Simulation Workshop

23-24 July 2021

Re-imagining Urban Refugee Management in Indonesia workshop is a two-day event to better understand stakeholder dynamics of the refugee management in ‘transit countries’ by encouraging a lively and active discussion among selected international young scholars and professionals on innovative approaches to urban refugee management. Participants will work individually and collectively to simulate the roles, interests, and influence of existing stakeholders in refugee management, using a selected case study of a refugee-hosting city in Indonesia.

Background and Rationale

In response to the growing number of refugees globally, where two-thirds live in urban areas, the role of local leadership becomes undoubtedly vital. The roles of cities in migration management are acknowledged in the 2016 New Urban Agenda, the 2018 Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and Global Compact for Refugees (GCR). With future risks of more displaced people due to conflicts and climate crisis, there is an urgency to gain a better understanding on refugee management issues.

Indonesia is a non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and hosts 13,653 refugees who live across different regions. Greater Jakarta, Medan, Bogor, Makassar, and Pekanbaru host a larger number of refugees (more than 1000 in each municipality or region), as compared to other regions, such as Kupang and Aceh. However, municipalities and regions in Indonesia are facing different challenges and are equipped with limited experience and capacity in handling refugees. However, several opportunities and practices of collaboration and local-context solution making are growing although might not be well documented. Comprehension of various stakeholders’ interest and power to increase collective performance in refugee management as well as the relationship dynamics among stakeholders will be helpful to develop a stakeholder engagement strategy for better refugee management at municipal level. 

RDI UREF is planning to organize a workshop to better understand stakeholder dynamics of the refugee management in ‘transit countries’ such as Indonesia. Using a case study of a refugee-hosting city in Indonesia, the workshop is expected to trigger lively discussion among selected young scholars or professionals on innovative approaches to urban refugee management. The exercise and results from the workshop are expected to be useful not only for Indonesia, but also for cities of other transit countries. 

Workshop Concept

The basic idea behind the workshop design is to look at refugee management as a ‘wicked problem’. Wicked problem is best described in Lundstrom et al. (2016). Acknowledging the complexity of the refugee management issue, this workshop is designed to be a fully immersive experience for participants, which means it will require active participation from all participants. We will use role-playing methodology to simulate the existing refugee management system in the selected city, in order to achieve our objective. 

Participants will work individually and collectively to simulate the roles, interest, and influence of existing refugee management stakeholders within a specific time frame. The assumption is that the process of group discussion, debate, and reflection can encourage innovative thinking, for example in how to create a level playing field in the refugee management system or in alternatives on how to approach the issue that is useful and realistic for city government to work with.

Goal and Objectives

The goal of this workshop is to understand the dynamics of refugee management by various stakeholders at the municipal level. 

The objectives are:

1. to better understand the obstacles, opportunities, and complexity involved in the current refugee management system
2. to explore alternative approaches and innovative thinking on the issue.
3. to contribute to the evidence-based policy of urban refugee management for Indonesia and other ‘transit countries’.

Agenda

1. Orientation
2. Lightning Talks 
3. Simulation Workshop: Roleplaying group work, individual mission, and scenarios 
4. Post-workshop Assignment/Reflection Session
5. Post-workshop presentation

About the Organizer

Resilience Development Initiative Urban Refugee Research Group (RDI UREF) works with Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia Foundation to design the workshop. JRS Indonesia is a humanitarian organization founded on November 14th, 1980, as a response to the plight of Vietnam “boat people” in Galang Island. Over the last 30 years, together with all who have concerns, JRS accompanied, served, and advocated the rights of refugees both those in the refugee camps, urban areas, as well as in immigration detention centers. 

This project was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering under
the Frontiers of Engineering for Development scheme.