Laura Hammond, Caitlin Sturridge, Kalyango Ronald Sebba, Michael Owiso, Mohamed Mahdi, Farah Manji, and Abdinasir Ali Osman
In support of the delivery of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in the Horn of Africa, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been playing a central role. IGAD took the lead in bringing together its 7 members’ heads of state in March 2017 to agree a Comprehensive Approach to Durable Solutions on the Somali Refugee Situation. This agreement was subsequently expanded to encompass all refugees in the region, regardless of their country of origin. Following this, two technical meetings and ministerial summits brought member states together on the themes of Education (held in Djibouti in December 2017) and Jobs and Livelihoods (held in Kampala in March 2019). The Declarations that resulted from these two summits have sought to establish principles of best practice and concrete commitments on the part of hosting countries to taking a common approach to supporting displacement-affected communities. The technical meetings were a first step in turning those political commitments into realities, first through the development of appropriate policy and legislation and then through the elaboration of action plans and localisation processes. These meetings have also helped to foster cross-regional sharing of best practice and provided member states with milestones to aim for.
This Summary Report provides the key findings and recommendations of a study carried out in 2019 which considered the implementation of the CRRF and IGAD initiatives in four countries: Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. Interviews were conducted in national capitals and in secondary cities and refugee settlements. We interviewed refugees, host communities, civil society, district and county officials, national government staff, local and international nongovernmental organisation staff, and UN agency officials.
We argue that IGAD has been vital in helping to mobilise political attention and commitment for action on displacement issues. No other organisation in the region, or globally, has the ability to bring the countries of the Horn of Africa together around such an issue. The ‘political peer pressure’ that IGAD is able to exert through its regional diplomacy is a significant success story that is often overlooked in single-country studies or cross-country comparisons of CRRF implementation.
We look at the progress made in each of our study countries. While giving credit where it is due, we also critically examine the challenges that have been encountered, what has not worked so well, and what remains to be done in the coming months and years.
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