In the intricate web of global crises, the situation of refugees remains a critical issue. The persistent nature of this issue has created a sector of interventions and development initiatives, spearheaded by international governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Many initiatives are focused on providing short-term relief to affected peoples. However, long-term and meaningful development solutions require a re-evaluation of power dynamics that shape the discourse around refugees’ experiences.

A critical aspect of addressing the needs and aspirations of refugees lies in recognizing the importance of meaningful participation and collaboration. This article delves into the pivotal importance of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) in promoting the principle of local ownership in displacement situations. It highlights how RLOs are essential in fostering agency and enhancing the active participation of displaced peoples in generating sustained development.

What are RLOs?

Whilst there is no universal definition of the Refugee-Led Organization — RLO–, the term is easy to describe with five key characteristics:

1. Refugee-led initiatives (RLIs) and organisations may include both registered and unregistered groups. Such collectives can be found in urban, rural, camp, and settlement settings.
2. Their function is to respond to the humanitarian, developmental, or cultural needs of refugees and related host communities. They may provide direct services or focus on advocacy.
3. They aim at supporting their own members (self-help groups), their communities (special interest group or ethnic group), other refugees and/or the host community they live with.
4. They may have for-profit elements, but profits are used (fully or partially) to fund not-for-profit activities.
5. They may include non-refugees in their boards and management teams, but the main decision-makers and founders have a displacement background.

These five key characteristics highlight the critical role of RLOs in promoting autonomy, resilience, and rights advocacy among displaced populations, and underscores their contribution to the social and economic integration within host communities.

(Definitions provided by RLRH September 2022 Report “Refugee-Led Organisations In East Africa: Community Perceptions in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania)

The problem of non-localised responses

The humanitarian sector has traditionally been shaped by external interventions. Consequently, decision-makers tend to direct funding toward external actors, with local capacities (such as human capital) being drawn primarily from established local organisations.

As such, crisis response in this form possesses the tendency to become uniform in its approach. While these interventions are often well-resourced and can provide immediate relief, their effectiveness is sometimes diminished by a lack of grassroots participation. Externally managed interventions are at times lacking in their understanding and knowledge of localised complex social, political, and economic issues required to support sustained development, as opposed to reactive crisis response.

Furthermore, top-down single-standard approaches have often been challenged by critical scholars and migration experts. Such perspectives claim that top-down approaches diminish the voice and agency of those effected by displacement. This leads to imbalanced knowledge production and representation of the effected people as subjects incapable of self-action. These imbalances prevent the implementation of context-specific solutions whilst diminishing focus on the variety of ways in which refugees are able to enact agency within their own local, political, and social realities and positionalities.

Localisation Efforts and Their Significance

Paragraph 34 of the UN’s 2018 Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) emphasizes that effective responses actively and meaningfully engage those they aim to protect and assist. Therefore, a crucial factor in efforts toward localized crisis response and development is finding means to actively engage with RLOs.

Localization is an approach that prioritizes three key strategies:

1. Enhancing direct financial support to national and local entities, bypassing intermediaries;
2. Delegating decision-making authority and autonomy to local stakeholders; fostering local ‘ownership’ of policy formulation;
3. Investing in the development of local actors’ capabilities and networks.

This strategy underlines the commitment to empowering communities directly affected by humanitarian crises, ensuring that solutions are both relevant and sustainable, rooted in the principles of equity and self-determination.

To read further on the significance of localisation efforts, check our previous article here.

Localisation & Sustainable Development through the Frame of RLOs

Efforts aimed at localisation should actively involve and establish networks with refugee-led organizations, fostering the active and meaningful participation of refugees in initiatives that directly impact their lives and surroundings. Localisation efforts simultaneously validate the legitimacy of refugees’ voices and positionalities, offering essential insights into systems of knowledge, experiences of humanitarianism, and cultural understandings that may be unavailable to international actors.

Involving and developing networks with RLOs in localised initiatives bring five key benefits, as identified by the RRLI report’ “Understanding RLO Impact” (September 2022):

1. Services are highly accessible to community members, including those with significant access challenges.
2. RLOs demonstrate high community connectedness, responsiveness, availability, and cultural awareness, characteristics which promote respect and trust and facilitate programming deemed valuable by community members.
3. Services provided tend to be holistic and mutually reinforcing in order to respond to community needs.
4. Services are providing immediate life-saving support and access to life-changing solutions alike.
5. RLOs navigate and often overcome legal, political and economic challenges.

