Inclusive and targeted action for migrants and the urban displaced
By strengthening participatory governance, filling data gaps and promoting solidarity with local low-income communities, IIED aims to ensure that the needs of displaced populations are recognised and integrated into urban planning and service delivery.

Hamdi, an urban refugee from Somalia, sells tea on the streets of Eastleigh, Nairobi (Photo: Arete-Brian Ongoro/IIED)
Links between urban informality and migration are increasingly recognised. Migrants, internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees generally move towards urban areas, where economic opportunities are most available. They tend to seek accommodation in informal settlements, where rents are lowest.
Informal settlements are also attractive for those (forced) migrants without legal documentation, since they can negotiate informal rental agreements and live ‘under the radar’.
Their status can, however, make them vulnerable to extortion, and an absence of legal documentation and/or work permits may draw migrants and displaced people into exploitative and poorly paid work in the informal sector.
Living alongside other low-income people who are not migrants, they face the same issues with substandard housing, limited access to services and precarious livelihoods, but with the additional and varied difficulties that come with being a migrant or refugee.
Often the poorest of the poor, vulnerable migrants and displaced people may find themselves living in areas of informal settlements that are most exposed to climate hazards.
The challenge
There is growing recognition of the presence of forcibly displaced people in urban areas, and of the challenges they and other vulnerable migrants face in accessing services and achieving sustainable livelihoods.
However, there is little granular data on their experiences of living in informal settlements and working in the informal sector.
Understanding how their experiences differ (or not) from other low-income groups in towns and cities is critical to building solidarity and incorporating their needs into ongoing dialogue between organised groups of the urban poor, local governments and service providers.
IIED data from the informal settlements of Mathare and Kiambiu in Nairobi, Kenya, clearly show the differences between displaced people and hosts. Using a survey sample of 273 displaced people and 132 hosts, the displaced population earned less than hosts on average, were more likely to live in makeshift shelters, and less likely to be literate.
While both populations rated their own access to healthcare similarly, displaced respondents rated the general state of their health slightly lower than hosts. Among displaced respondents only 7% had access to some form of social protection, compared to 30% of hosts.
Another research project, focused on informal businesses in Nairobi, shows that while arbitrary arrests and bribe demands affect both locals and non-nationals, migrants who run businesses pay higher fees than Kenyans, especially in proportion to their lower incomes, and expect to be arrested more frequently.
Anecdotal evidence from interviews with urban refugees in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also suggests that refugees are charged higher rents and pay more than local neighbours for goods and services.
Research conducted by IIED in Mafraq in Jordan shows that refugees are more likely to live in households that are disconnected from WASH services, leaving them reliant on private water vendors and paying more for water access than connected neighbours.
In connected neighbourhoods, evidence shows that refugees are much less likely than hosts to contact municipalities or utility and service providers to raise complaints or to notify authorities when they don’t receive services, such as piped water.
Forcibly displaced people living in informal settlements often suffer from double exclusions: from humanitarian support on the one hand, and from city services or social security on the other.
In countries where encampment of refugees is the norm, choosing to settle in an urban area often equates to relinquishing support from international agencies. Additionally, IDPs and refugees are often excluded from national and local development plans, considered as temporary residents and/or falling under the remit of national security rather than ministries responsible for service delivery.
Where municipal populations increase exponentially as a result of a crisis, this often goes unrecognised by national governments, and does not translate into increased intra-governmental budget transfers. This makes it difficult for city authorities to address service access needs of new populations.
Social exclusion and the economic vulnerability of displaced people and low-income migrants means they are often the least well-equipped to anticipate or deal with climate-related challenges when these emerge. They are often living in the most hazard-prone areas of informal settlements.
Evidence from a recent research project (PDF) investigating climate risks and adaptation in low-income neighbourhoods in four African coastal cities shows that most migrants had moved several times before they arrived in their current neighbourhoods.
Additionally, migrants’ precarious livelihoods can render them ‘immobile’ -– unable to move to safer locations, and therefore more vulnerable to climate hazards.
Responses for transformation
IIED’s work to support displaced urban populations and vulnerable migrants is based on the principle of inclusion within existing governance mechanisms and support structures for the urban poor.
We recognise their additional needs and difficulties alongside those shared by all informal settlement residents. Together with our partners, we aim to do this by:
- Strengthening participatory action among urban displaced and migrant populations, by improving the representation of displaced people within existing platforms for dialogue and advocacy, and by creating new platforms to further their causes if adequate ones do not already exist. Such platforms can further serve as a coordination mechanism for organisations supporting urban displaced populations, who have different remits.
- Addressing data and information gaps on urban displacement and migration. When city authorities and service providers are not aware of displaced populations within their boundaries, it is difficult to address their needs.
For example, local authorities might need data to help them absorb new populations coming into the city as a result of climate shocks elsewhere. Community organisations need data on migration patterns into and within informal settlements, so they can share information that builds resilience among new arrivals and integrate them into programmes of support and advocacy for improved services.
- Promoting place-based approaches that are inclusive of displaced and migrant populations alongside local communities of urban poor.
Strengthening the voice of all informal settlement dwellers as a community with shared issues has the potential to build solidarity between different nationalities or ethnic groups and support local integration for migrants and displaced people.
Mobilising knowledge for impact
One of IIED’s core partners, Slum Dwellers International (SDI), has a long history of mobilising savings groups and leading enumerations and profiling to inform development interventions for communities in informal settlements.
These processes ensure local people’s views and knowledge are taken into account in upgrading processes.
While not closed to displaced people or other migrants, these groups have rarely been purposefully included. Mobilising newer residents of informal settlements will take effort, but it may help uncover previously unrecognised forms of discrimination and marginality, and ensure that these inform plans to upgrade services and infrastructure.
The place-based approach inherent in participatory local planning stands in contrast to a humanitarian status-based approach that singles out vulnerable migrants and displaced people as individuals in need of protection and assistance.
The place-based approach could be extended to non-citizens, or recent internal migrants, and has the potential to contribute to better integration, as well as reduce exposure to hazards in a more inclusive manner.
By increasing connections between long-term residents and newer arrivals, it could potentially challenge politically-motivated animosity towards migrants and displaced people.

