Article

The quest for socio-economic integration, for both forcibly displaced people and host communities, raises fundamental questions for all those involved in forced migration policy, practice and research about how displaced people can live with autonomy and dignity.

As emphasised by the Global Compact on Refugees and the UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement,[1] socio-economic integration is an essential springboard to a more sustainable approach. In tandem with essential humanitarian assistance, development policies that focus on meaningful social and economic inclusion can rebuild the lives of those forcibly displaced, while strengthening the communities in which they reside. Humanitarian assistance is critical in the first stages of displacement to save lives and foster stability. But ending displacement situations requires more than that. National and local governments need to make integration – or reintegration in the case of returnees – a priority.