Tag: inclusion
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Education Under Strain: Displaced Children and Local Efforts to Sustain Learning in South Sudan
In a temporary classroom made of iron sheets, wooden poles, and bare ground, South Sudanese returnees, internally displaced children, and Sudanese refugee learners sit quietly, focused on their teacher. They are determined to learn with passion and curiosity despite the harsh environment surrounding them. Yet today, hundreds of these learners remain at risk of dropping…
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True Allyship Doesn’t Ask for Compromise
In December 2025 I spent five days in Geneva talking to refugee advocates, donors, intermediary organisations and others about funding refugee leadership. Cohere has been able to channel funding to over 100 refugee led organisations in the last decade and it is often assumed that Cohere’s goal is to get as much funding to refugee…
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‘Are you just going to write one of those reports?’
The question was simple, disarming even. It was our last day in Dadaab after being here for 11 days, spending time with the RLO leaders, listening about their work, their priorities, challenges, and overall telling us about their communities. This was the last field visit; we had just finished introductions on both organisations. There was…
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Leaning In and Listening from the Ground: Insights from a conference with Rwamwanja refugee farmers
“…solutions emerge when we lean in, listen carefully, and co-create with communities. Farmers already know what works and what is possible—they just need space, trust, and support to scale it.” In January, I had, what I can honestly call, the most interesting “conference” I have attended for a very long time. This time it was…
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Reflections from Geneva on funding flows and the agency gap
R-Space returning to Geneva alongside the GRF Progress Review came with something the sector rarely gets right; a programme designed around refugee leadership. Over three days, the space brought together refugee leaders, organisations, and allies across protection, localisation, disability inclusion, climate, economic inclusion, gender, etc and with a clear signal that refugee expertise belongs at…
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Participation is Not the Path to Inclusion
This is the first blog in a series examining the participation and inclusion of displacement-affected communities in the humanitarian sector. In the humanitarian sector, participation has become a performance. INGOs and other intermediaries use it as proof of accountability and legitimacy to donors, but the way it is structured reveals a system built to preserve…
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Voices from the Ground: When Visibility Replaces Value
In this episode of Voices from the Ground, I explore what it really means to be close to the community; and how trust-building and human relationships can reveal truths that reports and project metrics often miss. Recently, I spent time with a group of refugee women leaders in Rwamwanja settlement. I didn’t go with an…
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« De Réfugiée à Voix Active
Parlant de mon histoire, je suis née en République Démocratique du Congo, un pays riche de culture, de beauté mais aussi marqué par des instabilités profondes. Comme beaucoup, j’ai été contrainte de fuir, non pas parce que je le voulais, mais parce que la vie m’y oblige. Me retrouver en Ouganda comme réfugiée, c’était porter…
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On Shyness About Values
In many of the gatherings I find myself in, I’ve noticed how difficult it can be to talk openly about values. There often seems to be a kind of shyness — a hesitancy to name convictions, to speak of beliefs, or to use language that might be interpreted as ideological. That word, “ideology”, is uncomfortable…
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Language That Divides and Language That Connects
With aid cuts, worsening climate crises, conflict and wars across the globe, it is fair to wonder; why bother with language at all? Isn’t it a distraction from the real work? A change in vocabulary will not save lives or dismantle systems of oppression on its own; and too often, language reform becomes a cosmetic…