The Long Road Home: Opportunities and Obstacles to the Reintegration of IDPs and Refugees Returning to Southern Sudan and the Three Areas - Report of Phase II

The overall aim of the study is to delineate clear and feasible

strategies to facilitate successful reintegration, outline the

roles different actors (government, returnees, host

communities, donor governments and aid agencies) should

play and develop models applicable to other parts of the

country. The study also reviews recent trends in the policy

environment, with a focus on the role played by federal and

state governments in facilitating reintegration.

As with the phase I study, the methodology is based on the

‘Adapted Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to Support

Situations of Conflict and Political Instability’, developed by

HPG in 2003. The framework places people at the

centre of analysis, assessing the way in which institutions,

policies and processes affect their assets, immediate needs

and overall well-being. Special attention has been paid to the

relationship between returnee and resident populations in

determining constraints and opportunities for successful

reintegration.

Phase II has been carried out by the same three-strong core ODI

research team, in partnership with a colleague seconded from

the German Development Service (DED), who also participated

in phase I of the study. The study also benefited from the

secondment of a large number of Sudanese colleagues from

operational agencies based in the focus areas, who undertook

much of the background research ahead of the arrival of the ODI

research team. A two-day workshop in Juba in January 2008

introduced partners to the methodology and provided training

for the field research.