Implications of encampment for the potential of Cash Based Transfer assistance

Abstract: This study explores the implications of an encampment policy - criminalising refugees’ mobility beyond the borders of a camp - for the potential of Cash Based Transfer assistance in protracted refugee situations. As the success of Cash Based Transfer assistance implies market availability and access to commodities, and certain interaction between the host community and refugee population, it is argued to be in conflict with what an encampment policy entails. Being a rather unexplored but emerging phenomenon, this study scrutinizes the case of a Cash Based Transfer pilot in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, in Tanzania, initiated by United Nations World Food Programme in December 2016. The findings, based on 50 interviews carried out in the camp and neighbouring villages, suggest that Cash Based Transfer assistance is beneficial for refugees, as it provides them with decision-making power over their own consumption in addition to being profitable for the local economy in the host community. However, because of Tanzania’s encampment policy, the Cash Based Transfer programme also seems to lead to a market interdependency that is rather precarious and possibly troublesome. It shows that as long as an encampment policy exists, the refugee will be an economic actor under the Cash Based Transfer programme vulnerable to exploitation, both in or outside the camp. Furthermore, the implementation of Cash Based Transfer assistance is expected to have implications for the encampment policy, as the host community becomes more dependent on humanitarian aid and therefore refugee presence. Finally, the case of Nyarugusu Refugee Camp shows that the implementation of CBT assistance in encampment circumstances requires monitoring of the perceptions and views of those involved. Only by doing so, will it be possible to react to unintended consequences, such as increased illegal mobility and tensions based on rising prices.