Workshop objective and background

In a world of almost 80 million displaced people according to official numbers, forced migration has become a major issue of global development just as much as of humanitarian and political concern. Achieving the global goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015

will not be possible unless the plight of millions of refugees and the needs of their hosting communities—most of which are located in low- and middle-income countries—are addressed in a more sustainable manner than in the past. Protracted violent conflicts have made secure return a distant prospect in most of today’s major refugee situations. At the same time, resettlement into third countries has also remained a privilege for only a fraction of those displaced. Under these conditions, important international documents, such as the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) adopted by UN member states in 2016, call for a paradigm shift: Instead of keeping refugees in camps, countries are called upon to promote the local integration of displaced people. Several refugee hosting countries, most notably in Africa and the Middle East, have begun to implement this new approach.

Research on this new policy of local integration, just as the field of refugee and forced migration studies in general, is a cross-disciplinary and multi-perspective endeavour. Many sub-fields of refugee research—including human rights research, peace and conflict studies, migration research and development studies—contribute to the ongoing scientific investigations into opportunities and challenges connected to local integration. This workshop brought together a multitude of social science disciplines and approaches to highlight the progress made, and the obstacles encountered, in promoting the local integration of refugees in selected countries in Africa and the Middle East. It was framed by a keynote and a roundtable that discussed general questions of conducting research at the intersection of development and forced migration as well as in multidisciplinary research teams more broadly. Moreover, the discussion addressed structural challenges of establishing international research partnerships across the boundaries of countries, disciplines and research methods. Thereby, our aim was to initiate a conversation on how we, as a community, can foster these interlinkages, increase networking and strengthen existing collaborations.

The workshop was part of the FFVT cooperation project. FFVT is aiming to strengthen interdisciplinary research on refugees and forced migration in Germany. Partners in FFVT are the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen Nuremberg (CHREN, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS, Osnabrück University).

The workshop was part of the FFVT cooperation project. FFVT is aiming to strengthen interdisciplinary research on refugees and forced migration in Germany. Partners in FFVT are the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen Nuremberg (CHREN, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS, Osnabrück University).

FFVT brings together research on migration, development, conflict and violence, climate change, health, governance and human rights and other topics. The aim of the project is to link academic activities across these fields and thus increase the visibility of research on refugees and forced migration both in Germany and internationally by promoting a dialogue between academia, practitioners, the media and politics.

Programme

Day 1: Thursday, 5 November 2020, 14-17:15 h (CET)

Welcome and introduction

Keynote address

• Anna-Katharina Hornidge (DIE): Displacement in the global realm and the role of development research in the 21st Century

Panel 1: Local integration of refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa

Panelists

• Evan Easton-Calabria (University of Oxford): Political Economy and Culture
• Hassan Aden (Peace Research Institute Oslo): Education
• Samuel Agblorti (University of Cape Coast): Political Ecology

Moderation

• Jana Kuhnt (DIE)

Short wrap-up of the afternoon

Day 2: Friday, 6 November 2020, 9-13 h (CET)

Good morning & Day 1 recap

Panel 2: Local integration of refugees in the MENA region

Panellists

• Ramona Rischke & Nader Talebi (DeZIM & BIM): Sociology and Development Economy
• Katharina Lenner (University of Bath): Social Policies and Governance of Migration
• Markus Loewe (DIE): Political Economy

 
Moderation

• Benjamin Schraven (DIE)

Roundtable: interconnecting research disciplines

How can we get the different disciplines working on flight and migration together and increase their interconnections?

Inputs

• Christiane Fröhlich (GIGA)
• Olaf Kleist (DeZIM)
• Kristof van Assche (University of Alberta)

Moderation

• Jörn Grävingholt (DIE)

Wrap-up

End of workshop