Rooted in 10 conflicts, majority of refugees have been hosted by 15 countries, says new World Bank report

One global issue at the forefront of World Bank Group work this year and beyond is the forced displacement of people and its impact on ending extreme poverty. Forced displacement is a crisis centered in developing countries, which host 89 percent of refugees and 99 percent of internally displaced persons, says a new World Bank report. At its root are the same 10 conflicts which have accounted for the majority of the forcibly displaced every year since 1991, consistently hosted by about 15 countries – also overwhelmingly in the developing world.

Not just a humanitarian issue, forced displacement is emerging as an important development challenge, and the development approach to providing support to it is multifold. “Forcibly Displaced – Toward a development approach supporting refugees, the internally displaced, and their hosts” is a groundbreaking study conducted in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which examines the role of development in resolving the challenge of forced displacement.

It responds to the growing need to better manage these crises as an important development challenge, part of an overall effort to reduce poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of development support is to address the longer term, social and economic dimensions of displacement, in close collaboration with humanitarian and other partners working in complementary ways.

While the current crisis is severe – with a reported 65 million people living in forced displacement – the report finds that over the past 25 years, the majority of both refugees and Internally Displaced Persons under UNHCR’s mandate can be traced to just a few conflicts in the following areas: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Colombia, the Caucasus and the former Yugoslavia.

Since people typically flee to neighbors of their countries of origin, the responsibility of hosting has not been shared evenly. About 15 countries have consistently been hosting the majority of refugees. At the end of 2015, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, Syria’s neighbors, hosted 27% of all refugees worldwide; Pakistan and Iran, Afghanistan’s neighbors, hosted 16%; and Ethiopia and Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan's neighbors, hosted 7%.

“Forced displacement denies development opportunities to millions, creating a major obstacle to our efforts to end extreme poverty by 2030,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “We’re committed to working with our partners to help the displaced overcome their ordeal and seize economic opportunities, while ensuring that host communities can also benefit and continue to pursue their own development.”

“The search for durable solutions for refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons is central to our mandate,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi. “Enabling dignified and productive lives through development investment is key to this challenge. Working in a cooperative and complementary partnership, I hope humanitarian and development agencies can make a real difference in the lives of the world’s poorest and most marginalized populations.”

Unlike economic migrants who move to places where there are jobs, the forcibly displaced are fleeing conflict and violence, often suffering from a loss of assets, lack of legal rights, absence of opportunities, and a short planning horizon. They need dedicated support to overcome these vulnerabilities and regain confidence in their future – so they can work, send their children to school, and have access to services. Left without support, the displaced may face hardship and marginalization, as do those who are negatively affected in host communities, which can hamper development efforts.  

The report identifies three phases of forced displacement where development institutions can intervene to help reduce the costs of the crisis.

1. Prevention and preparedness:

• Help potential hosts prepare before large numbers of people arrive by planning for contingencies, developing instruments to transfer resources rapidly, and creating ‘surge capacity’ for service delivery. Forced displacement peaks at an average of 4.1 years after its onset, giving countries time to prepare.

• Strengthen the resilience of those who stay behind, by financing investment in stable parts of unstable countries to maintain livelihoods. People weigh the risks of staying against the risks of leaving, and the majority stay, coping until they have exhausted all other options.

2. Mid-crisis action:

• Support host communities in addressing long-standing development issues, such as improving the business environment and reducing inequalities, which the presence of forcibly displaced may exacerbate.

• Strengthen and expand delivery of education, health, urban and environmental services to cope with the increase in population.

• Encourage policies that enhance freedom of movement and the right to work for the displaced, which are in the interest of host communities as well.

• Help the displaced move to places where there are opportunities, create jobs in hosting areas, or invest in skills and education that are in demand in the labor market

3. Rebuilding Lives:

• Support successful return by creating jobs and opportunities in communities receiving returnees, and assist with recovery efforts.

• Help those in displacement integrate locally, by providing development support for countries that are willing to provide adequate legal status to refugees.

Financing the global response will take significant resources. Development institutions can broaden financing approaches including contingent financing to support preparedness; policy or results-based financing; and guarantees to stimulate stronger private sector investment. Middle-income host countries need access to concessional financing, and low-income host countries require additional resources.

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Local Solutions to the Global Forced Displacement Crisis

Supporting host communities

• In the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, areas hosting refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are often under-developed and underserved, and the Bank is taking a regional approach to improve access to services and economic opportunities. In Zambia, for example, the Bank is supporting both former refugees and host communities through a Community-Driven Development approach, strengthening large scale and community infrastructure to improve education and health services, as well as create economic and market opportunities. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Eastern Recovery Project focuses on developing agricultural markets in areas that have experienced high levels of population movement, benefitting hosting communities, displaced families and returnees. Through the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Horn of Africa Project will help harmonize policies and practices related to forced displacement with the establishment of a regional secretariat for forced displacement and mixed migration.

