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How do we know whether a refugee household is self-reliant if this is not measured? Although self-reliance has been promoted as a critical assistance strategy for refugees in recent years, there have been limited attempts to rigorously measure the concept. This field report introduces a new measurement tool to assess the movement toward self-reliance among refugee households. The development and utility of a tool to measure self-reliance are described using the pilot studies conducted in Ecuador, Egypt and Lebanon over a 9- to 18-month period. This report utilized unique panel data from 167 refugee households in Egypt and 94 households in Ecuador. The panel data was collected at two points in time (baseline and endline) using paper and pencil or Open Data Kit forms on tablets during face-to-face interviews. This panel group was used to perform the change analysis to examine the movement of households along a self-reliance continuum. Findings show that, overall, 59.8% of households in Ecuador and 64.7% of households in Egypt moved upward in composite score in self-reliance while less than 30% of households regressed in both countries. Further examination is needed to refine and evaluate the tool. The results provide an important starting point and insights into measuring self-reliance using simple indicators and an opportunity to reframe assistance around self-reliance, neither of which had previously been a focus of refugee assistance or relevant literature. It is believed that this methodology will be of use to academics and practitioners seeking to study refugee self-reliance around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For both political and ideological reasons, return is the most favoured future imagined for refugees by policy makers and protection actors. This article analyses how humanitarian migrants in a context of limited durable solutions can be supported to reclaim ownership of their futures, as well as how this can result in deeper insights for social scientists and policy makers. For the case of Syrians, this study deploys futures literacy labs as a participatory and capability-based research methodology that allows participants to become researchers of their own lives. Based on two futures literacy labs with two Syrian families in Lebanon in 2020 and 2021, the article demonstrates that a futures capability-based approach provides humanitarian migrants with the cognitive space and agency needed to go beyond foreclosed decision-making processes. The research methodology allows researchers to become witnesses to intimate reappropriation and learning processes by humanitarian migrants themselves. As a result, we are able to argue that 'returns' as a durable solution are essentially about a return to a state of well-being and possibilities, which may or not entail a spatial return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As thousands of Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since 2011, many have moved to Palestinian camps in search of affordable accommodation. While one of these camps, Shatila on the outskirts of Beirut, is highly studied as the site of fervent political engagement and destitution among Palestinians, the camp emerges as a different kind of proposition when investigated from the perspective of Syrian refugees. Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I explore how living in Shatila affords my Syrian interlocutors specific opportunities in terms of navigating the hostile urban landscape of Beirut. Casting light on both the character of Shatila as political order and the kinds of political and social existence Syrians are able to forge for themselves there, I argue that with respect to Syrian inhabitants Shatila should be conceptualized as a pocket of respite from a general state of exception in Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant portion of the global population of 270 million migrants are refugees who were forcibly displaced from and are unable to return to their country of origin for reasons ranging from personal safety to economic instability. Almost 30 million refugees are protected by an international refugee regime, which obliges host states to provide safehaven and protections against forced expulsion. Nonetheless, refugee experiences in host countries are highly varied, including with respect to how welcome they feel in their host states. This matters because refugees that feel pressured to leave may be more likely to look to move on to a third country or return home involuntarily and before conditions are safe to do so. We argue that whether or not refugees feel pressured to leave host countries is affected by the varied nature of their quotidian interactions with authorities and regular citizens. To test the validity of this argument we draw upon approximately 1,700 responses to a survey administered among the Syrian refugee population throughout Lebanon in June and July 2018. Our statistical analyses demonstrate that individuals who are registered with the UN and the Lebanese government both feel more pressure to leave the country, as do individuals who are subject to ill treatment at the hands of Lebanese residents or authorities. We also find some tentative evidence that individuals who are not well socially connected within Lebanese society—those that live in predominantly Syrian neighbourhoods in Lebanon—also feel more pressure to leave the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toleration status (temporary suspension of deportation) has been Germany's hesitant answer to providing humanitarian relief for Palestinians escaping the dismal conditions of refugee camps and the civil war in Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the same time, the status has subjected