“With European nations under stress from three million new refugees, the U.S. said it will substantially increase admissions for people fleeing Russia’s invasion.”
“With European nations under stress from three million new refugees, the U.S. said it will substantially increase admissions for people fleeing Russia’s invasion.”
“A 4-year-old Ukrainian boy named Max wearing a black jacket and gray hat fled Russian attacks along with his mother, while his father stayed behind to fight.”
“A 4-year-old Ukrainian boy named Max wearing a black jacket and gray hat fled Russian attacks along with his mother, while his father stayed behind to fight.”
In 2005, RefugePoint was founded to identify refugees who fall through the cracks of humanitarian aid. Over time, we began to develop full-service response models that look at long-term solutions that enable refugees to lead healthy, dignified lives and become contributing members of society again. These solutions, which are continuously evolving and advancing, are what makes RefugePoint unique.
By embracing curiosity and learning, we celebrate the emergence of innovative ideas to bring about positive change. That’s why, in 2021, RefugePoint partnered with The Giving Block and began accepting cryptocurrency donations to support a new generation of donors who want to make an impact through charitable giving beyond a standard cash donation. In a recent survey conducted by Pew Research, roughly 3 out of 10 Americans between 18-29 say they’ve bought or invested in crypto—half of which invested for the first time between 2020-2021. That’s not all:
As cryptocurrency continues to expand and change the landscape of commerce and philanthropy, RefugePoint wanted to be an early adopter to support this virtual currency and form of giving. Through our partnership with the Giving Block, supporters can now donate over 25 types of cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin, Ethereum, to Dogecoin. Once donated, RefugePoint immediately sells and converts the cryptocurrency into USD to support at-risk refugees around the world.
By accepting crypto as a form of giving, our goal is to give supporters more ways to connect with our mission. Cryptocurrency is a global payment network and, unlike traditional transaction methods such as credit card payments and ACH, which can take days to process and clear, donating cryptocurrency only takes minutes for RefugePoint to receive. Supporters can verify receipt of their gift from anywhere in the world, and they can donate anonymously. When donating cryptocurrency through our website, supporters can also choose to keep their name anonymous and avoid any enrollment into our mailing lists. Of course, we would love to know our donors so that we can express our gratitude directly and share impactful program updates, but we respect that some donors want to remain anonymous.
Not only is donating crypto easy, but if you live in the United States, the IRS has classified cryptocurrency as property. This allows donors who give via crypto, instead of cash, to avoid capital gains tax on the appreciated amount and deduct their gift come tax season. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations are now one of the most tax-efficient ways to support your favorite cause. Compare this to the alternate option of selling crypto and donating the after-tax assets, which would be subject to a 23.8% long-term federal capital gains tax rate as well as state level taxes depending on where you live. Yikes!
Besides its tax advantages for our donors, RefugePoint believes cryptocurrency has the potential to be used as a force of good. In many countries around the world, women face difficulties in accessing funds and generating income – cryptocurrency gives them an opportunity to sidestep these challenges due to its privacy and decentralized nature.
Cryptocurrencies are held in a virtual wallet that requires a private key to access them, making it nearly impossible for family members or members of the government to take away the account. These wallets also use pseudonyms which ensures a woman’s crypto account is kept private. Additionally, due to cryptocurrency being decentralized, this currency exists outside of government and central authority control meaning any limiting banking rules that women face do not impact their crypto wallet.
Further, in countries where the economy is collapsing or financial entities cannot be trusted, cryptocurrency provides a stable solution to accessing funds. For example, following the 2021 Afghanistan crisis, the country’s economy began to collapse leaving Afghans unable to withdraw large sums. One organization found a solution and was able to send money to female students in Afghanistan via cryptocurrency. Supporting women, especially refugee women, is a big part of our mission, and we will continue to support the cryptocurrencies that make stories like this possible.
Cryptocurrency donations support all of RefugePoint’s programs, including the Sponsor Circle Program, which was launched in the fall of 2021 to support Afghan refugees, as well as our other programs that support refugees on a pathway to self-reliance and safety. To learn more about our programs and what we do, click here.
At RefugePoint, we accept no barriers to achieving our mission and supporting those at-risk around the world. Accepting cryptocurrency is just one of the ways we make this possible.
