Engagement and Partnership with Organizations led by Displaced and Stateless Persons
Engagement and Partnership with Organizations led by Displaced and Stateless Persons
Organizations led by people affected by forced displacement, including refugee-led organizations (RLOs) and organizations led by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), stateless people, and other community-based organizations (CBOs), are more knowledgeable about the needs of their communities and are often the first responders in humanitarian emergencies providing protection and assistance.
UNHCR is committed to working with such organizations from local to global levels to ensure their meaningful participation in decisions that affect them.
What is UNHCR’s Task Team on Engagement and Partnership with Organizations led by displaced and Stateless Persons?
UNHCR's inter-divisional Task Team on Engagement and Partnership with Organizations led by Displaced and Stateless Persons was created in 2020, following the Global Refugee Forum 2019 (GRF). The Task Team aims to align internal UNHCR efforts and develop a framework on engagement of and partnership with organizations led by displaced and stateless persons, including those led by women, youth, LGBTIQ+ persons, persons with disabilities, and others. The Task Team is supported by a Refugee United Nations Volunteer (RUNV) and works closely together with UNHCR Regional Bureaux and the Advisory Board of Organizations led by Displaced and Stateless Persons.
Objectives Of the Task Team
- Develop guidance on engagement and partnership with organizations led by displaced and stateless people.
- Develop a modality for partnership with organizations led by displaced and stateless people on an equal basis. Find out more.
- Conduct a mapping and maintain an up-to-date database of organizations led by displaced and stateless people.
- Follow up on Global Refugee Forum (GRF) pledges on meaningful participation and partnership with organizations led by displaced and stateless people. Find out more.
- Create a repository and develop capacity-building material to enhance partnerships with organizations led by forcibly displaced and stateless people.
Which organizations led by forcibly displaced and stateless persons are members of UNHCR’s Advisory Board?
From 2020 to 2022, UNHCR's Task Team worked closely with an Interim Advisory Group of organizations led by displaced and stateless persons that provided valuable advice and co-developed some of the Task Team's deliverables. Following a fair and transparent selection process jointly developed with the Interim Advisory Group, 16 organizations led by displaced and stateless persons were selected to be part of UNHCR Advisory Board which will operate with a tenure of two years (2022-2024). This Board will act as a representative body for organizations led by displaced and stateless people and will play a critical role in providing advice to UNHCR’s Task Team as well as other global UNHCR efforts, based on their experiences and expertise.
> Discover the Member Organization and Representative Profiles.
Background
UNHCR, like other United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society actors, made the commitment at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016 to “Empower national and local humanitarian action”. The New York Declaration and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) both refer to the importance of engaging directly with forcibly displaced persons themselves. The Global Refugee Forum 2019 pledges equally stipulate meaningful engagement and partnerships. Engaging with CBOs is also rooted in UNHCR’s community-based protection approach and the UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity (2018), through which UNHCR commits to put the people with and for whom we work at the centre of decisions that affect their lives, and to ensure accountability to affected people.
Mapping of Community Based Organizations and organizations led by displaced and stateless people
Having a thorough understanding of the work of local community-led organizations, and organizations led by forcibly displaced and stateless people, will facilitate the engagement and collaboration with those actors and support UNHCR's endeavor to identify and address the barriers to meaningful participation at local, regional and global levels.
UNHCR is mapping local community-led organizations, and those led by forcibly displaced and stateless people and will use this information to identify and promote opportunities for engagement at all levels.
