Refugee Finance: Histories, Frameworks, Practices

Over the last decade, following a general decline in aid from traditional bilateral and multilateral donors, the international community has dramatically changed the way in which it seeks to fund humanitarian responses to refugee flows, with an increasing reliance on 'refugee finance'. Refugee finance is the term used to refer to new financial instruments aimed at attracting private capital: refugee bonds, technical assistance funds and concessional loans. These instruments are promoted by international organizations, international financial institutions and states as inevitable solutions to the societal challenges raised by large-scale refugee flows. However, we know very little about the socio-economic, legal and financial implications of this paradigmatic shift 'from funding to financing'. Refugee finance has the potential to dramatically affect not only the refugee funding paradigm, but also the economy of the countries hosting refugees, and the way in which international refugee protection itself is conceptualized and implemented. According to its proponents, refugee finance promises to ensure refugees' resilience and self-reliance, whilst at the same time supporting the economic development of the host communities. There is, however, insufficient evidence to support these promises and a limited understanding of how these financial instruments operate. REF-FIN will advance both theoretical and practical knowledge of the political, financial and legal processes enabling refugee finance, and of its longer-term socio-economic implications through a comprehensive study of its frameworks practices and emerging patterns.