health, closer family, social relationships and connections with culture, and more access to fresh and organic food. The multiple, simultaneous benefits of gardening reported here provide strong support for building community-based health promotion programs to assist refugee integration, including long after arrival. The study further highlights the importance of examining these interrelated factors of mental health, food security, and economic well-being simultaneously and reevaluating the established goals of refugee resettlement, particularly in the United States. We offer the following recommendations: • Policymakers and refugee resettlement practitioners should integrate culturally appropriate community-based health promotion efforts in refugee programs long after the initial resettlement period. • Researchers on refugee integration outcomes should include interdisciplinary perspectives that offer comprehensive understanding of processes related to health outcomes. • Policymakers on refugee resettlement and integration should consider the linkages between mental health, food security, and economic well-being.
Topic:
Food Security, Refugees, Mental Health, Resettlement, Well-Being, and Gardening
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

3. Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential with Heba Gowayed (Episode 16)

Author:
Heba Gowayed
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Drawing on a global and comparative ethnography, Professor Heba Gowayed (https://www.hebagowayed.com/) explores how Syrian men and women seeking refuge in a moment of unprecedented global displacement are received by countries of resettlement and asylum—the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It shows that human capital, typically examined as the skills immigrants bring with them that shape their potential, is actually created, transformed, or destroyed by receiving states’ incorporation policies. Since these policies derive from historically informed and unequal approaches to social welfare, refugees’ experiences raise a mirror to how states (re)produce inequality.
Topic:
Immigration, Refugees, Displacement, Syrian War, Resettlement, Asylum, and Social Welfare
Political Geography:
Syria and Global Focus

4. The Long‐​Run Effects of Immigration: Evidence across a Barrier to Refugee Settlement

Author:
Antonio Ciccone and Jan Nimczik
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Some 280 million people around the world are first‐​generation immigrants; in Organisation for Economic Co‐​operation and Development countries, first‐​generation immigrants make up around 14 percent of the population. The economic effects of immigration have become better understood in recent decades. A new focus of research on the effects of immigration is its long‐​run impact on productivity, wages, and income. We contribute to this research by examining the long‐​run economic effects of the arrival of refugees in what would become West Germany after the end of World War II (WWII) in 1945. This period was characterized by one of the largest population movements in modern times. Between 1945 and 1949, millions of people from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and eastern parts of prewar Germany were displaced westward. When the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was founded in 1949, these refugees made up around 15 percent of the country’s population.
Topic:
History, Immigration, Refugees, Resettlement, and World War II
Political Geography:
Europe, France, Germany, and United States of America

5. Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential

Author:
Heba Gowayed
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Drawing on a global and comparative ethnography, this presentation explores how Syrian men and women seeking refuge in a moment of unprecedented global displacement are received by countries of resettlement and asylum—the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It shows that human capital, typically examined as the skills immigrants bring with them that shape their potential, is actually created, transformed, or destroyed by receiving states’ incorporation policies. Since these policies derive from historically informed and unequal approaches to social welfare, refugees’ experiences raise a mirror to how states (re)produce inequality.
Topic:
Refugees, Inequality, Human Capital, Resettlement, and Asylum
Political Geography:
Middle East, Canada, Germany, Syria, and United States of America

6. Building Meaningful Refugee Participation into Protection Policymaking

Author:
Uwo Ramazani
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Around the world, many refugees find themselves in situations of protracted displacement. As states and international actors search for more effective ways to address protection and displacement challenges, one promising—but often underutilized—approach is to meaningfully involve refugees in crafting and implementing policy responses. Engaging affected communities in protection policymaking can take a variety of forms, including one-off consultations, individual refugee advisors or advisory boards, and refugees being appointed as senior leaders or hired as staff within organizations. Such approaches hold the potential to foster policies that better reflect the needs and priorities of refugee communities and, in doing so, improve protection outcomes. But care must be taken to go beyond tokenistic and inconsistent engagement, and more evidence is needed to understand which approaches are most impactful and under what circumstances. This report—part of the Beyond Territorial Asylum: Making Protection Work in a Bordered World initiative led by MPI and the Robert Bosch Stiftung—explores what motivates states, international organizations, and other actors to implement refugee participation initiatives, what forms these initiatives take, and what their limitations are. The study also proposes a preliminary theory of change (how such activities are intended to achieve their goals), a set of indicators to measure the influence of refugee participation on policy effectiveness, and recommendations for how such tools can be leveraged to improve refugee engagement and protection policies.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Organization, Refugees, Resettlement, Protection, and Refugee Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Improving Stakeholder Coordination in Refugee Resettlement: A Path to More Effective, Inclusive Programs

