Comprehensive Refugee Responses in the Horn of Africa: Regional Leadership on Education, Livelihoods and Durable Solutions: Summary of Findings

This Summary Report provides the key findings and recommendations of a study carried out in 2019 which considered the implementation of the CRRF and IGAD initiatives in four countries: Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. Interviews were conducted in national capitals and in secondary cities and refugee settlements. We interviewed refugees, host

communities, civil society, district and county officials, national government staff, local and international nongovernmental organisation staff, and UN agency officials.

We argue that IGAD has been vital in helping to mobilise political attention and commitment for action on displacement issues. No other organisation in the region, or globally, has the ability to bring the countries of the Horn of Africa together around such an issue. The ‘political peer pressure’ that IGAD is able to exert through its regional diplomacy is a significant success story that is often overlooked in single-country studies or cross-country comparisons of CRRF implementation.

We look at the progress made in each of our study countries. While giving credit where it is due, we also critically examine the challenges that have been encountered, what has not worked so well, and what remains to be done in the coming months and years.