Winners and Losers among a Refugee-Hosting Population

Every year,thousands of people are forced to leave their countries in a desperate attempt to find a safe haven because their lives are threatened by civil conflicts. At the end of 2010,the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2011) reported 10.5 million refugees in the world,of which 2.2million originated from sub-Saharan Africa.In contrast to some popular ideas,the majority of these refugees do not arrive in the industrialized world;most are hosted by the countries that neighbor their own.The media and host governments often pressure the international community to support the refugee population during a humanitarian crisis.At the same time,very little is known about the exact impact on local hosts.From a policy point of view,the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) seems increasingly aware that such impacts have been overlooked for too long.For example,in Tanzania, the UNHCR is implementing a new program to ease the transition following the closure o fall camps in the Kagera region. A better understanding of the main channels through which local populations are affected by refugee inflows would help improve the efficiency of such programs