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Highlights

[Regional Workshop] Municipalities at the Forefront of the Refugee Crisis

  • Starts: May 30, 2016
  • Ends: Jun 01, 2016
  • Location: Amman, Jordan, Kempinski Hotel
  • By: CMI, World Bank Group and UNHABITAT, with support of ACTED, GIZ, IRC, Medcities, UCLG MEWA
  • Photo: JRS / A. Ash
  • Lead Organizations

    Event organized by the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), the World Bank Group, and support by other partners (IRC, GIZ, UCLG-MEWA).

     

    Context

    Municipalities in the Mediterranean are at the forefront in providing assistance to migrants and refugees. While 60% of worldwide refugees live in cities, this figure amounts to 85% in the MENA region. Refugees share with the local communities, space, resources, employment and services, placing additional strain on local communities and overwhelmed public services. The urban nature of refugee influx poses a number of significant challenges to municipalities who had to mobilize extraordinary resources to respond to this unprecedented crisis, which often extends beyond local governments’ traditional responsibilities (education, employment, aid relief and emergency shelter, health, etc.). Conversely, lacking municipal service provision can generate tension and exacerbate the vulnerability of refugees and host communities while jeopardizing social cohesion.

     

    Rationale

    After consulting with a dozen of key development and humanitarian organizations working directly with host local governments, it appeared that while evidence of successful local experiences in managing refugee influx and hosting is still thin, local governments facing similar challenges would benefit from exchanging on their successes and failures.

     

    In this sense, this two-day workshop organized by the Center for Mediterranean Integration in collaboration with the World Bank Group aims at exchanging knowledge and good practices acquired by host communities and strengthening a coordination network among them.

     

    This event will refrain from focusing exclusively on challenges, where discussions between participant experts and representatives will be framed around the Syrian refugee crisis as an opportunity for host communities to improve infrastructure, services and governance systems, and to enhance the response capacity and resilience of local communities.

     

    Objectives

    In line with the Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan (3RP), this event will support local governments and authorities in managing the shock of refugee influx. The event will bring together technical staff and elected representatives from local governments, central government focal points for municipal affairs as well as local NGOs and community initiatives from the Mashreq and Turkey to share lessons learned and innovative practices and discuss concrete strategies.

     

    The peer-to-peer learning is designed to strengthen the resilience capacities and service delivery systems of local governments and authorities by:

     

    • Strengthening their response capacity through action-oriented exchanges and linking innovative policy development with national policies and international support.
    • Exchanging on innovative regional and international experiences and policies in support of refugees and IDPs, informed by the 3RP regional protection framework.
    • Reinforcing host communities’ economic, social, and institutional resilience by expanding economic and livelihood opportunities for refugee and vulnerable populations
    • Stimulate cross-country learning in and between Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and other MENA and European communities affected by the protracted crisis

     

    Resources

     

    Participants' Presentations

    Official Opening session: Welcoming Addresses and Introductory Remarks

    Host Communities at the Forefront of the Refugee Crisis – How to increase Resilience?

    Introduction to Thematic Session I: Intergovernmental frameworks and institutions of cooperation to improve local resilience to the refugee crisis

    Working Group I.1: Local governments at the forefront of strengthening local resilience: planning and implementing resilience policies at the local level

    Working Group I.2: Central and local government collaborations to improve services to refugees and migrants

    Working Group I.3: Developing sustainable financing for the provision of municipal services to refugees and citizens

    Introduction to Thematic Session II: Service Delivery and Preparedness of Local Governments, including in collaboration with non-governmental actors

    Working Group II.1: Innovations for mid-term housing and shelter solutions for refugees

     

    Working Group II.2: Innovative Collaborations between local governments, NGOs/CBOs and the private sector for services to citizens and refugees: leveraging the capabilities and resources of non-governmental actors

    Working Group II.3: Innovative solutions for improved waste management for citizens and refugees

    Introduction to Thematic Session III: Local Economic Development and Labor Market Integration

    Working Group III.1. Developing shared growth in areas affected by the refugee crisis: from national to local actions

    Working Group III.2. Increasing the absorption capacity of the host labor market and refugees’ access and capacities to enter it

    Working Group III.3: Developing the agricultural sector and jobs in rural communities affected by the Syrian refugee crisis

    Presentation: Bruno Minjauw, Lebanon Resilience & Liaison Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

    Introduction to Thematic Session IV: Building and strengthening social cohesion between refugees and host communities

    Working Group IV.1. Innovative examples on strengthening social cohesion: multi-service centers for vulnerable populations and collaborations between NGOs and municipalities

    Working Group IV.2. Coping with extreme refugee influx: developing best practices for building and maintaining peaceful co-existence

    Working Group IV.3. Non-violent approaches to conflict resolution in host communities: international experiences in conflict mediation

    Towards communities of practice: existing initiatives and follow-up to support host communities

     

    Media Round-Up

     

    Videos

     

     

     

     

    Photo Album