The results of the Monograph Series of five country case studies carried out during Phase 1 of ALNAP’s Global Study revealed that one important aspect had been overlooked, that of refugee situations. The Global Study Steering Group approved Groupe URD’s proposal to carry out research in this domain and it was decided that the case study would focus on refugee situations in Guinea.

For more than ten years now, hundreds of thousands of refugees have descended in waves upon refugee camps in Guinea, fleeing civil war in both Liberia and Sierra Leone. The refugees were at first taken in by local communities and international aid flowed into the area. Yet over the past few years, tensions have arisen and international aid contracted. More recently still, hopes for peace in Sierra Leone and Liberia have encouraged many refugees to return home. However, moving home has proved to be but a short-lived reality for Liberian refugees, as the most recent outbreaks of violence in Liberia and in neighbouring Ivory Coast have caused yet another wave of refugees to cross the border into Guinea.

The context of refugees in Guinea presents a large variety of exile situations, including long-term refugees and new arrivals. Programmes that have been implemented over the past ten years are very diverse, ranging from basic distribution of humanitarian assistance to development projects involving refugees and villagers. This case study will provide a wealth of material for studying participatory practices that are used (or not, as the case may be) in refugee camps in Guinea.

The aim of this case study is to analyse consultation and participation practices that are:

• implemented by a group of international agencies and NGOs, local actors (e.g. local authorities), local NGOs and community-based organisations, who are working with or have worked with refugees;
• with a refugee population that is relatively heterogeneous in terms of origin, length of stay and movement dynamics (some refugees are preparing their return home, others will stay longer, etc.).

The specific objectives are to:

• identify and describe participatory practices that exist in refugee situations, throughout all phases of the project cycle and for a variety of sectors of humanitarian intervention;
• identify important lessons that can be learnt.

This information will be incorporated into the revised version of the Practitioners’ Handbook and the Overview Book.

3.1. Overall approach

During the fieldtrip, the following tools and methods will be used.

• Relevant documents will be reviewed and analysed (sourced from the Internet or contacts, etc.) during the pre-fieldtrip preparation and on-site research.
• The team will present the Global Study and partners (ALNAP) to actors and affected populations.
• Interviews will be set up with field teams from UN agencies and NGOs, etc.
• Interviews and group discussions will be organised with refugees and neighbouring villagers.
• The Project Director, M. François Grünewald, will participate in the research and analysis.
• Information will be analysed and synthesised.
• The team will collectively identify the lessons learnt on participatory practices specific to refugee situations.
• Feedback on preliminary findings will be communicated to populations and humanitarian actors involved for validation.

This study will examine the issue of participation from three different angles:

• Global - including a cultural, political and geopolitical viewpoint;
• Temporal - how a particular participatory practice has evolved over time and how it evolves over the project cycle;
• Sector-related - how these participatory practices vary depending on the sector of humanitarian intervention.

The analysis framework below will provide a structure for the team’s research.

Sector-related and transversal issues

Sector   Transversal issue	Healthcare		Economic security		Shelter	Education	Protection	Gender	Environ-ment
	Healthcare	Water & Sanitation	Food aid	Agricultural and economic rehabilitation	Shelter & Habitat		IHL and Human Rights
Relevance
Impact on the population
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Impact on social cohesiveness
Impact on security and conflict dynamics
Links between relief and development
Viability and sustainability
Coordination
Population movements
Impact on crisis management

3.3. The team

The team will be composed of the following people:

• Team leader, Ms. Karla Levy (Venezuelan), currently in charge of research in Phase 1 of the Global Study, has participated in the Colombia and Democratic Republic of Congo case studies, and was also involved in writing the Practitioners’ Handbook.
• Mr. Bonaventure Sokpoh (Togolese) participated in the Democratic Republic of Congo case study in Phase 1 and has previously carried out several research projects for Groupe URD in Guinea;
• Ms. Anna Lear (British), junior research assistant, will facilitate research with English-speaking refugees and humanitarian actors and assist in writing English-language documents;
• A Guinean researcher will contribute valuable knowledge of the context and facilitate communication in vernacular languages.

3.4. Implementation timeframe

Pre-fieldtrip preparation

• Prepare for the fieldtrip during an inter-team workshop from 30/10/03 to 02/11/03 inclusive;
• Logistics and organisation;
• Contact humanitarian actors as potential partners both at HQ and field level;
• Collect and study relevant documents (research already underway, information sourced from Internet and Groupe URD’s resource centre);
• Prepare methodology tools for fieldwork;
• Keep ALNAP Steering Group informed of developments on a regular basis.

During the fieldtrip

• On arrival in Conakry, the team will prepare the logistics, and select and recruit the Guinean researcher.
• Fieldtrip

Activity 1: Contact and organise interviews with humanitarian actors based in Conakry (HQ) and set up meetings with teams in the field.

Activity 2: In the field, the research will be carried out according to the different contexts encountered. Individual interviews, group discussions and informal debates will be held with authorities, humanitarian organisations, refugees and host communities.

Activity 3: Regular team meetings will be held in order to analyse and synthesise findings.

Activity 4: A feedback workshop will be held in order to present the preliminary findings to humanitarian actors and populations for validation.

• A summary of the results will be drawn up for the Steering Group in preparation for writing the country case study.

Post-fieldtrip activities

• Prepare country case study in French and English;
• Circulate draft version of country case study to Steering Group for comments;
• Finalise and publish country case study;
• Diffuse the finalised country case study to humanitarian actors involved;
• Include the results in the Practitioners’ Handbook.

A schedule for preparation and the fieldtrip is presented below.

	Nov. 2003	Dec. 2003	Jan. 2004	Feb. 2004	Mar. 2004	Apr. 2004	May 2004	Jun. 2004
Preparation	----
Inter-team workshop	-
Fieldtrip	----	-------
Feed-back		--
1st draft of the country case study					--
Publication							-
Preparation of the Handbook					------	-----	-----	-----
Preparation of the Overview book				- - - -	- - - -	- - - -	- - - -	- - -