the evidence
Refugee-led organizations (RLOs) are successful because they have an awareness outsiders don’t have, and are driving solutions for people outsiders can’t reach.
Impact Reports
Check out our impact reports, which summarise the activities and impact of RRLI and our grantee partners.
2023 Impact Report
A 28-page summary of RRLI's impact between July 2022 and June 2023 (Published in November 2023).
2022 Impact Report
A summary of RRLI's impact between July 2021 and June 2022 (Published in December 2022).
2022 Impact Report (Español)
A summary in Spanish of RRLI's impact between July 2021 and June 2022 (Published in December 2022).
2022 Impact Report (Summary)
An extra-short summary of RRLI's impact between July 2021 and June 2022 (Published in December 2022).
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Metasynthesis and External Evaluations
At the beginning of 2022, each RRLI coalition partner commissioned an independent external evaluation of their impact as a refugee-led organization. Below, you can access the reports compiled by each of the external evaluators as well as a comprehensive meta-synthesis of the external evaluations.
Understanding RLO 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 Organisations: A primer detailing ways to overcome the funding barriers that currently exist in the sector, as well as best practices to funding RLOs
Trauma informed Engagement Guidelines: A guide with practical advice and steps to follow when organizing spaces that include people with lived experience of forced displacement.
Evidence Base for the Impact and Importance of Refugee-Led Organizations:
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.
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:
---. (2020). The Global Governed? Refugees as Providers of Protection and Assistance.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108848831.
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.
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.
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