Interested in making double the impact with your crypto donation to RefugePoint? To celebrate The Giving Block joining the Shift4 family, Shift4’s CEO Jared Isaacman will match $10M in crypto charitable donations to nonprofit organizations, such as RefugePoint, on The Giving Block!
Do you have other questions about cryptocurrency? Check out our FAQs here.
In 2005, RefugePoint was founded to identify refugees who fall through the cracks of humanitarian aid. Over time, we began to develop full-service response models that look at long-term solutions that enable refugees to lead healthy, dignified lives and become contributing members of society again. These solutions, which are continuously evolving and advancing, are what makes RefugePoint unique.
By embracing curiosity and learning, we celebrate the emergence of innovative ideas to bring about positive change. That’s why, in 2021, RefugePoint partnered with The Giving Block and began accepting cryptocurrency donations to support a new generation of donors who want to make an impact through charitable giving beyond a standard cash donation. In a recent survey conducted by Pew Research, roughly 3 out of 10 Americans between 18-29 say they’ve bought or invested in crypto—half of which invested for the first time between 2020-2021. That’s not all:
As cryptocurrency continues to expand and change the landscape of commerce and philanthropy, RefugePoint wanted to be an early adopter to support this virtual currency and form of giving. Through our partnership with the Giving Block, supporters can now donate over 25 types of cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin, Ethereum, to Dogecoin. Once donated, RefugePoint immediately sells and converts the cryptocurrency into USD to support at-risk refugees around the world.
By accepting crypto as a form of giving, our goal is to give supporters more ways to connect with our mission. Cryptocurrency is a global payment network and, unlike traditional transaction methods such as credit card payments and ACH, which can take days to process and clear, donating cryptocurrency only takes minutes for RefugePoint to receive. Supporters can verify receipt of their gift from anywhere in the world, and they can donate anonymously. When donating cryptocurrency through our website, supporters can also choose to keep their name anonymous and avoid any enrollment into our mailing lists. Of course, we would love to know our donors so that we can express our gratitude directly and share impactful program updates, but we respect that some donors want to remain anonymous.
Not only is donating crypto easy, but if you live in the United States, the IRS has classified cryptocurrency as property. This allows donors who give via crypto, instead of cash, to avoid capital gains tax on the appreciated amount and deduct their gift come tax season. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations are now one of the most tax-efficient ways to support your favorite cause. Compare this to the alternate option of selling crypto and donating the after-tax assets, which would be subject to a 23.8% long-term federal capital gains tax rate as well as state level taxes depending on where you live. Yikes!
Besides its tax advantages for our donors, RefugePoint believes cryptocurrency has the potential to be used as a force of good. In many countries around the world, women face difficulties in accessing funds and generating income – cryptocurrency gives them an opportunity to sidestep these challenges due to its privacy and decentralized nature.
Cryptocurrencies are held in a virtual wallet that requires a private key to access them, making it nearly impossible for family members or members of the government to take away the account. These wallets also use pseudonyms which ensures a woman’s crypto account is kept private. Additionally, due to cryptocurrency being decentralized, this currency exists outside of government and central authority control meaning any limiting banking rules that women face do not impact their crypto wallet.
Further, in countries where the economy is collapsing or financial entities cannot be trusted, cryptocurrency provides a stable solution to accessing funds. For example, following the 2021 Afghanistan crisis, the country’s economy began to collapse leaving Afghans unable to withdraw large sums. One organization found a solution and was able to send money to female students in Afghanistan via cryptocurrency. Supporting women, especially refugee women, is a big part of our mission, and we will continue to support the cryptocurrencies that make stories like this possible.
Cryptocurrency donations support all of RefugePoint’s programs, including the Sponsor Circle Program, which was launched in the fall of 2021 to support Afghan refugees, as well as our other programs that support refugees on a pathway to self-reliance and safety. To learn more about our programs and what we do, click here.
At RefugePoint, we accept no barriers to achieving our mission and supporting those at-risk around the world. Accepting cryptocurrency is just one of the ways we make this possible.
Interested in making double the impact with your crypto donation to RefugePoint? To celebrate The Giving Block joining the Shift4 family, Shift4’s CEO Jared Isaacman will match $10M in crypto charitable donations to nonprofit organizations, such as RefugePoint, on The Giving Block!
Do you have other questions about cryptocurrency? Check out our FAQs here.
