The need for durable solutions to protracted refugee situations is shifting stakeholders' attention to the strengths of local integration in first asylum countries despite the complexities involved. In the absence of workable voluntary repatriation and third country resettlement options, refugees already in first asylum destinations, can have their stay formalised to seize opportunities to improve their lives. This argument is further strengthened by the donor community's preference for new refugee influxes rather than protracted cases, and the promotion of regional solutions to the world's refugee crisis. However, the local integration context is often downplayed, with emphasis mainly on refugee willingness to accept local integration and the host country legal framework. This article argues that successful local refugee integration is not isolated at the end of the refugee cycle but rather starts the very day refugees are received into an asylum country. The paper identifies three key local integration issues: land acquisition for the location of a refugee camp, host-refugee interactions, and humanitarian response to the refugee influx, and proposes a framework based on these issues. The way in which stakeholders manage these issues holds the key to successful local integration of refugees in the global South. © Author(s) [2019]. All rights reserved.

Refugee camp land Host-refugee interactions Local integration Humanitarian response Ghana

stakeholder Ghana legislation refugee asylum seeker humanitarian aid