Community Politics in Refugee Contexts: Young People, Networks and Decision-Making

Abstract

This chapter interrogates young people’s decision-making opportunities in formal and informal community networks of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) living in Uganda. In an era of ‘participatory’ approaches, refugee agencies commonly seek ‘community’ contributions when planning and implementing projects. This has resulted in the creation of formal refugee community structures, often with a designated ‘youth’ representative. Ostensibly, such formal community structures provide young people with important access to community decision-making. However, ethnographic research with Congolese refugees revealed ambiguous roles for young people in formal decisionmaking spaces, as well as the existence of parallel, informal communities. I therefore argue that more attention should be paid to power relations within informal, organic community networks in order to avoid replicating inequalities based on age and gender in formal ‘community’ structures.