Objectives & Research Questions
This research project aims to understand how cities in transit countries are responding to the global trend of forced migration. As an ancillary agenda, this research will probe how social integration can be provoked to help both refugees and host communities coexist during the refugees’ transit period. The goal is to document, find overlaps and gaps in refugee management at local level, as well as share lessons learned and extract recommendations from several case studies to be potentially useful for other cities in similar transitory context. We will also look at how refugee management continues at a time of global crisis (COVID-19).
The outcome is expected to provide an understanding of how cities can better prepare and respond to welcoming refugees and including these efforts in existing urban development plans. By documenting the process and output, sharing lessons and extracting recommendations, we hope to engage stakeholders in Indonesia in a discussion on displacement and migration management for better coordinated response and preparedness and increased urban resilience. We also hope to strengthen the relationships and networking with other stakeholders, primarily researchers but also practitioners, who are working on topics relevant to refugees in-transit.
Key research questions:
1. How do Indonesian cities coordinate their refugee management across different offices and stakeholders?
a. How has refugee management been linked to the existing development planning system? b. What are the concerns and how to overcome the constraints?
c. How has the current health pandemic influenced the refugee management in Indonesian cities? What differs?
2. How does Indonesia’s experience differ with other countries in Southeast Asia, particularly with countries that host a large number of refugees-in-transit?