Transnational Figurations of Displacement: Connectivity and Mobility as Solutions to Protracted Refugee Situations (TRAFIG)

To improve the protection and resilience of refugees and to increase trust and cooperation between refugees and host communities, bicc, together with research partners from Europe, Africa and Asia, participated in an EU-funded Horizon 2020 research project. The project “Transnational Figurations of Displacement: Connectivity and Mobility as Solutions to Protracted Refugee Situations” (TRAFIG) started in January 2019 and ran until March 2022.

TRAFIG introduced a novel perspective on protracted displacement situations (PDS), considering the transnational and local connectivity of displaced people and host communities, as well as their capability of mobility as socio-economic and socio-psychological resources that displaced people use and on which their resilience relies. The project developed a rapid assessment tool to identify the most vulnerable groups in PDS and to analyse the interactions between displaced and host communities.

As an evidence-based tool for impact, it supports policymakers and practitioners in strengthening the self-reliance of displaced people and host–refugees relations through tailored programming and policy development. Research partners from Austria, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan and the United Kingdom worked closely with key stakeholders throughout the entire project.

Through comparative empirical research, both qualitative and quantitative, in camps and urban settings at sites in Asia, Africa, and Europe, TRAFIG addressed the following questions: (1) How do displaced people access and use humanitarian and migration policies and programmes? (2) Why and how do displaced people live in vulnerable situations and sustain their livelihoods? How can policy support their self-reliance? (3) How do transnational networks shape refugees’ experiences and trajectories? (4) What processes structure relations between displaced people and host communities? (5) What are the medium- and long-term economic impacts of PDS?