Global commitments such as the Global Compact on Refugees call for the meaningful participation of displaced people in decisions about their lives. In the East and Horn of Africa, participation in practice remains largely state- and donor-driven. This study, commissioned by ReDSS, asks how displacement-affected communities and decision-makers understand meaningful participation, how that understanding translates into practice, what legal and political conditions enable or constrain it, and how actors can strengthen accountability to communities.
The research covered Addis Ababa, Kebribeyah and Qoloji in Ethiopia; Dadaab and Nairobi in Kenya; Kampala and Adjumani in Uganda; Nyarugusu and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; and State House and Hargeisa Central in Somaliland. It used key informant interviews, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, with deliberate inclusion of women, youth, persons with disabilities and elders.
The study finds a persistent gap between communities and institutions. Displacement-affected communities describe meaningful participation as shared decision-making, ownership and reciprocal dialogue, while committees, councils and consultation processes are often accountable upward to governments and agencies. Input given in consultations rarely leads to visible change, which erodes trust. Legal frameworks vary widely: Uganda and Kenya offer the most room for refugee-led collaboration, while Tanzania’s encampment policy keeps refugees at the lowest levels of participation. Refugee-led organisations, community dialogue traditions and culturally rooted accountability practices offer pathways forward.
The research team, from AFRO-ROAD, all have lived experience of displacement and served as authors, supervisors and data collectors. The report is relevant to governments, UN agencies, NGOs, donors and refugee-led organisations working to make participation in durable solutions processes count.
