generating evidence on the Impact of refugee-led organizations
RLOs are still primarily considered by our sector as small, unstructured, or primarily implementers, despite our first hand knowledge to the contrary. In order to create a better understanding of RLOs and their impact, RRLI identifies gaps in sector understanding and fills them with findings learned from high-quality, unbiased research.
2022 IMPACT REPORT
This report presents the community, systemic and ways-of-working impacts of the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative (RRLI) during 2021-2022.
2023 IMPACT REPORT
This report presents the community, systemic and ways-of-working impacts of the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative (RRLI) during 2022-2023.
metasynthesis and external evaluations
UNDERSTANDING RLOS IMPACT
A metasynthesis of five external impact evaluations covering programs run by Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) (September 2022)
Author(s): Diana Essex-Lettieri, Independent Organizational Consultant and Researcher
BASMEH & ZEITOONEH
Final Report for the External Evaluation of Phase I Shabake - Promoting socio-economic recovery in Beirut and Mount Lebanon (June 2022)
Author(s): Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut
RAIC INDONESIA
External Evaluation Final Report - Refugees and Asylum Seekers Information Centre Programs. (May 2022)
Author(s): Dr. Realisa Masardi, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta
REFUGIADOS UNIDOS
Evaluación del Programa de Refugiados Unidos (June 2022) Report is in Spanish (English translation coming soon).
Author(s): Dr. José Roberto Calcetero Gutiérrez, PhD in Local Development and International Cooperation
St. ANDREW’S REFUGEE SERVICES (STARS)
Coping with COVID-19: Evaluating the impact of StAR’s Partnership with Community-Based Organizations. (April 2022)
Author(s): Emma Goldie, freelance consultant and specialist in participatory and community-led evaluation and program development
This report is only available upon request. Please Contact Us for more information.
YOUNG AFRICAN REFUGEES FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (YARID)
External Evaluation Report for Programs in Uganda (May 2022)
Author(s): Bisimwa Mulemangabo, International Development Practitioner and social researcher, and David Bizimana, Program Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant.
other resources
HOW TO FUND REFUGEE LED ORGANIZATIONS
TRAUMA INFORMED ENGAGEMENT GUIDELINES
RRLI AT THE 2023 GLOBAL REFUGEE FORUM
A primer detailing ways to overcome the funding barriers that currently exist in the sector, as well as best practices to funding RLOs
A guide with practical advice and steps to follow when organizing spaces that include people with lived experience of forced displacement.
A report on RRLI's participation at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum.
evidence base for the impact and importance of refugee-led organizations:
Alio, M., Alrihawi, S., Milner, J., Noor, A., Wazefadost, N., & Zigashane, P. (2020). By Refugees, for Refugees: Refugee Leadership during COVID-19, and beyond. International Journal of Refugee Law, 32(2), 370–373.
Barnett, M.N. (2013). “Humanitarian Governance.” The Annual Review of Political Science 16: pp.
379-98. Available at:
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-polisci-012512-083711.
Bekaj, A. and Antara, L. (2018). Political Participation of Refugees: Bridging the Gaps. Stockholm:
IDEA. Available at: https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/political-participation-of-refugees-bridging-the-gaps.pdf.
Betts, A. and Jones, W. (2016). Mobilising the Diaspora: How Refugees Challenge
Authoritarianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316672020.
Betts, A., Easton-Calabria, E., & Pincock, K. (2021). Localising Public Health: Refugee-led organisations as first and last responders in COVID-19. World Development, 139, 105311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105311
Bradley, M., Milner, J., and Peruniak, B. (2019). Refugees’ Roles in Resolving Displacement and
Building Peace: Beyond Beneficiaries. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Available at: http://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvfrxq90.
Clarke, K. “The Politics of Refugee Relief.” Dissent 63(3): pp. 94-101. Available at:
http://doi.org/10.1353/dss.2016.0064.
Crutchfield, L.R. (2018). How Change Happens: Why Some Social Movements Succeed While
Others Don’t. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Available at: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/How+Change+Happens%3A+Why+Some+Social+Movements+Succeed+While+Others+Don%27t-p-9781119413813.
Development Initiatives (2019). Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2019. Bristol, UK:
Development Initiatives, Ltd. Available at:
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GHA%20report%202019_0.pdf.
Easton-Calabria, E., Betts, A., and Pincock K. (2020). “Refugee-led Organisations: Collective
action for collective assistance.” Rethinking Refuge. Refugee Studies Centre, University
of Oxford. Available at:
Ejorh, T. (2014). “The Challenge of Resilience: Migrant-Led Organisations and the Recession in
Ireland.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 16(3): pp. 679-99. Available
at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0361-5.