Additionally, UNHCR identified a further five benefits of working with RLOs within Europe:

1. RLOs are adept at considering and mobilising the capacities and resilience of refugees.
2. They often act as the initial point of contact for asylum seekers, providing essential information about available services and rights and acting as guides and translators in their countries of asylum.
3. Providing grassroots-level support to refugee communities, RLOs improve access to assistance, education, counselling, and livelihoods.
4. RLOs often support the host community, engaging in activities that promote social cohesion and integration.
5. RLOs act as the “voice of refugees” within public settings, government authorities, UNHCR, and other authorities.

Common Issues Facing RLOs

The two primary challenges impeding the progress of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) are, unsurprisingly, underfunding and insufficient engagement. These obstacles significantly restrict the capacity of RLOs to fulfil their missions, highlighting the need for a concerted effort to address these issues within the humanitarian and development sectors.

Underfunding: Although RLOs present a vital aspect of the provision of humanitarian assistance in response to both short and long-term crises, the long-term functionality of these organisations are heavily impacted by their unstable sources of funding. With many of such organisations functioning without the formal recognition or monetary assistance from larger organisations (i.e. the UN/UNHCR), the capacity, quality, and scaling of their operations remain limited.

Lack of engagement: Such limitations, in addition to refugees’ status as non-state actors, present further issues regarding their capability to gain recognition as legitimate authorities in decision-making processes. This occurs not only at the local level but also at the international level, where their engagement is limited, in part due to the hierarchical categorisation of whose voices are valued in such processes. Consequently, their roles are often limited to that of observers or passive members of state delegations.

Enhancing RLO’s Engagement: Actionable Insights

To address the lack of engagement faced by Refugees-Led Organizations (RLOs), a multifaceted approach is required to promote, encourage, and increase their involvement in decision-making processes:

Firstly, awareness campaigns aimed at local and international stakeholders are needed to highlight the valuable perspectives and contributions RLOs bring to the table. Through such discussions, we must challenge the prevailing misconceptions and narratives about RLOs. Establishing platforms for dialogue and collaboration between RLOs, governmental bodies, and non-governmental organizations will foster a more inclusive decision-making environment.

Moreover, capacity-building initiatives should be implemented to enhance the skills and knowledge of RLO members, empowering them to participate in discussions actively. To overcome hierarchical barriers, advocating for policy changes that recognize RLOs as legitimate authorities in decision-making processes is crucial.

Lastly, promoting diversity and inclusivity in international forums can break down the traditional top-down hierarchies, allowing RLOs to play more substantial roles beyond mere observers. Implementing these strategies can create a more inclusive and participatory environment for RLOs, ultimately strengthening their engagement in decision-making processes at both local and international levels.

Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) report, “The failure to fund refugee-led organisations” (November 2023) suggests urgently increasing direct funding to RLOs through these steps:

1. Build capacity so that direct funding is provided as standard to RLOs with the systems and capacity in place to absorb and manage grants.
2. Normalise funding partnerships with RLOs by drawing attention to them.
3. Support RLOs to increase their capacity to access and manage donor funding directly.
4. Sustain pressure on public and private donors to meet commitments to increase direct funding to RLOs and other local and national actors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the role of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) emerges as a crucial pathway towards localized crisis response and sustained development. Traditional top-down approaches face critique for overlooking the detailed local contexts necessary for durable solutions. By integrating RLOs into localization efforts and building supportive networks, their deep community connections and cultural insights can be harnessed for both immediate and long-term community needs.

Yet, challenges such as insufficient funding and lack of collaborative engagement limit RLOs’ impact. Addressing these requires concerted efforts to enhance their capacity, secure direct access to funding, and advocate for their inclusion in decision-making processes. Ultimately, recognizing and supporting RLOs as key actors not only improves crisis response but also fosters sustainable development that genuinely respects the dignity, agency, and diverse experiences of displaced individuals.