Research assistant Ala'a Omoush conducting research with urban displaced households in Mafraq City, Jordan (Photo: Deena Dajani, IIED)
In Kampala, Uganda, IIED has worked with the local SDI-affiliate ACTogether and the refugee-led organisation African Youth Action Network (AYAN) to include the participation of displaced people within local community-based governance structures.
Aiming to create sustainable participatory governance from settlement level up to district and city levels, partners created community-level committees for urban refugees, with elected representatives trained on how to take issues forward within existing city governance structures.
Local community leaders were also engaged, and the project revealed a need for further engagement between locals and urban refugees to improve their understanding of one another, their shared issues and how these could be raised up the chain within decision-making forums.
In Nairobi, Kenya, findings from IIED-led research on the challenges facing urban refugees were presented in participatory forums, led by our partner SDI-Kenya. These forums included refugee representatives, INGOs and community-based organisations as well as representatives of national and municipal government.
SDI’s ongoing work with Nairobi City County Government has led to further engagement as they set out to design Nairobi County’s first urban refugee strategy, informed by data from IIED and partners’ research.
Lessons can be drawn from these two examples to inform engagements in other refugee-hosting cities. The key is to build inclusive engagement within existing governance structures and to cover issues faced by displaced communities as well as other low-income urban groups, furthering participation and recognition for all.
Action agenda
- Civil society and social movements should actively seek to mobilise migrants and displaced people into existing local forums, so that their experiences can feed into neighbourhood and city planning processes – particularly related to informal settlement upgrading and basic service provision.
This will require mobilising migrant populations, through new or existing structures of representatives, as well as language-inclusive decision-making processes.
- Municipal actors must recognise the presence of migrants and displaced people in city strategies and planning processes, and proactively help them overcome the barriers and discrimination that they face in their daily lives.
This will require seeking out information about relevant populations and their needs, conducting necessary outreach activities, and ensuring that migrant communities are represented in any consultations undertaken.
- Researchers should support these processes by building greater understanding of migrants’ and displaced people’s lives, livelihoods and continued mobility within informal settlements.
This will require actively addressing data gaps on the lived realities of migrant communities, assessing the data needs of municipal governments to better serve them, and equipping migrant and low-income communities with the information they need to further their own causes.
Authors

Lucy Earle is director of IIED's Human Settlements research group, working in the urban crisis and forced displacement team, Her work focuses on the intersections of urbanisation, urban poverty and humanitarian crises, in particular forced displacement into and within urban areas.

Boel McAteer is a researcher on urban crisis and forced displacement. Her research interests are focused on gender and refugee livelihoods, and particularly the operationalisation of concepts such as self-reliance and decent work in through humanitarian and development support in settings of long-term urban displacement.

Deena Dajani is a senior researcher in the urban crisis and forced displacement team. She has conducted ethnographic and participatory research with refugee and migrant populations in East Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and worked on multi-disciplinary projects building partnerships with civil society to work towards more inclusive urban spaces.