advocating for refugee leadership
RRLI engages with numerous governmental and intergovernmental institutions, UNHCR and philanthropic donors to build pathways for partnering with and financing RLOs directly and highlight the importance of investing in RLOs globally. Our advocacy points include improving internal ways of working, advancing accessible and inclusive approaches to grantmaking, building equitable partnerships with RLOs, and including people of forced displacement as leaders in decision-making and strategizing processes.
RRLI representatives influence policies of governments through participation in advisory boards for the EU-UNOPS Lives in Dignity Grant Facility and GIZ’s Women in Forced Displacement Action Network. RRLI also influences funding decisions of foundations by participating in the Collective on Refugee Leadership in MENA, a group of funders focused on advancing refugee leadership and support for refugees across the MENA region, and Philanthropy Together, a collective in the United States working to scale and strengthen the collective giving movement. RRLI also engages with a wide range of governments to explore the possibility of funding RLOs, either directly or through our Refugee Leadership Fund.
We also launched our Refugee Led Community of Practice is a loosely run platform where refugee Leaders come together with the aim of contributing to the worldwide refugee leadership movement, through building pathways for a peer-to-peer engagement at country, regional, and global levels, sharing opportunities for access, funding, and joint advocacy.
RRLI also continues to influence UNHCR’s policies and practices through direct engagement. For example, in advance of the Global Consultations with NGOs in June 2022, RRLI published an open letter to push UNHCR to actualize refugee leadership and localization commitments. RRLI will continue to advocate for the inclusion of forcibly displaced people in UNHCR policy and funding streams in the coming year, including by participating in various processes leading up to the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023.
Our advocacy engagement with key stakeholders has resulted in critical successes so far.
To date, RRLI has unlocked $5.18 million in funding to 115 refugee-led organizations, outside the Refugee Leadership Fund, through direct advocacy and engagement with key stakeholders.
Last year, RRLI and key partners successfully advocated for UNHCR to provide a higher amount of funding to RLOs (50,000 USD) through its Refugee-Led Innovation Fund, and to make its eligibility criteria more inclusive, including by offering a broad definition of person of forced displacement, no requirement for organizations to be registered to apply, and no limit on what thematic or impact areas applications should address.
RRLI has influenced, supported and capitalized on the aligning strategies of two major foundations, Porticus and Luminate, who aim to prioritize lived experience and refugee leadership within their grantmaking and programming.