Executive Summary

The Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative recognizes and uplifts the role refugee-led organizations (RLOs) are playing in supporting their communities’ access to safety, inclusion and solutions all over the world. Importantly, RLOs do this with virtually no funding; of the nearly $30 billion flowing through the humanitarian system annually, RLOs collectively receive less than 1%. This must change - and our coalition of five RLOs (Basmeh & Zeitooneh, Refugiados Unidos, Refugees and Asylum Seekers Information Centre, Saint Andrew’s Refugee Services, and Young African Refugees for Integral Development), together with convening organization Asylum Access, can change this. Harnessing our proximate knowledge and advocacy and capacity building expertises, we will unlock $40 million for RLOs, enabling at least 45 RLOs to support ~1,000,000 refugees to address critical needs like access to documentation, economic opportunity, education, healthcare, and food security. Core to our success will be the launch of the RLO-to-RLO Fund, which will put philanthropic power in the hands of refugees.