Evan Easton-Calabria & Jennifer Wood (2021) Bridging, bonding, and linking? Syrian refugee-led organisations and integration in Berlin, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47:19, 4308-4326, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1788928
Gonzalez Benson, O., Routte, I., Pimentel Walker, A. P., Yoshihama, M., & Kelly, A. . (2022). Refugee-Led Organizations’ Crisis Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 38(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40879
Griffiths, D., Sigona, N., and Zetter, R. (2006). “Integrative Paradigms, Marginal Reality: Refugee
Community Organisations and Dispersal in Britain.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration
Studies 32(5): pp. 881-98. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830600704529.
Hakiza, R. et. al. (2020). “Refugee groups fill gaps in COVID-19 response, and they need
support.” The New Humanitarian. 29 April. Available at:
Hopkins, G. (2006). “Somali Community Organizations in London and Toronto: Collaboration and
Effectiveness.” Journal of Refugee Studies 19(3): pp. 361-80. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fel013.
Moore, H. K. V. (2018). Lessons from LGBTIQ refugee-led community-based organisations. In Forced migration review (Issue 58, pp. 67–69).
Nungsari, M., & Chuah, H. Y. (2022). Refugee Community-Based Organizations: Resources, Power, and Dependency. Journal of Refugee Studies, 35(2), 780–804.
Pincock, K., Betts, A., & Easton-Calabria, E. (2020). The Global Governed? Refugees as Providers of Protection and Assistance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108848831.
Pincock, K., Betts, A., & Easton-Calabria, E. (2021). The Rhetoric and Reality of Localisation: Refugee-Led Organisations in Humanitarian Governance. The Journal of Development Studies, 57(5), 719–734.
Pimentel Walker, A. P., Sanga, N., Benson, O. G., & Yoshihama, M. (2021). Risk Communication and Institutional Racism: The Protective Health Effect of Refugee-Led Community Organizations. Health Security, 19(S1), S-89-S-94.
Sahin Mencutek, Z. (2021). Refugee community organisations: capabilities, interactions and limitations. Third World Quarterly, 42(1), 181–199.
Sturridge, C., Girling-Morris, F., Spencer, A., Kara, A., and Chicet, C. (2023). The failure to fund refugee-led organisations Humanitarian Policy Group report. London: Overseas Development Institute. www.odi.org/en/publications/the-failure-to-fund-refugee-ledorganisations-why-the-current-system-is-not-working-and-the-potential-for-change
Development Initiatives. (2023). Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2023. https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2023
Essex-Lettieri, Diana. (2022). Understanding RLO Impact: A metasynthesis of five external impact evaluations covering programs run by Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs). https://www.refugeeslead.org/_files/ugd/3caee8_429d194c6e1149e797b654a3257436a6.pdf
Asylum Access. (2024). Building Equitable Partnerships. https://asylumaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-EP-Position-Paper-V2-2.pdf
Asylum Access. (2024). Equitable Partnerships Accountability Toolkit. https://asylumaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-EP-Toolkit-V1-2.pdf
Global Refugee-Led Network. (2019). Meaningful refugee participation as transformative leadership: Guidelines for concrete action. https://www.asylumaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Meaningful-Refugee-Participation-Guidelines_Web.pdf
Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative. (2023). Funding refugee-led organizations: A primer.
Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative. (2023). Trauma-informed guidelines for organizing spaces including people of forced displacement.
UNHCR. (2023). Global Trends Report 2023. https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2023
Development Initiatives. (2023). International humanitarian assistance: Donors, channels and recipients. https://devinit.org/data/international-humanitarian-assistance-donors-channels-and-recipients
Doane, Deborah. (2024). The INGO Problem: Power, Privilege, and Renewal. Practical Action Publishing.
Carroll, W. K., & Coburn, E. (2002). Social Movements and Transformation. In Clement, W. & Vosko, L. F. (Eds.), Changing Canada: Political Economy as Transformation (pp. 79-108). McGill-Queen's University Press.
Moksnes, H. & Melin, M. (Eds.). (2012). Global Civil Society: Shifting Powers in a Shifting World. Uppsala Universitet.
Childress, S., Driver, S., Gallardo, A. A., Goldfarb, J., Mallilin, A., Mease, L., Gill, A. S., & Vo, A. (2024). How Movement-Accountable Intermediaries Can Change Philanthropy. Stanford Social Innovation.
Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative. (2023). RRLI Impact Report 2023.
Essex-Lettieri, D. & Zahreddine, J. (2024). Five Organisational Pathways for Enabling Meaningful Refugee Participation: A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide. COHERE.