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Paper short abstract

This paper makes visible patterns of support and solidarity that extend among displacement-affected populations and translocally across borders. It contributes to better understanding the role of informal aid in displacement, especially as institutional actors may become less prominent.

Paper long abstract

The military coup of February 1st, 2021 in Myanmar intensified a long-standing situation of conflict-induced displacement, with a dramatic increase of people seeking shelter away from their hometowns and villages. In this context, existing networks of informal support become ever more important for people’s immediate survival, and mid-term livelihoods. As part of a larger project on protracted displacement economies, we investigated how social networks become conduits for cross-border support; how existing modes of aid are being transformed, and how new ones come into being. These do not necessarily consist of conventional international organisations, but rather a multitude of actors which can be less visible to others. They include networks sustained by kinship links, ethnic solidarities, faith-based groups, and diasporic support. Many of the people involved have past or current experience of displacement themselves. Our broader aim is therefore to make visible patterns of support and solidarity that extend among displacement-affected populations, translocally across borders, and further afield. This helps us to better understand informal aid in displacement which come into view especially as formal actors are less prominent. We ask how pre-existing mechanisms of support function in crisis, what forms they take- and not least, how sustainable they may be in the long term.