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Perceptions of the Impact of Refugees on Host Communities: The Case of Liberian Refugees in Ghana

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Abstract

This paper analyses the effects of the presence of Liberian refugees on cost of goods/services and business activities, pressure on resources/facilities, social vices and environmental activities based on perceptions (although attempts have been made to buttress the perceptions with information from focus group discussions) of hosts and refugees. The analysis included gender and type of occupation from within and among the groups. The aim was to ascertain whether the presence of refugees are viewed as having positive, negative or mixed impacts. Data are from 10 focus group discussions and 120 household surveys undertaken in April 2007. Results show that although there are gender and occupational differentials, host communities contend that refugees have increased the costs of goods and services, brought pressure on facilities, increased social vices and deteriorated environmental resources. However, refugees are viewed as a source of income and market, and trade partners, who have brought a lot of infrastructural developments. Thus, one can describe refugee presence as having mixed impacts.

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Notes

  1. He is a 46-year old teacher who has been transferred to Buduburam. His concern was that one would consider that being in the countryside (village), rent would be cheaper. However, in his case, it is more like living in the city. Because when he was residing in Tema (city), he was paying GH¢15 per month as rent with better conditions as against a two-room facility but without electricity and water in the village for the same amount.

  2. Kaneshie and Circle are commercial parts of the capital city of Accra and known to accommodate people engaged in illegal and nefarious activities particularly prostitution and substance abuse.

  3. A term used to refer to indecent dressing involving the wearing of short dresses that exposes the parts of the female body to near-nude.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Institute for Research and Development (IRD) and Centre for Population and Development (CEPED) for providing funds for this study which was under the “Population Displacement and Territorial Recomposition” project. We are also grateful to the fieldworkers, Raymond Tutu, Doris Oti Boakye, George Adika, Alexander Afrifa, Ruby Sackey, Hillarius Simpi and Godwin Awuah.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 96, Legon, Ghana

    Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe

  2. Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 74, Legon, Ghana

    Peter Quartey & Cynthia Addoquaye Tagoe

  3. CUNY Institute for Demographic Research and Department of Sociology, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, 11367, USA

    Holly E. Reed

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  1. Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe
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Correspondence to Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe.

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Codjoe, S.N.A., Quartey, P., Tagoe, C.A. et al. Perceptions of the Impact of Refugees on Host Communities: The Case of Liberian Refugees in Ghana. Int. Migration & Integration 14, 439–456 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-012-0249-1

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