Social Cohesion and Forced Displacement Contexts: A Desk Review to Inform Programming and Project Design

As situations of forced displacement become more protracted, understanding how it affects social relations has become pertinent for host governments and other development actors.

This study reviews existing academic literature and practice to better understand how to target and design policy and operations for displaced persons in ways that do not exaggerate social tensions.

Grappling with how we conceptualize the term “social cohesion” is the point of departure for the review. The study finds that lack of clarity around the term is pervasive and there is variability in how the concept is deployed and understood.