‘Digging Aid’: The Camp as an Option in East and the Horn of Africa

Jansen, Bram J.

doi:10.1093/jrs/fev018

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In addition, refugee camps are often connected to one another and to other spaces of urban marginality; they may also be part of wider urban processes, including through their connections to the local labour market or the ways in which they are incorporated into broader processes of urban planning and the related governance (Peteet, 2005; Doraï, 2010; Sanyal, 2014; Knudsen, 2016). They may in fact have positive effects on the local and regional economy and be at the origin of important ‘host economies’, especially when they become a permanent presence in specific territories (Jansen, 2016).…”

Section: Rethinking the Geographies Of The Refugee Campmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the camp: On spatial technologies of power and resistance

Martin

Minca

Katz

2019

Progress in Human Geography

100

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In light of the recent proliferation and co-presence of institutional and makeshift camps and encampments in Europe, this article explores the current multifaceted geographies of the camp and their formal and informal spatialities. By engaging with key work in ‘camp studies’ we analyse contemporary institutional and makeshift refugee camps in their complex relationship. While the review of the existing literature is a fundamental starting point for our analysis, in this article we propose to depart from a perspective exclusively focussed on institutional camps to incorporate a reflection on the informal encampments that have recently proliferated in Europe. In particular, we reflect on how these makeshift spatial formations are associated with the presence and workings of institutional camps, at times in a complementary, almost symbiotic relationship. We conclude by suggesting that camps should not be studied in isolation and that both institutional and informal camps should be examined as dynamic spaces that may be transformed and appropriated by their residents, becoming part of the current fragmented mobilities of irregular migrations across Europe and of the related political geographies of bordering, smuggling, and humanitarian care.

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Section: Rethinking the Geographies Of The Refugee Campmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the camp: On spatial technologies of power and resistance

Martin

Minca

Katz

2019

Progress in Human Geography

100

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“…Both of these camps became symbols of the humanitarian approach to refugee assistance, which assumes that refugee situations are temporary, implying that assistance can focus on short-term care and maintenance. In practice, however, most refugee crisis are protracted, with refugees waiting for years in limbo and surviving on monthly food rations (Jansen 2015;Abdi 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian vs. Development Aid for Refugees: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

MacPherson

Sterck

2019

SSRN Journal

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Assistance to refugees living in camps is shifting from a humanitarian model, based on care and maintenance, to a development model that promotes refugee self-reliance through income-generating activities, market development, and cash transfers. Evidence on the effects of this paradigm shift is limited. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design, this paper tests whether the adoption of a development approach to refugee assistance in a new settlement in Kenya has a positive impact in the short run. We find that refugees benefiting from the new approach have better diets and perceive themselves as happier and more independent from humanitarian aid. We find no effect on assets and employment. These effects appear to be driven by the switch from food rations to cash transfers and by the wider promotion of kitchen gardens. Our findings argue in favor of the development approach to refugee assistance, which is cheaper and leads to better outcomes.

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“…Ethiopian and Somali refugee businesspeople have built active commercial markets inside the camp through the development of trading networks in and outside the camp (De Montclos and Kagwanja 2000). Protracted displacement in Kakuma camp has resulted in an economic centre embedded in the local socioeconomic landscape, which has evolved over decades under humanitarian governance (Jansen 2016).…”

Section: The Significance Of Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-reliance and Social Networks: Explaining Refugees’ Reluctance to Relocate from Kakuma to Kalobeyei

Betts¹,

Omata

Sterck

2020

Journal of Refugee Studies

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In 2016, refugees in the Kakuma camps in Kenya were offered the opportunity to relocate to the new Kalobeyei settlement, which ostensibly offered a better set of opportunities. While it was portrayed by the international community as objectively better for refugees’ autonomy and socio-economic prospects, most refugees in Kakuma viewed the opportunity differently. Less than 16 per cent of refugees who heard about Kalobeyei were willing to be resettled there if land were provided. For refugees, the main justifications for the reluctance to move were linked to the likely disruption to existing social networks. This example of ‘relocation for self-reliance’ has wider implications for how we conceptualize self-reliance. Although the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s definition of refugee self-reliance recognizes that it applies to the community level as well as the individual level, self-reliance programmes that exclusively target individuals risk rejection by communities unless they also take into account the importance of social networks.

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‘Digging Aid’: The Camp as an Option in East and the Horn of Africa

Cited by 28 publications

References 11 publications

Rethinking the camp: On spatial technologies of power and resistance

Rethinking the camp: On spatial technologies of power and resistance

Humanitarian vs. Development Aid for Refugees: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

Self-reliance and Social Networks: Explaining Refugees’ Reluctance to Relocate from Kakuma to Kalobeyei

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