What Makes Me Want You Here? Refugee Integration in a Zambian Settlement Setting

Abstract

Many of the world's refugees remain in Africa, where they stay long-term, mainly in neighboring countries. The present directions point to integration, in which the host society and the political surroundings play a key role. This paper aims to investigate the ways in which public opinion towards and contact with refugees support integration processes. We apply this research to a settlement setting in rural Zambia, a recent dataset of 275 households from 2018, and an econometric analysis. This is the first study dealing with a set of factors that affect the hosts’ opinion towards and contact with refugees in an African settlement context, and with respect to the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework produced by the United Nations. Our results show, particularly, the religiosity, group membership, life satisfaction, food insecurity, agricultural ownership and natural resource uses of the host society to be the main factors that need policy consideration for the promotion of refugee integration. Stakeholders dealing in host–refugee settings and seeking for durable solutions should roll out community programs to address threat perceptions and interaction improvements.

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“…According to Gronau and Ruesink [38] the host-refugee ratio is approximately 1 to 10. Zambia manages the settlement according to the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) by United Nations, which basically aims for refugee integration [38]. Interestingly, the refugee settlement provides various off-farm employments to local residents (e.g., administration, construction, guarding), leading to more than half of the hosts already having contact with the camp via employment opportunities.…”

“…Each village comprises about 10 to 80 households. The community faces difficult living conditions marked by severe poverty and food insecurity [38]. Agriculture plays an important role in the district [77].…”

“…Around 8,000 hectares of the study site relate to the settlement, which accommodates about Fig. 1 Mantapala in the Luapula Province, Zambia [38] 15,231 Congolese [81]. According to Gronau and Ruesink [38] the host-refugee ratio is approximately 1 to 10.…”

“…1 Mantapala in the Luapula Province, Zambia [38] 15,231 Congolese [81]. According to Gronau and Ruesink [38] the host-refugee ratio is approximately 1 to 10. Zambia manages the settlement according to the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) by United Nations, which basically aims for refugee integration [38].…”

“…Additional reasons are "waiting for recovery from slash and burn" and "not having enough money". Finally, the camp's market, with over 200 traders, enables business interactions [38].…”