WARM UP EXERCISE
Take a few seconds to reflect on the word “refugee”. What comes to mind?
Most people to whom we ask this question come up with images of remote camps full of tents with desperate people living inside them.
But is this the reality of refugee situations nowadays?
We at URBAN REFUGEES believe that the real situation is quite different, for two very simple reasons:
1. Most refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) nowadays do not live in camps. They live in cities and towns just like you and me. These urban refugees and IDPs are the invisible. Six million urban refugees and thirteen million urban IDPs in total
are living in cities and towns of the Global South.
2. Refugees do find themselves in desperate situations but they have under-considered strengths and talents that need to be leveraged.
The reason why we have these unrealistic pictures in mind has to do with the way refugee situations are pictured in the media and beyond. Most global media attention focuses on the plight of refugees in camps but this misses a crucial point: that the majority
of refugees and IDPs aren't living in any of them
WHO ARE THE INVISIBLE?
Millions of urban refugees and urban IDPs in developing countries live in the shadows and receive very little assistance. They can not put their children in schooling, they cannot access health systems when they fall ill, they do not have work rights, they
are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, they struggle to meet their basic needs, they face harassment and they at the risk of being arrested at every street corner. All of this is happening in complete invisibility
Each week, we receive moving testimonies like this one from Amadayo (name changed), who is an urban refugee living in the large capital city of a developing country:
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
At URBAN REFUGEES, we are convinced that new solutions are urgently needed. We believe that a large part of the solution lies within the urban refugee communities themselves, just waiting to be unlocked.
It is OUR mission to unlock this potential.
We also believe that new online tools can be an incredible way to bring about change: urban refugees, as the testimony of Amadayo shows, have access to internet.
They are connected. We are connected. Let's make this connection together and create real change.
HOW WE GENERATE CHANGE
- Urban refugees and IDPs haven’t waited for the international community to wake up: in their countries of asylum they have created self-help groups to support each other. We want to provide those self-help groups with the training that they need in management,
fundraising and networking so that they can assist their own communities more efficiently and with greater outcomes. To do that we need to create an online Platform where urban refugee groups can access those materials and request our assistance. Urban refugee
community groups who have already joined our movement have expressed the need for such a tool
- We also want them to be visible, to have a place at the table and advocate themselves for their own rights. Our organisation recently gained access to key global forums, including one held by the United Nations, and we want the voices of urban refugees
to be heard and represented in those spaces
What we need to achieve this is your support. We don’t want to make you feel upset and helpless about the situations that urban refugees and urban IDPs face. We want you to believe as much as we do in the potential for self-driven change in urban refugee
communities.
