Enhancing refugee resettlement capacity requires improved coordination among stakeholders and better engagement with subnational actors

BRUSSELS — Refugee resettlement programs globally are facing tough times. Resettlement numbers were dramatically cut during the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 34,400 refugee admissions in 2020 as compared to 107,800 the year before. Additionally, large-scale displacement crises, including in Ukraine and Afghanistan, have diverted resources and attention away from resettlement programs towards emergency responses. Less visibly, longstanding difficulties establishing coordination and communication among the governments, international organizations, civil society and community groups involved in resettling refugees is constraining much-needed growth and improvement of existing resettlement programs, a new Migration Policy Institute Europe report finds.

With a record 35.3 million refugees worldwide as of the start of this year, resettlement programs face significant challenges keeping up with the escalating needs for protection. Despite acknowledgment by key actors such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Union and select resettlement countries, progress in increasing annual resettlement numbers and the list of countries willing to resettle refugees has largely stalled or even eroded.

The report, Improving Stakeholder Coordination in Refugee Resettlement: A Path to More Effective, Inclusive Programs, highlights the critical need and role for effective coordination among stakeholders at international, national, regional and local levels to overcome obstacles and promote the enhancement and expansion of resettlement efforts. It stresses the importance of seamless coordination and communication for improving the efficiency and sustainability of resettlement programs, enhancing refugee support and integration outcomes and unlocking opportunities for program expansion.

From setting admission numbers and selecting refugees to facilitating pre-departure procedures, placement within host countries and integration support, stakeholders must work together cohesively—a concept that is widely embraced but lacking in ideas on how to execute. The report fills this gap by drawing lessons from older and newer resettlement programs, as well as from emergency protection responses to displacement from Afghanistan and Ukraine, to offer specific examples of effective coordination practices that can improve communication. The analysis draws on interviews with stakeholders primarily from Argentina, Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

The report identifies several key coordination challenges, including the difficulty determining which stakeholders should be involved in resettlement planning and implementation, how inclusive these systems should be and what role subnational actors should have in decision-making processes. The lack of attention to local capacities and the absence of effective communication between local and national authorities can result in unrealistic admissions quotas, inadequate service delivery and difficulties integrating refugees into communities. Divergent goals among stakeholders, political shifts impacting resettlement priorities and capacity challenges further complicate coordination efforts.

The report offers practical strategies to address these challenges, including establishing consultation mechanisms and proactive outreach to include subnational authorities in decision-making processes; investing in awareness raising, training and guidance for local actors to ensure their active and informed participation in resettlement; and securing sufficient funding for multilevel coordination that involves subnational actors in resettlement efforts, reinforcing their pre-arrival preparedness and post-arrival integration service delivery.

‘Without more effective multilevel communication and coordination, resettlement programs will find it difficult to maintain their current capacity, let alone enhance refugee integration outcomes and make good on promises to expand operations’, the report concludes.

Read the report here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/coordination-refugee-resettlement.

For more of MPI Europe’s work, visit www.mpieurope.org.