families to years, even decades, of insecurity and uncertainty through constant threats of deportation and restrictions on work, travel and higher education. Based on 19 months of ethnographic research, the article shows the story of one family during their 16 years on toleration status and their experiences after gaining permanent residency. The family's experiences illuminate the insecurity and uncertainty large communities on toleration status in Berlin-Neukölln experienced, all sharing the fate of constantly wavering between hope, fear and disillusionment. Their struggles also show how the permanent temporariness of long-term toleration status affects both the parents who fled the conflict and their children, most of whom were born and raised in Germany. I argue that toleration status limits the capabilities of children stuck in the stagnant realities of their family's insecure status, along the lines of gender and birth order. Moreover, toleration status as a multigenerational ordeal persists long after the legal insecurity has ended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The displacement of a large number of Syrians has resulted in interrupted and protracted education pathways for many young Syrians. Although access to higher education (HE) has been recognised as central to avoid creating a 'lost generation', refugees in host countries face considerable barriers to access HE, such as cost, capacity and lack of documents. Online and blended learning opportunities have been proposed as one solution in resource-constrained environments. However, refugees' online learning capabilities and preferences remain poorly understood, as existing research has mainly relied on key stakeholders without involving refugees directly. This article presents results from a survey of 350 secondary level educated Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon conducted in 2017. We assess their online learning capabilities and subject preferences, and show how adapting online learning materials to enable smartphone learning with low bandwidth would significantly increase the potential pool of online education students. We discuss how educational organisations can best adopt these findings to improve access to HE for refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research with refugees poses particular ethical challenges, especially if data is collected in places where most refugees today live: namely countries neighbouring conflict, ones that are sometimes at war with their country of origin and where refugees are exposed to different degrees of legal vulnerability, posing security risks to participants and researchers alike. These challenges are exacerbated when data is collected across countries and includes survey research. The article adds to the emergent literature on ethics in forced displacement by highlighting how security precautions and ethical considerations influence and shape methodological choices. Based on recent fieldwork with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Turkey in 2018, the article discusses a mixed-methods approach combining in-depth interviews with an individual survey based on multistage cluster sampling, random walks and limited focused enumeration. Advocating for a refugee-centred approach, it elaborates on: (i) how to negotiate 'ethics in practice'; (ii) how risks and violence influence the choice of fieldwork sites; and (iii) how ethical considerations impact in particular quantitative or mixed-methods studies. It describes the advantages of including members of refugee populations in research teams, as well as open challenges with regard to risks, informed consent, confidentiality, sensitive issues, positionality, advocacy and collaborative writing efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth in political, ethnic, and religious conflicts across the globe, intolerance is manifested across different societies especially in the context of (forced) migration and refugees. The purpose of this study is to examine intolerance as a complex social problem. Specifically, this research seeks to explore the perceptions and conceptions of (in)tolerance between refugees from Syria and host communities in Lebanon identifying the degree and the different forms in which tolerance and intolerance materialize. This will allow different agents such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policymakers, and relevant authorities to develop adequate interventions to tackle this phenomenon through a social marketing approach and improve (refugee) crisis response plans. The situation has emerged following the Syrian conflict (2011–present) and the arrival of 1.5 million refugees into Lebanon. This number thus constitutes a challenge to both the hosts and the refugees in Lebanon, a small country. A qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews to investigate the perceptions and conceptions of the target audiences, citizens, refugees, leaders, and NGO staff/volunteers. Results show the existence of a phenomenon of intolerance; its relevant aspects, namely discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, racism, and scapegoating; and the rise of violence–tension and fear as emerging themes of intolerance manifestations in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Syrian war erupted in 2011, the Lebanese government withdrew from managing the influx of Syrian refugees. Three years later, Lebanon's Council of Ministers set new regulations for Syrians with the purpose of reducing access to territory and persuading refugees to leave the country. This article analyses the reasons for and the outcomes of Lebanon's response to the refugee crisis before and after 2014. It then examines, through a qualitative exploratory approach and based on two longitudinal case