Tag: inclusion
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Dignity over Aid: The Requirements of a fairer and more inclusive approach to humanitarianism
In 2015, Cohere, which was then called Xavier Project, went to Kakuma refugee camp for the first time as part of a consortium delivering ed-tech homework solutions for refugees. The product, designed by an ed-tech company in Nairobi, was a set of homework quizzes on the Kenyan curriculum that ran on basic handsets through USSD…
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Agency, Inclusion and Trust-Based Relationships: a Triangle for a Just Society
The message we hear most often from the communities we work with is that the goal is not simply to escape poverty, insecurity or hardship in times of crisis. People seek justice, the dignity that comes from being treated as fully human, and the agency to shape their own futures rather than having them shaped…
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Leadership, Land and Belonging
Regenerative agriculture in refugee settings is often presented as a pathway to sustainability and renewal. Refugee-led organisations are already demonstrating what this can look like in practice. But these examples also raise a deeper question: if regeneration depends on long-term relationships to land, what happens when the people doing the work are not fully allowed…
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Help Without Organisation
How can help be channelled? Should humanitarian aid flow only through an organisation? We (Joseph, Adhiambo, and Jovial) recently spent 10 days travelling through Kampala and southwest Uganda, listening to refugee leaders and having very interesting conversations about how to truly listen to the community and understand the community’s needs. One of our heated discussions…
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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…