Publication: Social Cohesion and Refugee-Host Interactions: Evidence from East Africa
Date
2022-01
ISSN
Published
2022-01
Author(s)
Betts, Alexander
Stierna, Maria Flinder
Omata, Naohiko
Sterck, Olivier
Abstract
Building upon the literature on
contact theory, this paper explores the role of inter-group
interaction in shaping social cohesion between refugees and
host communities in East Africa. It draws upon first-hand
quantitative (n=16,608) and qualitative data collected from
refugees and nearby host communities in urban and camp-like
contexts in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Focusing on the
Uganda data, OLS regressions reveal a positive and
significant correlation between refugee-host interaction and
the perception of hosts towards refugees. This association
disappears when an instrumental variable (IV) approach is
used to address endogeneity issues, except when only data
from the urban context is used. The analysis of
cross-country data highlights further differences in the
types of interaction and perception that matter between
urban and camp-like contexts. It also suggests that
ethno-linguistic proximity between refugee and host
populations is associated with more positive attitudes. In
all contexts, an important part of attitude formation
appears to take place at the intra-group level, within
households and immediate neighbourhoods, independently of
individual interaction with the out-group. The paper
proposes a series of policy recommendations to improve
refugee-host social cohesion, with different approaches
required in urban and camp-like contexts.
Citation
“Betts, Alexander; Stierna, Maria Flinder; Omata, Naohiko; Sterck, Olivier. 2022. Social Cohesion and Refugee-Host Interactions: Evidence from East Africa. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9917. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36918 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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