Trajectories of reintegration. The impacts of displacement, migration and return on social change

This year marked the end of BICC’s four-year project, which involved more than 14 months of field research on the reintegration trajectories of returnees in the Middle East, the Western Balkans and West Africa.

Our study looked at individual factors (e.g. education, social status, age, gender, resources, networks) and framework conditions (e.g. conflict phase, reconstruction phase, outlook) that influence the reintegration experience. Among other things, we found that the reintegration process of returnees is linked to their access to livelihoods and that this access often requires mobility and translocal connections. Returnees often have to remigrate because the overall conditions for reintegration are not conducive and adequate to meet their needs and aspirations.

This finding is at odds with the type of assistance provided to returnees through formal return and reintegration assistance programmes. Bringing these findings to the attention of donors and policymakers was, therefore, a key goal of our project’s dissemination and transfer activities. The results of our research are summarised in four BICC Working Papers, a Synthesis Note, a Synthesis Report, four BICC Policy Briefs and eight journal articles and book chapters.