We see forced migrants as part of a governance environment that surrounds the post-conflict situation and frames the social context of the management environment. Those actors and agencies involved in managing the forced migrants and their livelihood strategies are part of the governance environment. Governance suggests that forced migration is neither the sole domain of institutional actors nor of individuals, but rather a political-economic process in which many individuals and institutions participate.

This view leads to an analysis of the role that media, national and international NGOs, supranational state and non-state actors, as well as the migrants themselves play in shaping the migration process.

Our research focuses also on the extent to which the activities of the players within the governance environment actually influence the daily lives and practices of the displaced population.