Nearly one million people have already fled Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on February 24th, according to the UN Refugee Agency, which is tracking ongoing displacement figures. Russia continues to strike residential and government buildings, killing over 2,000 civilians and leaving thousands internally displaced. RefugePoint urges all nations, including the neighboring countries of Ukraine, to act in solidarity and support Ukrainians remaining in their country and those fleeing violence.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 left over 1.5 million Ukrainians internally displaced. Additionally, 2.9 million people were estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance prior to last week’s invasion. The humanitarian needs within Ukraine are now much greater and the international community must do everything within its power to assist Ukrainians at this moment.
Neighboring countries have rightfully kept their borders open for refugees fleeing Ukraine. These borders must remain open, offering humane reception and a fair asylum process for all. RefugePoint decries the segregation occurring at Ukrainian borders and the reported inhumane treatment of African and Indian students and immigrants. Many eye-witnesses have recounted priority exit out of Ukraine for white Ukrainians, while black and Indian people have been blocked at borders. RefugePoint urges nations welcoming refugees to provide protection for all those affected, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or religion. Everyone should have the opportunity to flee from danger.
“Today, the urgency to protect lives and help people to safety in whatever way possible is paramount. In particular, this must be done in an equitable manner without regard to race or nationality. Everything takes a back seat to the imperative to protect lives right now,” said Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint’s Founder and CEO.
The UN estimates that 7 million Ukrainians will be internally displaced and 4 million will flee the country as refugees. The UN Refugee Agency, one of our partners active in the region, has been mobilizing to provide immediate support. Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the agency, said, “At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.”
To support Ukrainians currently in the U.S., the Biden administration should immediately grant temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukraine. 39 U.S. senators have already called on the administration to grant TPS, stating “we respectfully request that your Administration promptly take all necessary steps to ensure that Ukrainian nationals present in the United States are not forced to return to Ukraine, including the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).”
While the protection of Ukrainians and other vulnerable populations affected by this invasion is of utmost concern, we must not lose sight of the numerous protracted conflicts around the globe. As with any crisis, resources devoted to assisting those affected by Russian aggression should not detract from support and pathways to safety for those in other locations. Refugees fleeing Tigray, Syria, Afghanistan, and various other regions are still in great need of humanitarian support and pathways to safety.
RefugePoint remains devoted to advancing lasting solutions for at-risk refugees. We commend the incredible efforts to support the Ukrainian people and all those affected by the Russian invasion.
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Nearly one million people have already fled Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on February 24th, according to the UN Refugee Agency, which is tracking ongoing displacement figures. Russia continues to strike residential and government buildings, killing over 2,000 civilians and leaving thousands internally displaced. RefugePoint urges all nations, including the neighboring countries of Ukraine, to act in solidarity and support Ukrainians remaining in their country and those fleeing violence.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 left over 1.5 million Ukrainians internally displaced. Additionally, 2.9 million people were estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance prior to last week’s invasion. The humanitarian needs within Ukraine are now much greater and the international community must do everything within its power to assist Ukrainians at this moment.
Neighboring countries have rightfully kept their borders open for refugees fleeing Ukraine. These borders must remain open, offering humane reception and a fair asylum process for all. RefugePoint decries the segregation occurring at Ukrainian borders and the reported inhumane treatment of African and Indian students and immigrants. Many eye-witnesses have recounted priority exit out of Ukraine for white Ukrainians, while black and Indian people have been blocked at borders. RefugePoint urges nations welcoming refugees to provide protection for all those affected, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or religion. Everyone should have the opportunity to flee from danger.
“Today, the urgency to protect lives and help people to safety in whatever way possible is paramount. In particular, this must be done in an equitable manner without regard to race or nationality. Everything takes a back seat to the imperative to protect lives right now,” said Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint’s Founder and CEO.
The UN estimates that 7 million Ukrainians will be internally displaced and 4 million will flee the country as refugees. The UN Refugee Agency, one of our partners active in the region, has been mobilizing to provide immediate support. Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the agency, said, “At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.”
To support Ukrainians currently in the U.S., the Biden administration should immediately grant temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukraine. 39 U.S. senators have already called on the administration to grant TPS, stating “we respectfully request that your Administration promptly take all necessary steps to ensure that Ukrainian nationals present in the United States are not forced to return to Ukraine, including the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).”
