Displacement and Social Empowerment

Understanding the conditions under which displaced persons become actively engaged in social and political life is critical to building durable solutions to displacement. To do so, this paper analyzes original surveys that sample IDPs and similarly at-risk but not displaced populations in Iraq (2019), the Philippines (2010), and Uganda (2007 and 2010). Variation in the type and degree of engagement across contexts suggest that the relationship between displacement and empowerment is mediated by contextual factors. To better understand the mechanisms and grapple with the non-random nature of displacement, the analysis explores temporal variation in Uganda, where the relationships change over time within the same case, and use matching models in the Philippines and Iraq to explore whether differences in the displacement experience (urban v. rural, camp based versus non-camp-based displacement) influence levels of engagement. Displacement experience is positively associated with some manifestations of empowerment compared to control groups, but inconsistently across contexts. Finally, the paper explores heterogeneity among IDPs within cases based on the context of their dis-placement, finding a consistent negative association between camp-based displacement and perceptions of empowerment. The results have important implications for humanitarian policy in contexts of forced displacement.