Changing opportunities: refugees and host communities in western Tanzania

The project examines the rational ways in which local populations responded to unforeseen changes in their lives. The research highlights the ways in which this local political context fits into an increasingly interconnected global environment.

The current paper focuses on changing opportunities faced by host communities. The influx of refugees created a new context in which hosts devised strategies to gain access to incoming resources and to maintain access to their own resources. Differing strategies and structures allowed some hosts to benefit, while others became worse off.