While the protection of Ukrainians and other vulnerable populations affected by this invasion is of utmost concern, we must not lose sight of the numerous protracted conflicts around the globe. As with any crisis, resources devoted to assisting those affected by Russian aggression should not detract from support and pathways to safety for those in other locations. Refugees fleeing Tigray, Syria, Afghanistan, and various other regions are still in great need of humanitarian support and pathways to safety.
RefugePoint remains devoted to advancing lasting solutions for at-risk refugees. We commend the incredible efforts to support the Ukrainian people and all those affected by the Russian invasion.
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Many of the youth that our Child Protection Experts work with have experienced and continue to deal with extreme trauma. After working on a particularly difficult and complex case for a child who had been tortured as a child soldier and was experiencing horrific physical and psychological injuries, one of our Experts reflected:
The child’s case reminds me that inasmuch as we are humanitarian workers, we are humans first and we have emotions. As humanitarians, we easily can suffer from vicarious trauma or other related traumas as a result of the different caseloads we manage. There is fulfillment in following up a dire case and seeing tremendous progress from basic needs being met, to medical conditions improving, and psychological status also improving. However, all this is not possible if different agencies with different strengths do not work together, and it is also not possible if regular psychological debriefing is not prioritized for direct staff, especially caseworkers who encounter traumatizing events on a daily basis.
In an effort to enhance that support, our Expert contacted his regional Senior Mental Health Officer to organize a virtual training on Psychological First Aid. He worked with her to create two different sessions: one focused on staff supporting adults, and another for those working with children. The participants came from all different departments, and our Expert reported that the staff members felt much more prepared to deal with difficult situations after learning new techniques.
Mental health support is absolutely integral for refugees trying to recover from the traumas they have endured, and providing staff with the skills to assist in that healing process is key. Moreover, giving staff the resources to monitor their own mental health is equally instrumental.
Many of the youth that our Child Protection Experts work with have experienced and continue to deal with extreme trauma. After working on a particularly difficult and complex case for a child who had been tortured as a child soldier and was experiencing horrific physical and psychological injuries, one of our Experts reflected:
The child’s case reminds me that inasmuch as we are humanitarian workers, we are humans first and we have emotions. As humanitarians, we easily can suffer from vicarious trauma or other related traumas as a result of the different caseloads we manage. There is fulfillment in following up a dire case and seeing tremendous progress from basic needs being met, to medical conditions improving, and psychological status also improving. However, all this is not possible if different agencies with different strengths do not work together, and it is also not possible if regular psychological debriefing is not prioritized for direct staff, especially caseworkers who encounter traumatizing events on a daily basis.
In an effort to enhance that support, our Expert contacted his regional Senior Mental Health Officer to organize a virtual training on Psychological First Aid. He worked with her to create two different sessions: one focused on staff supporting adults, and another for those working with children. The participants came from all different departments, and our Expert reported that the staff members felt much more prepared to deal with difficult situations after learning new techniques.
Mental health support is absolutely integral for refugees trying to recover from the traumas they have endured, and providing staff with the skills to assist in that healing process is key. Moreover, giving staff the resources to monitor their own mental health is equally instrumental.
“Adam Raskin, a rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Md., knew how difficult the situation was for Afghan refugees in the Washington region.”
“Adam Raskin, a rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Md., knew how difficult the situation was for Afghan refugees in the Washington region.”
Fadumo makes a living selling dresses and textiles at a street stall in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area. Like so many others, the pandemic impacted her business and put her in a difficult financial position. After completing RefugePoint’s Business Skills Training, Fadumo received a small business grant as part of COVID-19 recovery efforts for our clients. See how the recovery of her business contributed to the well-being of her family:
Fadumo makes a living selling dresses and textiles at a street stall in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area. Like so many others, the pandemic impacted her business and put her in a difficult financial position. After completing RefugePoint’s Business Skills Training, Fadumo received a small business grant as part of COVID-19 recovery efforts for our clients. See how the recovery of her business contributed to the well-being of her family:
Like any story, our casework database began with an idea. In 2007, RefugePoint was two years old and only supporting urban refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Part of that program included referring refugees who we worked with for resettlement to a safe country, and we began to wonder if we could provide support on resettlement cases outside of Nairobi. What RefugePoint now calls the UNHCR Collaboration Project started when we sent a pair of Resettlement Experts to Dadaab, a refugee camp about 300 miles northeast of Nairobi, to interview refugees and submit their cases for resettlement. Experts are RefugePoint employees who work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide support in refugee resettlement, child protection, family reunification, or building other pathways. Fourteen years later, RefugePoint has sent Experts to 49 different countries to support more than 100,000 refugees to access resettlement and other pathways to safety.