• In Azerbaijan, 7% of the population (approximately 623,000 people) is displaced. After two decades, the displaced have not been able to build self-reliance, lacking access to high quality social infrastructure and housing. The problem is aggravated by the fact that most internally displaced are hosted by already poor communities. To respond to this challenge, the government of Azerbaijan has been implementing the Azerbaijan IDP Living Standards and Livelihoods Project since early 2012 to improve living conditions and increase the economic self-reliance of the internally displaced. To ease the burden on host communities and facilitate integration of IDP populations, the project finances small- to medium-sized infrastructure projects through a community driven approach. To date, more than 400 communities throughout the country have benefitted from these infrastructure developments.

• In Jordan, where most refugees live in towns and cities, long-term predictable financing to twenty local authorities who are each hosting significant numbers of refugees has enabled them to plan and expand water and waste management services, install new street lighting, rehabilitate roads, and provide new sporting and recreational facilities. These are important steps to ensure that host communities continue to be hospitable and reduce any possible tension as a result of increased pressure on services and the environment.  

• In Lebanon where, like Jordan, refugees live amongst host communities, the Bank is providing communities with immediate relief through investing in critical infrastructure at the local level and targeted social initiatives that promote interaction and collaboration between refugees and host communities. The Bank also scaled up its support to the government’s safety net program to host communities impacted by the Syrian crisis to reduce poverty and increase social cohesion. In addition, the Bank helped the public education system absorb a large number of school-age Syrian refugees, while at the same time ensuring Lebanese students also stay in school and overall quality of education is enhanced.

• Pakistan has had a long history of managing displaced people – hosting over 1.5 million Afghan refugees for decades, the largest protracted refugee population globally (UNHCR). The Pakistan government is also managing a large number of temporarily displaced people within its own borders in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), supported by the Bank. The World Bank-administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) was formed in August 2010 at the request of the government of Pakistan and development partner countries to respond to the crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), FATA, and Balochistan to support the reconstruction, rehabilitation, reforms, and other interventions needed to build peace and create the conditions for sustainable development.

Creating jobs and opportunities for both hosts and the displaced

• In the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, where host communities depend on traditional livelihoods, such as agriculture, fisheries, and pastoralism, the Bank is providing training to improve production practices, supporting new technologies and equipment, improving storage and processing infrastructure, and increasing access to finance. Local consultations and assessment of local markets with the communities and local governments taking the lead have informed the Bank’s approach. In Zambia, for example, the project supports livelihoods ranging from access to agriculture and vocational training, to development of small-scale sub-projects or irrigation systems, for the most vulnerable former refugees and host community members.

• In Azerbaijan, the IDP Living Standards and Livelihoods Project supports livelihoods-related activities that provide resources and build skills for IDPs, so that they can compete in the labor market or to start their own businesses and, down the road, to help them obtain better-paid and more secure jobs. The project supports training and grants for business start-up, forming and funding of income-generating groups in IDP communities, and provision of micro-credit for business activities. Businesses are varied in nature but usually build on the agricultural skills that IDPs brought from their home communities, including cattle husbandry, sheep rearing, and crop production, but the project also financed opening of bakeries, retail shops, catering businesses and cafés. Despite the relatively short time these income-generating groups have been operating, most already generate robust incomes. The project provides young people with vocational training and support for business start-up, and also aims to achieve gender balance and reach equal numbers of young women and men.

• In Jordan, an upcoming program on “Economic Opportunities for Jordanians and Syrian Refugees” will support the Government meet its commitment for providing Syrian refugees with access to the labor market by improving the investment climate and formalizing Syrian employment by facilitating the issuance of work permits. In return, Jordan will benefit from favorable access of Jordanian goods into European markets. The World Bank will also leverage its municipal program to finance labor-intensive works benefiting both Jordanians and Syrian refugees.

• In Lebanon, an upcoming program on “Roads and Employment” is expected to create about 1.5 million labor days of direct short-term jobs for low-skilled Lebanese and Syrian communities through rehabilitating the roads network of the country. Additional jobs will also be created in the supply chain industries, as well as the engineering and consultancy services in Lebanon.

• Through the Pakistan MDTF, a total of 1,471 matching grants have been disbursed and an estimated 23,000 jobs have been created through this support in KP and FATA.

Whether it is the Bank’s support to public service provision and local authorities in Jordan and Lebanon, or local government and community-based organizations in rural Africa, ensuring long-term sustainability will require coordinated programming to ensure effectiveness and reduce duplication for improving the quality of services.

“Implementation is challenging enough,” said Markus Kostner, Global Lead for Stability, Peace and Security in the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, “but much more needs to be done to build, incentivize, and facilitate coalitions of governments, the private sector, civil society, development and humanitarian actors, and affected people to prevent, contain, and respond to current crises, and also look ahead to anticipate and prepare for new ones.”