From humanitarian aid by wealthy governments to remittances from diaspora communities, responses to forced displacement are shaped by funding from an array of actors. In recent years, new actors and new financing approaches have emerged. At the same time, traditional government-led and community mutual aid financing sources are evolving, and there is a growing movement towards the localisation of funding that has generated vital discussions about the relationship between funding and power. 

What do these shifts mean for forcibly displaced people and displacement response strategies? How does displacement response financing interact with the choices of forcibly displaced people and their communities, with local and global economies, and with broader geopolitical events and trends? The ‘Financing displacement response’ issue of Forced Migration Review advances understanding of these questions and others. 

New financing actors and their interests

The authors in this issue discuss sources of displacement response financing, and how the interests of these funding sources impact refugees and displaced people. Merve Edilmen considers the impact of Gulf donors’ funding on programmes to empower refugee women in Türkiye, while Frederike Onland and Mohammad Abu Srour discuss the benefits and limitations of crowdfunding for Palestinian organisations who struggle to access institutional financing. Davia Davitti and co-authors consider the opportunities and drawbacks of refugee bonds by looking at a case study from Finland. 

Funding for refugee-led organisations

Several articles discuss the benefits of financing refugee-led organisations (RLOs) and the challenges RLOs face in accessing funding. Alya Al-Mahdi and co-authors make a strong case for the cost-efficiency, sustainability and effectiveness of RLOs in Egypt and explain how donors could make funding more accessible. Thomas Gillman and co-authors discuss the process of setting up the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees’ pooled fund to enable more RLOs to access funding, and Barri Shorey and co-authors reflect on their experience of refugee-lens investing, connecting investors with businesses that support improvements in the lives of refugees.

Climate-related finance

Financing for displacement related to climate change is another key topic in this issue. Christelle Cazabat and co-authors consider the role that multilateral development banks can play in solutions to disaster displacement through investments in mitigation, climate adaptation and infrastructure. Ileana Sînziana Pușcaș and Lorenzo Guadagno discuss developments in the rollout of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, and the opportunity it represents to increase the climate finance streams that support work on human mobility. 

Cost effectiveness 

Several articles consider questions of resource allocation: what should scarce funding for forced displacement response be spent on? Sebastián Chaskel and co-authors explain how results-based financing has been used to successfully implement programmes aimed at the socio-economic integration of forced migrants in Colombia, while Cláudio Antônio Klaus Júnior describes how efforts to integrate Venezuelan refugees in Brazil have been financed through NGOs and public-private partnerships. Lucy Earle and co-authors reflect on the lack of transparency in where and how humanitarian WASH funding is spent on Syrian refugees in Jordan, while Ciaran Donnelly and Reva Dhingra outline key principles for humanitarian organisations making difficult choices about which populations to reach.

The impacts of lack of funding for forced displacement response

Other articles discuss the impacts of lack of funding, or precarious funding, for displacement response. Abdullah Ali Abbou outlines how international sanctions limit the ability of aid agencies to support civilians in Syria. Rémy Kalombo explains how humanitarian actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo are forced to compromise on quality and coverage, making it harder for displaced people to rebuild their lives. Finally, Frowin Rausis and co-authors consider the funding challenges the UN refugee agencies face as they navigate a vulnerable funding structure dependent on a small number of donor States. 

There isn’t space here to mention all 25 articles in the issue, but we hope this overview of key themes inspires you to delve in and read them all. We’d like to thank all our authors every one of whom put in a huge amount of work to share their insights and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for their partnership on this issue. We’d also like to thank our reviewers, Bahati Kanyamanza, Helidah Ogude-Chambert, Lauren Post Thomas, Barri Shorey, Andhira Yousif Kara and Leah Zamore, and our author mentor Kinan Alajak, for contributing their knowledge and expertise to the process of choosing and refining articles. The result is an issue of FMR which we believe will catalyse dialogue amongst those involved in financing decisions and lead to positive change for forcibly displaced people.

Forced Migration Review brings together diverse, knowledgeable authors – especially those with lived experience of forced displacement – to foster practical learning and discussion that can improve outcomes for forcibly displaced people. The magazine is housed in the Refugee Studies Centre within ODID and is accessible to a global audience in English, Arabic, French and Spanish, online and in print.

There will be an online launch event for the ‘Financing displacement response’ issue of Forced Migration Review on Thursday 12 December from 1-2pm, with speakers:

• Caitlin Sturridge, ODI, UK (moderator)
• Alya Al Mahdi, St Andrew’s Refugee Service, Egypt
• Mohammad Azizul Hoque, Centre for Peace and Justice, Bangladesh
• Martha Guerrero Ble, Refugees International, United States
• Sara Arapiles, Lund University, Sweden

Please register to attend.