Challenges to Building and Sustaining Livelihoods for Urban Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Service Delivery
The context of forced migration is rapidly shifting, with over half of the world’s 10.5 million refugees now living in urban areas compared to only 13% a decade ago. Urban South Africa is a major destination for refugees across sub-Saharan Africa. These refugees typically rely on an informal economy and face a daunting range of obstacles, such as lack of documentation and xenophobia. In this context, the needs of the forcibly displaced are not well understood, nor are humanitarian responses well organized and integrated. The purpose of this study is to contribute to an understanding of this changing field, by exploring the context of urban refugees’ lives in Gauteng Province, South Africa, the challenges they perceive in generating and sustaining income, and their self-reported quality of life.
Methods
Participants (N=50) were randomly selected from a population of urban refugees in Gauteng Province, South Africa, who received services from an NGO over a period of 1.5 years. Participants completed 2 surveys and participated in a semi-structured interview which lasted 45-60 minutes. The first survey was used to collect demographic, household, and employment information. The second survey was adapted from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) brief Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL-BREF). For qualitative analysis, researchers followed a thematic analysis of assigned codes to transcribed data, using open and axial coding, to produce a grounded theory of the lived experience of urban refugees. Three researchers reviewed data independently and together to develop and cluster codes into themes for analysis. For quantitative analysis, demographic information and quality of life indicators and domains were examined using univariate statistics.
Findings
The context of urban refugees’ lives is characterized by a chronic state of insecurity, daily struggles for subsistence, psychosocial issues like depression and interpersonal violence, and vulnerability to police raids and theft of goods. Refugees’ face significant challenges in sustaining their businesses and generating income within an environment of heightened risk. With a high cost of living and competing priorities for expenses, refugee business owners often rely on business profits for personal expenditures rather than for business sustainability. Refugees’ lack of resources makes it difficult to set up a business in a place that will likely generate substantial profit, while staying competitive. A majority of respondents indicated they were not currently working (63.3%) while 32.6% reported having consistent employment. On average, only 1 person in the family earned an income from a job in the past 6 months, and most households (90.0%) did not obtain income from any other source, such as from family or friends. Average QoL ratings were below norms, with measures of environmental well-being being the worst.
Conclusion and Implications
Findings from this study and from existing literature point to several recommendations for service delivery to this population. Programs need to account for refugees’ level of vulnerability and their most pressing needs as well as providing a package of supports that address a clients’ particular living situation. The context of urban refugees demands organizational responses characterized by innovation and flexibility.