Since those first exploratory missions in 2007, RefugePoint has kept track of the various types of casework we’ve done to assist refugees. In addition to submitting people’s cases for resettlement, Experts have also helped refugees access other pathways to safety, such as reuniting with their families, applying to study at universities in safe countries, accessing humanitarian flights, or seeking work opportunities abroad. Still others focus on supporting children, conducting assessments to support resettlement applications, and helping separated and unaccompanied children find the support they need. In each of these different initiatives, Experts have shared data summarizing their work so that we can keep track of the various activities as well as trainings they’ve conducted to strengthen the capacity of their coworkers and share knowledge and experience.
RefugePoint collects casework and narrative data from Experts for many reasons. Most importantly, we use it to measure our progress and impact. Observing trends in casework numbers over time can show how global events impact how we serve refugee communities and respond to evolving needs in an ever-changing context. As you can see in the chart below, our numbers show two particularly significant declines in the number of refugees we’ve supported: 2017 was the first year under the Trump administration in which the United States began drastically reducing the number of refugees it would accept, and the 2020 pandemic cut our casework in half. So far in 2021 (we only have data through the end of September, as I’m writing this), we’ve made up some considerable progress, but COVID-19 is still impacting our work.
There are over 35,000 pieces of casework in our database. Each one represents an Expert sitting down with a refugee (or their story, if they are reviewing casework) and attempting to move them one step closer to a lasting solution. I don’t know each refugee’s story. In our organizational commitment to ensuring the safety of the refugees we work with, RefugePoint does not collect any data that could identify the refugees our Experts have worked with. When our Experts do occasionally share stories that we share publicly, we ensure anonymity when appropriate and always seek multiple levels of confirmation from our Experts and their offices before publication. Those 35,000 pieces of casework are anonymous. They can’t tell me the individual stories of the people we work with every day. However, the data we work with does tell important stories about the work we do.
Data and numbers don’t have to be lifeless; in fact, they tell poignant truths about both the unique occurrences and shared experiences refugees may live through. What is absolutely necessary to remember about the data in our database, however, is that this is all based on work that our Experts have done. Refugees are at the center of everything we do at RefugePoint, and the stories we tell with this data give a snapshot of the steps RefugePoint Experts take alongside these refugees and their families as they seek a safe home. For example, since July 2020, RefugePoint has assisted over 100 refugees who have applied to study at universities in Canada, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, and Ukraine. This support can take many forms: our Experts have identified refugees in the communities they serve who are eligible for the special programs countries and universities have for refugees, provided technological support as they submitted their applications, or helped negotiate for a more comprehensive financial aid package.
Our database features casework from 156 different Experts who have worked with us for terms as short as a few months to over a decade. There are also instances where multiple Experts will collaborate on the same case. One in particular starts to read like a story. One of our Child Protection Experts reviewed an initial assessment for a group of five children. She conducted a more formal assessment herself so that a RefugePoint Resettlement Expert could write a resettlement application for those siblings. Not long after, one of our first Family Reunification Experts provided legal support necessary to help reunite those children with their family. This is a clear example of how much work it can take to find a safe home. Stories like these are an exception. Many others aren’t as lucky. Less than 1% of refugees in need of resettlement are actually able to access it each year (UNHCR). But reunions and new beginnings do happen, and this data illuminates the work RefugePoint does to assist refugees along the way.
Our longest-serving Expert, who started working in RefugePoint’s Urban Refugee Protection Program in Nairobi before transitioning to the UNHCR Collaboration Project in 2011, has done child protection and family reunification work in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Mozambique, Iraq, Turkey, and Ethiopia. According to our database, she has completed casework for 1,856 children in that time. If we count their families, she has made a lasting impact on the lives of 5,609 people.
