Last week, it was my privilege to accompany the twelve IDRC Research Chairs on Forced Displacement to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in Geneva. Organized by UNHCR, the goal of the GRF is to get member states to make pledges to help refugees, both within their countries and abroad. In the past, the role of refugees, displaced persons, stateless persons, academics, non-governmental organizations, and others has been very much relegated to second place compared to states, who UNHCR correctly sees as the key to improving global refugee policy. Governments, however, are not very good at coming up with new ideas on their own, and often lack the knowledge and expertise to formulate better policy. In short, an event like the GRF needs to move beyond statements by member states to highlight fresh ideas and perspectives.

This year, UNHCR has clearly recognized this need, bringing hundreds of persons with lived experience to the event and giving them speaking roles, alongside making space for the vital insights and expertise of academia, NGOs and others. The IDRC Research Chairs, however, brought something unique: an academic perspective from the Global South, with a focus on evidence-based research and policy solutions that is often lacking within the NGO and activist communities, and a voice from the regions and countries most affected by displacement, which is often missing from academia. It was this unique combination of authenticity and rigor that really highlighted the power of localized academic networks like the IDRC Research Chairs Network on Forced Displacement

Some highlights included interim Morocco Chair Amal El Ouassif introducing the Chairs Network to outgoing Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs and explaining what South-South academic research and networking can mean to our collective understanding of forced displacement, as well as how it can be used as tool by UNHCR to find innovative and evidence-based durable solutions, something that is lacking in today’s policy debates. Chair Paula Banerjee met with the UNHCR Statelessness Unit to discuss next steps for the emerging Global Alliance on statelessness, and Chair Nyi Nyi Kyaw moderated an event at the Refugee Impact Hub, on Collaborating with academic partners to advance refugee-led advocacy: Tips, tricks and networks.

Tanzania Chair Opportuna Kweka made an intervention at Academic Workshop on Evidence-based implementation of the GCR: What role for academia?, moderated by IDRC Research Chairs Abebaw Minaye and Luisa Feline Freier, where she discussed the impact that localization can have on the legitimacy and rigor of field research on forced displacement. The workshop allowed for a conversation between the IDRC Research Chairs and the UNHCR de Mello Chairs, along with other academics based in the Global South, providing a unique opportunity for South-South academic exchange.

Thailand Chair Paula Banerjee gave remarks at the High-Level Side Event “Shifting Power,” at which IDRC President Julie Delahanty also spoke. This event, co-organized by the governments of Brazil and Canada, provided a unique forum for Professor Banerjee discussed the need for franker and more open acknowledgement of the role of racism and discrimination in driving forced displacement, and the need to adopt a truly gender transformative lens at every level of research and policy.
Other highlights included Lebanon Chair Fouad M. Fouad speaking at the High-level side event: Middle East and North Africa Solutions, and Chairs Hiram Angel and Opportuna Kweka intervening in two other side events on climate action and localization. Dr. Angel read the Chairs’ Call to Action on Climate Displacement to the room of diplomats and affected persons.

Finally, taking advantage of being able to meet in person, the Chairs had a three-hour brainstorming session, planning for the next phase of the Network, which will include innovative and unique collaborative research. With the Chairs Network stilly in its first year, it was truly amazing to see the impact already felt at the global level, and I know that many actors are looking forward to what the Chairs will accomplish in the next five years, and what an impact they will make at the next GRF.

“De los 7,3 millones de venezolanos que se han visto obligados a abandonar su país, más del 80% vive en América Latina y el Caribe”.

Also, an article was published quoting the IDRC Research Chair in Peru on the need for greater regional cooperation and less securitization of borders, both to better manage migration and to support the rights of migrating people in the Americas:

Research Chairs and colleagues, with IDRC and ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University staff and professors, in Dar es-Salaam

To the casual observer, this gathering of academics may have looked like just another ivory tower workshop, long on talk and short on new ideas. A closer look would reveal something truly unique: a frank debate about forced displacement between experts based in countries like Mexico, Thailand, Lebanon and Burkina Faso. A debate that was taking place in Tanzania, another country with a lot at stake when it comes to displacement. The conversation was held with no filter and absent the heavy hand of donors or northern academics with fixed agendas, from countries where the crisis is always far away, and migration is always something to be “managed.” Here was a genuine attempt to peel back the usual layers of gatekeepers and sub-grantees from the Global North and let experts from Morocco, Ethiopia and Ghana discuss the usefulness of international policy spaces like the Global Refugee Forum to Africa, or how to address the increased securitization of migration in Africa.

If the conversation was frank, getting everyone together wasn’t always easy. Visa problems are a constant reality for academics from countries in the Global South, even when travelling to other Global South countries. Flights often transit through Europe or the Gulf, adding hugely to the cost and travel time. Finding quality translation in certain languages can be expensive and difficult. The lack of academic journals based in Global South universities can make it hard to find a home for conference proceedings outside of the Global North. These are not simply logistical challenges, they represent facets of our colonized world that, like a vortex, pulls academic conferences, workshops, and publications inevitably towards the Global North. Over the next few years, the Chairs will be embarking on an innovative plan of co-authored and co-designed research projects, alongside a series of webinars, conferences, workshops and events, in multiple languages and across multiple continents. These activities will test the limits of technology in our interconnected world, and highlight the flaws and gaps in the current academic system.

What does the localization of forced migration research really mean? It means letting the real experts speak and actually listening to what they have to say. It means giving money for research without needing to control the outcome. It means being willing to let that research change your mind. It means having a conversation in a language other than English. It means recognizing the vital roles of teambuilding and egalitarian debate, when western academia is modeled on competition and complex social hierarchies about who speaks and who listens. Yet this is not to say that donors and northern academics have no role to play. Quite the contrary. Canada’s International Development Centre and ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University facilitated the workshop, but we were there to listen and support, not dictate or dominate. The workshop agenda was set by the Research Chairs, the conversation was led by them, and the message, for once, was loud, clear, and unfiltered: Localization doesn’t just mean having a seat at the table, it means having all the seats.