They Moved. The System Didn't. Reimagining Social Protection for Refugees in the Great Lakes Region

Seventeen years. That is how long the average refugee in the Great Lakes Region (GLR - Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda) has been displaced. Not a transitional phase. Not a temporary emergency. A protracted situation of seventeen years—enough time to raise a child from birth to adulthood, entirely in limbo.

Until recently, responses remain anchored in a humanitarian model designed for short‑term emergencies. Between 2020 and 2024, $7.2 billion in humanitarian aid reached the GLR—channeled through parallel systems, on annual funding cycles, with minimal roots in, and ownership by, national institutions.

Humanitarian assistance remains indispensable for saving lives in acute crises. But it is neither designed nor financed to sustain multi‑decade displacement. As global humanitarian budgets contract and crises multiply, the question facing governments and partners in the GLR is no longer whether to move beyond humanitarian aid—but how.

We think one option emerging could be a way forward for the future—integrating refugees into national social protection systems. Social protection presents a practical option. It emphasizes government leadership, addresses vulnerabilities, is anchored within the region, and is designed for long-term financing. Crucially, when designed with a focus on economic inclusion, social protection can support access to jobs and skill building—helping refugees and host communities move from dependency toward self-reliance and productivity.
This possible shift reflects a broader recognition that supporting refugees is a humanitarian imperative, but also an economic one. Enabling refugees to participate in economic activity can unlock growth and strengthen resilience in communities—aligning with the World Bank Group’s development approach centered on more, better, and inclusive jobs.

The perspectives in this blog draw on our operational work supporting refugee‑hosting countries and grounded in our recent analytical work on social protection systems for refugees in the GLR. The World Bank already supports programs in the region that combine social assistance, economic inclusion and jobs for refugees and host communities—demonstrating that gradual inclusion through national systems is feasible, even in fragile contexts.

Why social protection—and why now?
The GLR hosts over 2.5 million refugees. Four times more than in 2013. Three quarters are in protracted displacement. They share labor markets, services, and vulnerabilities with host communities in some of the poorest areas in the region. Yet they remain largely confined to a separate humanitarian universe: funded by donor pledges that fluctuate, delivered through parallel systems that operate outside national institutions, and reinforcing the perception that responsibility for displaced populations lies largely beyond government systems.

Social protection is not a silver bullet. But it offers an alternative: a government-led platform that can support people over time, adapt to shocks, and link short-term assistance to jobs, skills, and longer-term resilience.

Inclusion does not mean overnight integration
Let us be honest: full inclusion of refugees into national social protection systems cannot happen by decree or overnight. The barriers are real. The legal and policy frameworks we see across the region are not designed with displacement in mind, leaving refugees implicitly excluded. Social registries are nascent and largely disconnected from other key databases. In some countries, policy choices and operational considerations have so far limited the extension of national safety nets to refugees; in others, restrictions on freedom of movement and labor mobility continue to constrain access to services and economic self-reliance.

Yet we think inclusion is also an entry point for broader gains. When displaced people can access formal support systems, participate in labor markets, and build assets, they reduce the cost of hosting rather than remaining dependent on aid.

The most promising path we see starts with legal recognition: closing the legislative and policy gaps that currently provide bureaucratic cover for exclusion. Then we could move to data integration: making national social registries interoperable with existing humanitarian and development databases, with clear rules on privacy and consent. Only on that foundation does it make sense to expand program coverage—backed by predictable, multi-year development financing rather than annual humanitarian pledges.

At the heart of this shift is a simple but powerful change in how refugee eligibility is defined: moving from status-based to vulnerability-based criteria, asking not “what document do you carry?” but “how exposed are you?” Burundi’s Merankabandi (Cash for Jobs) Program shows this is possible in practice. It serves more than 53,000 beneficiaries, including 7,852 refugees, selected on the same vulnerability scores as nationals. Small scale? Yes. But real, replicable, and instructive.

The hard constraints must be acknowledged
No credible case for inclusion ignores the political economy. Host governments face real and increasing fiscal pressures. Electoral cycles naturally delay legal and policy changes. In the DRC, the government mobilized $477 million with the support of development partners for social protection between 2015 and 2023 while external actors channeled $6.8 billion in humanitarian aid. This asymmetry weakens incentives to build national delivery capacity when alternative channels dominate.

Refugee inclusion through social protection is viable only if it is supported by layered financing—combining domestic efforts with predictable, multi‑year concessional resources. This will allow governments to roll-out interventions in areas where refugees and hosts live side by side, and to expand coverage progressively as registries, targeting, and financing become more robust. Without this alignment, expectations placed on low‑income host countries are unlikely to be met.

Beyond national borders: a regional response to a regional problem
Displacement in the GLR is inherently regional. Refugees move across borders. Families flee the DRC into Uganda; Burundians cross into Rwanda; returns are cyclical; shocks spill over from one country to the next. Over time, refugee inclusion will require greater regional cooperation—particularly on data standards, identification systems, and payment platforms.

This does not mean harmonizing policies overnight. It means investing in practical enablers: interoperability between registries, mutual recognition of basic documentation, and shared technical standards. These reforms are quiet but transformative for mobile populations, and they fall squarely within the mandate of regional institutions. The International Conference on the GLR, alongside the East African Community, can provide the coordination and political backing needed to move this agenda forward.

A moment of choice
The region faces an important decision regarding its approach to humanitarian assistance. Continued reliance on humanitarian systems may increase fragmentation and extend dependency for millions of people. Transitioning from short-term aid to sustainable, long-term systems is a gradual process that requires consistent effort and commitment from the international community. Resources such as financial assistance and skill building provide short-term relief—they help beneficiaries build productive assets, enter economic activity, and help the community around them. With social protection programs that help to stabilize refugee and host communities, we can prevent long-term setbacks in human capital and employment.