TY - JOUR

T1 - What makes me want you here?

T2 - Refugee integration in a zambian settlement setting

AU - Gronau, Steven

AU - Ruesink, Brigitte

N1 - Funding Information: Our paper takes advantage of a recent household survey dataset of 275 households collected in April 2018. It is based on four-week field research (1 week of survey training and 3 weeks of data collection), as part of the “Food Security in Rural Zambia (FoSeZa)” project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, see Gronau et al. [66] for more project information. The dataset covers all of the households (census) from the 8 villages of the Mantapala host society. We conducted a structured questionnaire with the respective household head. It included questions on the household’s socio-demographics, social capital, economic activities, income sources, savings, consumption and expenditures, use of natural resources, livestock breeding, agricultural production, land uses, and food security. The questionnaire also comprised a section on the Mantapala refugee settlement, containing questions on public opinion towards and contact with refugees. The respondents also indicated the respective area of contact. The section concluded with a question on life satisfaction. The recall period of the survey was the 12 months between April 2017 and March 2018. Funding Information: This research was funded by the Leibniz Young Investigator Grant of the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. Grant number LYIG-08-2019-11.

PY - 2021/7/27

Y1 - 2021/7/27

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Africa

KW - Contact

KW - Host society

KW - Inclusion

KW - Integration

KW - Opinion

KW - Refugees

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111778676&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/su13158380

DO - 10.3390/su13158380

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111778676

VL - 13

JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)

JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 15

M1 - 8380

ER -