12/02/2025: Screening and debate – Far Away From Home: exploring city responses to refugees
In the past decade, the number of displaced people worldwide has more than doubled, exceeding 122 million. The majority of refugees and internally displaced people now live in urban areas, not camps. Despite this, most humanitarian aid is still directed toward camp settings.
At this hybrid IIED Debates event on Wednesday 12 February, we will explore innovative city responses to refugee hosting from the global South and North, focusing on inspiring examples from Bristol, UK, known for its ‘sanctuary city’ model, and Nairobi, Kenya, where a groundbreaking refugee strategy has recently been launched.
The event will open with a special screening of ‘Far Away From Home’, a captivating short film that follows the lives of urban refugees navigating Nairobi’s dynamic streets. Created in collaboration with young community filmmakers, urban refugees and researchers, the film offers an intimate look at the daily struggles and aspirations of refugees and asylum seekers in an urban context.
About the speakers
- Lord Marvin Rees, British Labour Party politician who served as the Mayor of Bristol from 2016 to 2024. He was appointed a life peer in December 2024. He is a co-chair of the Mayors Migration Council, working to bringing the voices of cities and their leaders into international frameworks on migration, and to channel funding and resources into cities the world over.
- Susan Kimani, community development officer, Nairobi County City Government (NCCG).
- Lucy Earle (moderator), director of Human Settlements, IIED. Lucy Earle’s work focuses on the intersections of urbanisation, urban poverty and humanitarian crises, in particular forced displacement into and within urban areas.
This event is hosted by IIED in partnership with the Mayors Migration Council and is supported by Bristol University’s Migration Mobilities Bristol research institute and Ashley Community and Housing (ACH), Bristol.
Join in person at Watershed, Bristol and online. Register now!