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Refugee integration in a zambian settlement setting

authored by: Steven Gronau, Brigitte Ruesink
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.
Organisation(s): Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade
Type: Article
Journal: Sustainability (Switzerland)
Volume: 13
ISSN: 2071-1050
Publication date: 27.07.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Computer Science (miscellaneous), Geography, Planning and Development, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Building and Construction, Environmental Science (miscellaneous), Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Hardware and Architecture, Computer Networks and Communications, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158380 (Access: Open)