Frustrated horizons

Abstract Through an ethnographic study including interviews with refugees and staff working for hosting organisations and analyses of two state-run training events, the article traces the ways in which outsourcing blurs accountability lines between the state and the voluntary sector. It examines how distrust emerges from the discrepancies between official narratives of successful refugee reception services and the realities faced by refugees and hosting organisations on the ground. While the goodwill of hosting organisations, considered as an act of citizenship, can positively influence the imagined possibilities for refugees, this impact is significantly constrained by inadequate state support. Moreover, the quality of hosting varies considerably depending on the organisations’ resources and skills, creating uneven outcomes and frustrated horizons of possibilities for refugees.