By Jed Fix, Florence Nimoh, and Olive Nsababera
© UNHCR/Charity Nzomo
The East, Horn and Great Lakes of Africa region (EHAGL), which includes Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, hosts an estimated 5.2 million refugees and asylum-seekers (Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2023). This represents about 14% of the global total, a significant figure that is far higher than the region’s 5% share of the world’s population. Most of these refugees and asylum seekers come from Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. Additionally, the region hosts 16.7 million internally displaced persons and nearly 580,000 refugee returnees.
There has been progress in responsibility sharing and promoting self-reliance among refugees and host communities, but the rapidly growing needs are outpacing these efforts, and more must be done to address the challenges facing forcibly displaced populations in the region.
The recent Fragility Forum and Global Refugee Forum offered numerous actionable recommendations, and World Refugee Day events highlighted ways to spur economic development for refugees and host communities. In this blog post, we look at some trends in the EHAGL region, the potential for the right policies to drive change, and the crucial role of socioeconomic data in making this possible.
Source: UNHCR Refugee Data Finder
Humanitarian needs in fragile and conflict settings are outpacing contributions
According to the latest OECD data, donors contributed US$2.7 billion for hosting refugees in the EHAGL region in 2020-21. While significant, these resources are insufficient to meet the growing emergencies and needs. The conflict in Sudan alone has displaced nearly 9 million people in the past year, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
From 2020-2022, Official Development Assistance (ODA) for fragile contexts dropped by over 10%, with more funds directed to donors’ domestic spending on hosting refugees, mainly due to the war in Ukraine. Around 58% of ODA financing for refugee situations in EHAGL was for humanitarian purposes, 33% for development, and 4% for peace, with shares ranging from mainly development (80% in Djibouti) to primarily humanitarian (100% in Eritrea).
Over half (56%) of all funding was spent on emergency response, reflecting a trend toward short-term assistance. About 60% of the funding went to the top three refugee hosts—Uganda (30%), Ethiopia (16%) and Sudan (13%)—though this did not translate into higher investment per refugee in these countries. Sudan remains the most underfunded among the top hosting countries.
Source: OECD 2020-21 Refugee Situations Financing Survey
Source: OECD 2020-21 Refugee Situations Financing Survey
Source: Author calculation, OECD 2020-21 Refugee Situations Financing Survey
To enhance and sustain self-reliance, start by reducing employment barriers and prioritising education
The limited assistance highlights the critical need to ensure that refugees and displaced persons can fully engage in host countries’ social and economic life.
Harmonized data from the World Bank demonstrates the immense work still to be done. Forcibly displaced populations in all regions except Latin America are much less likely than host populations to be employed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the employment gap between adult male refugees and host community members is 26 percentage points, and for adult females, it is 20 percentage points.
Addressing these gaps requires a focus on enabling factors such as rights to work, freedom of movement within the host country, and access to public services like education and health services.
The 2023 UNHCR Global Survey on Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion reveals the magnitude of the work that remains in these areas. More than two-thirds of forcibly displaced populations in the EHAGL region face significant challenges when they try to pursue formal employment, open financial accounts, or register and access land for business.
Common barriers to formal employment include permit requirements, high local unemployment, administrative and practical restrictions, the lack of freedom of movement, and limited knowledge about hiring refugees. For women, childcare, household responsibilities, and gender norms are significant barriers.
Additionally, both refugees and hosts struggle to access education. The 2023 Global Compact Indicators Report shows that refugees can attend school under the same conditions as nationals in 8 of 10 countries at the primary level and 7 of 10 countries at the secondary level. About 70% of refugees and host community children aged 6-12 attend school, while fewer than 20% of adults have completed primary school.
Source: 2023 UNHCR Global Survey on Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion
Source: World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice, June 2023 (Brief 1)
Source: World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice, June 2023 (Brief 1)
How should this inform the path forward—and how can quality data help?
The Fragility Forum 2024 spotlighted adaptation, resilience, and innovation across government, private sector, and civil society. Similarly, the Global Refugee Forum rallied coalitions of actors to support host communities and enable refugees to lead productive lives—over 1,600 pledges were made, including US$2.2 billion in government-led multi-partner commitments largely for economic inclusion, social protection, and education.
Quality data is crucial for guiding these investments, targeting those most in need, facilitating longer-term development goals, and measuring impacts. The World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center (JDC) on Forced Displacement’s recent newsletterhighlights how the data landscape is transforming across EHAGL. Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda are including, or plan to include, refugees in national surveys and statistics. Burundi’s upcoming 2024 census will include refugees, while South Sudan’s first consolidated household survey, the Forced Displacement Survey, will generate vital data to meet the protection needs of the population. In Somalia, phone surveys amid drought reveal worsening food insecurity and declining livestock herds, devastating the pastoralist economy. The JDC’s Digest further examines efforts to expand opportunities for forcibly displaced persons and identifies areas needing further research.
We must continue investing in data collection and analysis to support refugees and host communities in the EHAGL region.
The role of data cannot be overstated. Investing in data collection and analysis is necessary to understand the challenges facing forcibly displaced populations and host communities, effectively target interventions, and measure the impact of these efforts. Let us work together to ensure productive lives for refugees and host communities in the EHAGL region.
The authors thank Zara Sarzin for her insights. This article, with adaptations, was first published on the World Bank Data Blog.