MoRR Policy Review Workshop 13-14 December 2011 Presentation by Susanne Schmeidl ( TLO ) Nassim Majidi ( Samuel Hall

1. Returnee Reintegration: Knowledge Gaps Summing Up MoRR Policy Review Workshop 13-14 December 2011 Presentation by Susanne Schmeidl (TLO ) Nassim Majidi (Samuel Hall ) 1

2. Knowledge gaps “The nature of reality is this: It is hidden, and it is hidden, and it is hidden.” – Rumi

3. KNOWLEDGE GAPS What does reintegration mean in Afghanistan today? “What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.” – Margaret Mead • WHERE returnees really are? Returnee monitoring – rural and urban • WHO returnees really are? Going beyond a policy category: timing of return • WHAT has been their return experience? Changing social environments • WHAT returnees are currently doing? Multiple push, pull, coping strategies • HOW do they perceive their reintegration process? Subjective indicators • HOW do they see their future? What are the scenarios?

4. Practical Gaps / Research Needs

5. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 1. Profiling of Key Returnee Areas: Trying to Unpack Trends of Return Migration and Displacement • Secondary displacement • New trends of internal displacement (IDP trends) • Trends of anticipatory migration patterns (Dubai, India, Europe etc.) • Labour migration and mixed migration trends • Migration smuggling • Trafficking • Unaccompanied minors in the West

6. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 2. Profiling of Underserved Key Returnee Areas • Comparison of returnees vs. host populations • Build on World Bank study on informal settlements in Kabul, extend to major urban areas • See returnees as part of a whole • How is “parity” understood and defined? • An economic framework for understanding welfare parity • Referring to other studies – e.g. report on reintegration in Burundi

7. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 3. Improving Understanding of Returnee-Migration Nexus • Return does not (and cannot) equal staying put • What are returnees’ own migration choices / coping strategies? • Understanding re-integration for Kuchis: double-edged sword • Forcing them to stay put , or • Forcing to resume nomadic lifestyle? • Understanding re-integration for other minorities: stateless people, e.g. Jogi communities

8. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 4. Behind Protection: Core Protection Priorities for Afghan Returnees & IDPs • What are the key protection concerns? • Efforts to establish a protection monitoring system • What are the protection concerns that can be assessed and that can be followed-up on concretely? • How can response to protection issues be organized and coordinated?

9. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 5. Land and reintegration: Taking stock • Proper assessment about LAS • Feasibility of return to certain areas (e.g. Pashtuns in the North) • Revising current LAS policy for areas of origin only • Overall understanding of recent land-grabbing, tenure security etc.

10. Practical Gaps and Research Needs • 6. Adequate Assessment of National Programs • NSP, NABDP, NSDP etc. • How are they (indirectly) facilitating sustainable return and reintegration? • How are they contributing? • How could they contribute? • How to work through them or possibly reform them to perform better? • Cooperation of Afghan Ministries (MoRR, MRRD, MUDH etc.)

11. Methodology Gaps “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” – Albert Einstein

12. METHODOLOGY GAPS How can we reliably portray returnee realities? • Direct data gathering • Dynamic – longitudinal – research • Growing divide between quantitative and qualitative methods • Desk Review and Peer Review

13. Contacts Nassim Majidi, Director, Samuel Hall Consulting nassim.majidi@samuelhall.org , Tel +93797978206 Susanne Schmeidl, Head Research/Peacebuilding, The Liaison Office (TLO) susanne.schmeidl@tlo-afghanistan.org, Tel +93797367435