Hosting New Neighbors: Perspectives of Host Communities on Social Cohesion in Eastern DRC

World Bank, Phuong Pham, O’Mealia,Thomas, Carol Wei, Kennedy Kihangi Bindu, Anupah Makoond and Patrick Thierry Vinck

No 10099, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Situations of forced displacement create unique challenges for social cohesion because of the major disruption of social dynamics among both displaced persons and host communities. This paper uses a sequential mixed method approach to analyze the relationship between hosting displaced persons and perceptions of social cohesion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. First, participatory research methods in focus groups empowered participants to produce a locally driven definition of social cohesion. The results from these exercises inform the quantitative assessment by dictating measurement strategies when analyzing original surveys. Combining almost 50,000 responses to 11 cross-sectional surveys between 2017 and 2021, displacement is negatively associated with perceptions of social cohesion in aggregate. But at the individual level, those who report hosting displaced populations in their communities often have higher perceptions of social cohesion. These results are strongest among respondents who self-report hosting IDPs as opposed to refugees, but important heterogeneity across indicators, local context, and gender should guide policy meant to promote social cohesion in forced displacement.

Date: 2022-06-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/09900510 ... 30c04d1e2aa727f4.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10099

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().