Paper details
| Paper authors | Zoe Jordan |
| In panel on | Managing governance of forced displacement and refugee crises: can lessons be learned from the host communities? |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Humanitarian agencies are increasingly aware of and working with hosts at the national, regional and city scale. However, for the most part, there remains a significant gap in understanding and working with host families: those individuals who share their accommodation and resources with displaced people in crisis and protracted displacement.
Host families often play a central role in the lives of displaced individuals and families, offering support to meet basic needs, safety, and a sense of belonging. However, the role of displaced people as hosts themselves is often overlooked. In this paper, I argue that this is a key oversight that fails to account for the active role of displaced populations in supporting one another and the dynamic relationships between refugees, particularly in protracted contexts. Paying attention to everyday refugee-refugee hosting relationships is essential to understand experiences of long-term urban displacement, to re-conceptualise the relationship between hosts and humanitarians, and to identify new avenues for those working in displacement contexts to engage with the vital support that hosting provides.
