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YARID
This Refugee Week (15 - 21 June) why not revisit this term’s RSC Public Seminar Series, held online for the first time using Zoom webinar.
Titled #ByRefugees: Strengthening refugee-led humanitarian response during the COVID-19 pandemic, the series has focused on refugee-led assistance and protection in the context of COVID-19. It features panels of individuals whose work is shaping how we understand and support refugee-led responses during crisis. Their accomplishments – whether as practitioners, policy influencers, funders, or community responders – challenge conventional top-down approaches to humanitarian assistance. These approaches are increasingly important in the current context, in which traditional humanitarian capacity has been stretched and forced to adapt. Refugee-led organisations are on the frontline of the response, in both refugee camps and cities.
The series explores how refugees are responding to the current crisis, reflects on how they can be supported by external actors, and considers the prospects for creating lasting forms of participatory humanitarian governance.
The majority of panelists are refugees, and the series conveners are Alexander Betts and Andonis Marden from the Refugee Studies Centre, and Shaza Al Rihawi, Anila Noor, Najeeba Wazefadost, and Mustafa Alio from the Global Refugee-Led Network.
The first five webinars are all available on YouTube now. The final webinar will take place this Wednesday 17th June at 5pm BST. Details of all seminars are below:
The seminars
6 May
Global agenda setting, from the bottom up: the Global Refugee-Led Network (GRN)
Mustafa Alio – Refugee Advisor, Co-founder, Jumpstart Refugee Talent (Canada)
Shaza Al Rihawi – Founding Member and Interim Chair, GRN (Germany)
Anila Noor – Steering Committee Member, GRN (Netherlands)
Najeeba Wazefadost – Founding Member, GRN and Asia Pacific Network of Refugees (Australia)
13 May
Without recognition, without assistance: Refugee-led responses in urban contexts
Bahati Ghislain – Executive Director, Kintsugi (Nairobi)
Robert Hakiza – Executive Director, Young African Refugees for Integral Development (Kampala)
Janemary Ruhundwa – Executive Director, Dignity Kwanza (Dar es Salaam)
20 May
New partnerships: How international organisations can support refugee-led organisations
Dana Al Anzy – Partnership Associate, Civil Society and NGO Division, UNHCR (Geneva)
Edmund Page – CEO, Xavier Project (Kenya & Uganda)
27 May
Rapid response to funding gaps: Philanthropic support for refugee-led initiatives
Anna Crowley – International Migration Initiative, Open Society Foundation (London)
Annemieke de Jong – Refugee Livelihoods Programme, IKEA Foundation (Leiden)
Anders Knudsen – DEMAC Initiative (Diaspora Emergency Action and Coordination), Danish Refugee Council (Copenhagen)
10 June
Limited room to manoeuvre: Refugee-led responses in camp settings
Nhial Deng – Chair, Refugee Youth Peace Ambassadors (Kakuma camp, Kenya)
Innocent Magambi – Executive Director, There is Hope (Dzaleka camp, Malawi)
Samuel Ouma Mijwang’a – Registered Nurse, Emergency Response Team, Kenya Red Cross Society (Dadaab camp, Kenya)
17 June
Affecting change from within: Refugees in international humanitarian organisations
Joelle Hangi – Intern, Innovation Service, UNHCR Regional Bureau in the East, Horn, and Great Lakes Regions of Africa (Nairobi)
Bahati Ernestine Hategekimana – Youth Activities Coordinator, Community Based Protection Unit, UNHCR Kenya Country Office (Nairobi)
Foni Joyce – Co-Chair, UNHCR Global Youth Advisory Council (Nairobi)