As world leaders debate the fine print of a global deal on refugees at the United Nations, a group of Canadian researchers is already laying the groundwork for one of the most ambitious initiatives to explore local solutions to the escalating crisis.

The team, led by Carleton University professor James Milner, has worked quietly behind the scenes since 2015 to build a network of partners in Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon and Tanzania — home to many of the world’s displaced people — seeking ways to help these host communities cope with the influx of migrants.

“Responding to the needs of refugees is a global challenge,” said Milner, who is overseeing the seven-year research project to study global refugee policies. “Eighty-six per cent of the world’s refugees settle in the global south, sometimes for years. These countries are not tooled to respond to the challenge. How can civil society better respond to the needs of refugees?”

There has been much political bickering between developing countries, who host the majority of refugees, and their developed counterparts, who are trying to guard their borders against the influx. Much of it focuses on the language of the Global Compact on Refugees, which will be finalized at the UN in New York on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, before all 193 member states vote on it by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the $3.7 million global refugee study — a collaboration between Carleton, York, Ottawa and McGill universities — has brought together international aid organizations, academics from the four refugee-hosting countries as well as their colleagues from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States to seek practical, sustainable, grassroots solutions to the crisis on the ground.

Some $2.5 million of the project funding is coming from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the rest will come from the Canadian universities and aid groups in services and grants.

While only political will can address the source of war and violence, Milner said researchers will focus on initiatives that support refugees in diverse places and finding ways to improve their lives.

Milner said the project aims to identify priorities for aid groups and refugees in each of the four countries by next May before 96 Canadian graduate students are trained to work with local academics, students, NGOs and refugees to launch individual research studies locally next summer.

So far, preliminary consultations have identified unique concerns faced by refugees in each country: the humanitarian and development approaches in Kenya and Tanzania; access to education and gender equality in Lebanon; and access to public services and water in Jordan.

“We need to examine what policy works, what doesn’t work, and answer the question why we keep facing the same challenges over and over again despite spending millions and millions of dollars in programming,” said Milner.

Professor Maha Shuayb of the Lebanese American University said research dollars on refugees are limited even though her country is overwhelmed by the one million Syrians and 270,000 Iraqis who have sought refuge there and are awaiting resettlement to another country.

Dulo Nyaoro, a professor with Moi University in Nairobi, said Kenya has been the host of some 500,000 Somali and South Sudanese refugees for decades and solutions must come locally to settle and integrate these migrants, though the world must address the universal issue of discrimination and xenophobia.

“The reality is the global north and global south both face the same problems, but we see (them) from different perspectives and each country has its own interests,” said Nyaoro. “This affects all of us and we really need to synergize and synchronize to find solutions.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: