CALLS Network
Promoting refugee agency in humanitarian action
REFUGEE-LED ORGANISATIONS
“An organisation or group in which persons with direct lived experience of forced displacement play a primary leadership role and whose stated objectives and activities are focused on responding to the needs of refugees and/or related communities.”
UNHCR definition built on consultations with organizations led by displaced and stateless persons, NGOs and academics and field-tested by refugee-led organisations in 14 country operations.
Who we work with
We prioritise middle- and low-income countries hosting large refugee populations in protracted situations where refugees have lived in exile for five years or longer. These situations often involve a state of intractable limbo with restricted movement, lack of access to legal employment, education, or land, leading to reliance on external assistance and no immediate solutions. Many of these refugee-hosting countries also fall into the fragile category, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.
In these contexts, refugees have had the time to rebuild their communities, nurture leaders and create refugee-led organisations. CALLS Network focuses in particular on organisations led by refugee women and youth and refugees with disabilities.
Depending on the humanitarian context, CALLS Network also partners with organisations led by displaced people and/or those who have been affected by conflict and have not left their country of origin. Likewise, CALLS Network partners with community-based organisations led by members of the refugee-hosting community, which engage in activities that foster peaceful coexistence and resilience and address the humanitarian-development-peace needs shared by both the refugee and host communities. Our partners are either formal or informal, registered or unregistered, virtual or physical entities, initiatives or networks.
Prioritised refugee-hosting countries include (but are not limited to) Bangladesh, Chad, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Peru, Sudan and Uganda.
How we work together
Guided by the organisations’ self-identified priorities, we engage in long-term equitable partnership with refugee-led organisations in the Global South and provide a combination of unrestricted and multi-year funding through simplified grant procedures, tailored organisational system and capacity strengthening, peer-to-peer learning, and coaching and mentoring, as well as enhanced visibility. We work together to strengthen organisational resilience and ensure the organisations have the resources, capacity and visibility to lead humanitarian action in their communities.
Our local solidarity groups also work together with the refugee-led organisations to exchange knowledge and expertise, share social capital and co-create initiatives.