Cities for refugees: places of economic productivity, participation and wellbeing
This event on Tuesday, 6 December hosted by Geneva Cities Hub explored differences in livelihoods and wellbeing between refugees and internally displaced persons in camps and in urban areas.

Amman, Jordan (Photo: Ronald Woan via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
With a focus on refugee hosting in cities of East Africa and the Middle East, this event on Tuesday, 6 December included the first public presentation of emerging findings from a ground-breaking large-scale study comparing refugee wellbeing, livelihoods and enterprise in camps and urban areas.
‘Out of camp or out of site: realigning responses to protracted displacement in an urban world’ compares for the first time the livelihoods and wellbeing outcomes of refugees and internally displaced persons in camps and their counterparts in urban areas.
The project began in February 2020 and is funded by UK Aid, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Bernard van Leer foundation.
The research has amassed qualitative and quantitative data from around 4,500 refugees and hosts in Afghanistan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Jordan, and brought together municipal authorities with refugee-led organisations and service providers in Jalalabad, Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Amman.
About the speakers
- Patricia Barandun is head of migration and forced displacement at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
- Lucy Earle is director of IIED's Human Settlements research group
- Sam Saliba is head of practice of Mayors’ Migration Council and ‘Protracted displacement in an urban world’ technical advisor
- Susan Kimani is from youth affairs department of Nairobi County City government
- Marot Touloung Chadop is programme manager for the African Youth Action Network (Ayan), Kampala
- Anh Thu Duong (moderator) is co-director of Geneva Cities Hub
Event coverage
Watch a full recording of the event on the YouTube channel of the Geneva Cities Hub.
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