Local Integration and Development

Local Integration and Development

1. Integration as a DS

   • Harrell-Bond (1986)- A situation in which host and refugee communities are able to co-exist, sharing the same resources – both economic and social – with no greater mutual conflict than that which exists within the host community.
     • Polzer (2009)- Negotiating integration can be bureaucratic by the UN, so refugees must be political about it sometimes.
       • local integration is part of broader processes of local politics. It proposes alternatives to three key assumptions of conventional policy-oriented approaches to local integration: (1) that local integration is a form of local politics rather than institutionalizable process for an exceptional category of people (e.g., refugees); (2) that local integration is negotiated by refugees based on a range of legitimacy claims and forms of exchange rather than primarily based on “refugee rights”-related claims; and (3) that local integration is enabled by hosts for a variety of reasons rather than mainly for reasons related to the idea of “refugee protection.”
   • Naturalization
     • Very rare
       • 1975- 2.5K Angolan refugees get Botswanan nationality
         • 2014- 3K Somali bantu are offered Tanzanian citizenship
   • Current Trends
     • Settlement approach (turning camps into settlements)
       • Self Reliance Strategies
         • Localization in aid management
   • Integration as a DS does not imply citizenship. But should it? To what extent are people who are integrated politically active and interacting with locals?

2. Integration as a political process

   • Polzer (2009)- Negotiating integration can be bureaucratic by the UN, so refugees must be political about it sometimes.
     • local integration is part of broader processes of local politics. It proposes alternatives to three key assumptions of conventional policy-oriented approaches to local integration: (1) that local integration is a form of local politics rather than institutionalizable process for an exceptional category of people (e.g., refugees); (2) that local integration is negotiated by refugees based on a range of legitimacy claims and forms of exchange rather than primarily based on “refugee rights”-related claims; and (3) that local integration is enabled by hosts for a variety of reasons rather than mainly for reasons related to the idea of “refugee protection.”

3. "Burden" of Local Integration

   • Research: Measure Benefits / Burdens
     • Jacobsen (1997)- the environmental Impact of hosting
       • refugees and their herd animals impose a population shock on asylum communities which cannot withstand the strain on resources. Deforestation occurs as refugees seek out firewood and shelter materials, grazing land becomes denuded as refugees' herd animals strain the carrying capacity of the range, water sources cannot support greatly increased utilization and become polluted and depleted, and there is garbage and other waste accumulation around refugee camps
         • Changing the patterns of refugee settlement so as to facilitate the gradual integration of refugees is likely to have direct environmental benefits,
   • Policy: Make benefits more inclusive
     • Low (2013)- How locals can benenfit from camps
       • Integration efforts in Mexico, Uganda, and Zambia. Microfinance schemes, access to the job market, land were all things that worked well.
         • Uganda and Zambia have schooling programmes that contribute to the education of natives too.