Author:
Admir Skodo and Maria Belen Zanzuchi
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
ach year, refugee resettlement programs offer a path to safety for only a tiny share of people forced to flee their country amid persecution, war, or violence. Efforts to expand these programs have largely stalled, in part because they are operating in a context of multiple crises (ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to large-scale displacement from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Venezuela) that have created competing policy demands. But another major factor that has constrained resettlement programs’ growth is the difficulty of effectively coordinating the work of the many stakeholders involved in these systems. This often includes different levels of government, civil-society and community actors, and international organizations, which frequently have different priorities, are involved at different points in the resettlement process, and may not be used to working together. This report explores the diversity of stakeholders involved in refugee resettlement, and the importance of robust coordination at all stages of the process (from program design to predeparture planning and post-arrival support). It also examines what coordination mechanisms exist—or could be created—to organize the work of these many actors. The analysis draws on interviews with local, regional, national, and international stakeholders, primarily from Argentina, Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, Refugees, Resettlement, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Attracting, Retaining, and Diversifying Sponsors for Refugees in Community Sponsorship Programs

Author:
Maria Belen Zanzuchi, Nadja Dumann, Florian Tissot, and Admir Skodo
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
More countries in Europe and elsewhere are exploring the potential of sponsorship programs to open up another pathway for refugee protection and integration. This reflects recognition of both the staggering scale of unmet protection needs globally and the value of involving receiving communities more directly in welcoming and supporting refugee newcomers. The strength of these community sponsorship programs—and their ability to be sustained and scaled up over time—hinges on recruiting community members to volunteer their time and often some personal resources to support arriving refugees. This report examines the challenges sponsorship programs have faced to recruiting, retaining, and diversifying the sponsors involved in these efforts, as well as strategies that programs could and in some cases already use to overcome these obstacles. It highlights findings from surveys and interviews conducted in three case-study countries (Belgium, Germany, and Ireland) as well as evidence from other countries that operate sponsorship programs. This MPI Europe study is part of the Building Capacity for Private Sponsorship in the European Union (CAPS-EU) Project, which aims to build the capacity of European, national, and local governments and nongovernmental stakeholders to design, implement, sustain, and scale up community sponsorship programs for refugees.
Topic:
Refugees, Resettlement, Asylum, Integration, and Social Cohesion
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

9. What Role Could Digital Technologies Play in the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum?

Author:
Lucía Salgado and Hanne Beirens
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Pressure on EU migration and asylum systems has grown considerably in recent years, with rising arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants and the level of asylum applications approaching those that threw the European Union into disarray in 2015–16. The arrival of more than 4 million displaced Ukrainians, meanwhile, has challenged already strained reception and integration systems. And across Europe, migration has become a flashpoint for political tensions and dominated electoral debates. Many policymakers and other stakeholders have pinned their hopes on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum to help Europe address these challenges. The pact, which was announced by the European Commission in 2020 and has recently entered the final stages of negotiation, is a series of legislative proposals aimed at revamping EU migration and asylum systems. Yet even if the pact is finalized, it has to pass another test before policymakers can claim victory: translating a complex legal construct into something that works in practice and can withstand spikes in arrivals and other challenges. This policy brief explores how digital technologies—already increasingly being used in European migration and asylum systems—could be leveraged to support the implementation of the pact and where caution is merited. It examines the role new digital tools could play in three key areas: decision-making at the border, relocation of asylum seekers/refugees among Member States, and return and reintegration. It also discusses the broader implications of digitalization in migration and asylum systems and reflects on how policymakers can set appropriate governance models and safeguards to ensure responsible use of new technologies.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, Border Control, European Union, Refugees, Resettlement, Asylum, and Digitalization
Political Geography:
Europe

10. Sustainable Agriculture in Aghali: The Smart Village Concept in the Great Return to Karabakh

Author:
Nazrin Baghirova
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Baku Dialogues
Institution:
ADA University
Abstract:
On 31 December 2022, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev delivered his annual televised address on the occasion of the Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis and the New Year. One of his formulations serves as the political background to this essay: “the Great Return program is being successfully implemented. […] I am confident that hundreds of thousands of former displaced persons will return to their homeland in the nearest future.” The Great Return is a flagship state project to repopulate and rejuvenate the Karabakh and East Zangezur Economic Regions, which were liberated by Azerbaijan in 2020 thanks to its victory in the Second Karabakh War. This essay will examine how repatriated farmers can optimally utilize agricultural lands and water, gain access to equipment, fertilizers, and pesticides, and examine how they can gain access to agricultural retail markets thanks to technological innovation. The essay will focus on a pilot project being implemented in one part of Azerbaijan’s liberated lands, namely the Zangilan district, which is one of the five districts that since the administrative reforms of July 2021 belongs the East Zangezur Economic Region. A milestone was achieved on 27 May 2022, when Aliyev participated in the official opening of a “smart village” project in the village of Aghali located in Zangilan (the quotation that serves as this essay’s epigraph was pronounced by the president on that occasion). This ceremony marked the completion of the first stage of a green resettlement project that included 200 fully constructed residential buildings, the introduction of public services (ASAN services, banks, post office, hospital), a “smart” secondary school with a capacity for 360 pupils, a “smart” kindergarten for 60 children, modern infrastructure, a high-speed internet connection, and the Gilmed sewing factory. The state has also allotted agricultural fields to each household. (In the next phase of the project, the state plans to further expand the village and build 150 more homes, including two- and three-story apartment buildings.)
Topic:
Agriculture, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Resettlement, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, South Caucasus, and Nagorno-Karabakh