studies, the impact of Lebanese regulations. In both cases, the so-called 'temporary gatherings' became permanent settlements beyond the government's control. The government's strategy backfired: in attempting to avoid ghettos, it created them. We conclude that when refugee situations become protracted, most efforts aimed at excluding refugees fail. Excluding refugees increases their vulnerability and reduces their chances of repatriation or resettlement. To prevent this, we argue that hosting policies must lead to the temporary integration of refugees within urban systems and public institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the majority of refugees now in urban areas, mayors and municipal authorities have been recognized as increasingly important policy actors in the global refugee regime. This trend is acknowledged in the policy literature. However, there has been little systematic academic research exploring the conditions under which mayors make a difference to refugee-policy outcomes. Theoretically, we outline a heuristic framework aimed at disaggregating key variables, including the independent influence of mayors, in shaping municipal-level outcomes. Empirically, the article assesses the role of municipal authorities and mayors in the two most numerically significant host countries for Syrian refugees: Turkey and Lebanon. It comparatively examines variation across six metropolitan municipalities, three from each country: Izmir, Adana and Gaziantep (Turkey), and Qalamoun, Anjar and Zahle (Lebanon). We show that mayors matter because they may mediate the implementation of national policies and because they sometimes adopt supplementary refugee policies and practices at the municipal level, which may be more or less proactive or more or less restrictive than central-government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on Syrian-refugee self-reliance and humanitarian efforts meant to foster it in Halba, northern Lebanon. I argue that humanitarian livelihood programming is 'neo-cosmetic', as the skills refugees acquire through humanitarian programmes turn out to be little more than a cosmetic accessory. While the humanitarian apparatus deliberately limits its action in order not to challenge host economies, the acquired skills do not practically enhance refugees' possibility to be employed. Instead, refugee self-reliance is reconfigured as the 'inter-ethnic promotion of host stability'. Relatedly, I propose that the aim of implementing social cohesion in multi-ethnic areas reveals a new ethnicization of care within the humanitarian system. Within this framework, the citizen practice of running hardware stores on a permanent basis coexists with the temporariness of refugee livelihood practices. Lastly, I rethink social membership in a refugee–host setting by adopting a practice-based approach to the research subjects in an effort to challenge the ethnic definitions of social groups and other pre-established forms of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I address the issue of 'refugee' denomination from the perspective of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon and argue that traditional representations of refugees shape negative interpretations of their own conditions, affect their wellbeing and constrain their abilities to move forward and build a dignified existence in exile. I identified four major areas in my respondents' perceptions of the term refugee: loss, balancing past life and present reality, humanitarianism and host communities. Apart from voicing the views of one of the most marginalized groups in society, this article highlights the connections between refugee representations, policy making and empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon poses an immense burden on the health system. A survey of Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities was conducted in early 2015 to characterize health-seeking behaviours and service access. A total of 1,376 refugee and 686 host community households were surveyed using cluster design with probability-proportional-to-size sampling. Access to health care and medication was worse among refugees as compared to the host community; the primary barrier to care in both groups was cost. Strengthening primary health services and educating communities about rational care-seeking and home treatment of mild illness may decrease heath costs and reduce the burden on the Lebanese health system. Health system reform towards universal health care for refugees and vulnerable Lebanese that is supported by the international community could help to ensure integration and provide less costly and more sustainable health services access for refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal institutions are increasingly recognized as a core concept in our understanding of the organization of socio-political life in refugee communities. This article contributes to this understanding by exploring the ways in which urban refugees in the Palestinian informal community, known as gathering, of Maashouk create, reconfigure and contest informal institutions in their quest to access basic urban services such as electricity, water, waste management and shelter maintenance. In particular, the findings generated through an innovative process mapping methodology suggest that informal institutions do not merely complement and challenge existing formal institutions, but also portend future ones. Formalization of service delivery, however, is complicated by the fact that current informality does not merely stem from residents' coping mechanisms, but also from Lebanese state officials' nascence of how to deal with people who are neither citizens nor residents of UN-administered refugee camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]