Invest in cities, not camps: improving refugee support

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support is vital for the health and wellbeing of refugees around the world.

But an IIED-led project in Jordan found that investing in sustainable WASH provision in a refugee-hosting neighbourhood would cost less than half as much as similar investments in refugee camps, last up to three times as long and service more than three times as many people.

We also found a lack of transparency and accountability within the United Nations (UN) system over how and where it spends humanitarian resources on refugees.

This briefing calls on donors and refugee-hosting governments to move away from unsustainable encampment policies and instead help towns and cities absorb refugees by improving service provision for all.

We also call on them and humanitarian agencies to be more transparent about how and where they invest resources.