When we take those numbers and combine them with the narrative reports Experts submit, their own words add another human dimension to the numbers we collect. As a Program Officer living and working thousands of miles away from the places where our Experts are interviewing refugees, this data gives me a chance to more fully understand and connect to the work we do. When we present data that demonstrates positive impact and share stories like these, remote staff, donors, and readers like you have a chance to see beyond the constant stream of tragic news stories. They remind us that those individual actions—interviews, assessment reviews, legal support—are life-altering for the thousands of people we work with every year. They demand that we continue working to make resettlement and other pathways to safety accessible to more people who need it. And they give us a chance to appreciate the valuable work Experts are doing.
Like any story, our casework database began with an idea. In 2007, RefugePoint was two years old and only supporting urban refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Part of that program included referring refugees who we worked with for resettlement to a safe country, and we began to wonder if we could provide support on resettlement cases outside of Nairobi. What RefugePoint now calls the UNHCR Collaboration Project started when we sent a pair of Resettlement Experts to Dadaab, a refugee camp about 300 miles northeast of Nairobi, to interview refugees and submit their cases for resettlement. Experts are RefugePoint employees who work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide support in refugee resettlement, child protection, family reunification, or building other pathways. Fourteen years later, RefugePoint has sent Experts to 49 different countries to support more than 100,000 refugees to access resettlement and other pathways to safety.
Since those first exploratory missions in 2007, RefugePoint has kept track of the various types of casework we’ve done to assist refugees. In addition to submitting people’s cases for resettlement, Experts have also helped refugees access other pathways to safety, such as reuniting with their families, applying to study at universities in safe countries, accessing humanitarian flights, or seeking work opportunities abroad. Still others focus on supporting children, conducting assessments to support resettlement applications, and helping separated and unaccompanied children find the support they need. In each of these different initiatives, Experts have shared data summarizing their work so that we can keep track of the various activities as well as trainings they’ve conducted to strengthen the capacity of their coworkers and share knowledge and experience.
RefugePoint collects casework and narrative data from Experts for many reasons. Most importantly, we use it to measure our progress and impact. Observing trends in casework numbers over time can show how global events impact how we serve refugee communities and respond to evolving needs in an ever-changing context. As you can see in the chart below, our numbers show two particularly significant declines in the number of refugees we’ve supported: 2017 was the first year under the Trump administration in which the United States began drastically reducing the number of refugees it would accept, and the 2020 pandemic cut our casework in half. So far in 2021 (we only have data through the end of September, as I’m writing this), we’ve made up some considerable progress, but COVID-19 is still impacting our work.
There are over 35,000 pieces of casework in our database. Each one represents an Expert sitting down with a refugee (or their story, if they are reviewing casework) and attempting to move them one step closer to a lasting solution. I don’t know each refugee’s story. In our organizational commitment to ensuring the safety of the refugees we work with, RefugePoint does not collect any data that could identify the refugees our Experts have worked with. When our Experts do occasionally share stories that we share publicly, we ensure anonymity when appropriate and always seek multiple levels of confirmation from our Experts and their offices before publication. Those 35,000 pieces of casework are anonymous. They can’t tell me the individual stories of the people we work with every day. However, the data we work with does tell important stories about the work we do.
Data and numbers don’t have to be lifeless; in fact, they tell poignant truths about both the unique occurrences and shared experiences refugees may live through. What is absolutely necessary to remember about the data in our database, however, is that this is all based on work that our Experts have done. Refugees are at the center of everything we do at RefugePoint, and the stories we tell with this data give a snapshot of the steps RefugePoint Experts take alongside these refugees and their families as they seek a safe home. For example, since July 2020, RefugePoint has assisted over 100 refugees who have applied to study at universities in Canada, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, and Ukraine. This support can take many forms: our Experts have identified refugees in the communities they serve who are eligible for the special programs countries and universities have for refugees, provided technological support as they submitted their applications, or helped negotiate for a more comprehensive financial aid package.
Our database features casework from 156 different Experts who have worked with us for terms as short as a few months to over a decade. There are also instances where multiple Experts will collaborate on the same case. One in particular starts to read like a story. One of our Child Protection Experts reviewed an initial assessment for a group of five children. She conducted a more formal assessment herself so that a RefugePoint Resettlement Expert could write a resettlement application for those siblings. Not long after, one of our first Family Reunification Experts provided legal support necessary to help reunite those children with their family. This is a clear example of how much work it can take to find a safe home. Stories like these are an exception. Many others aren’t as lucky. Less than 1% of refugees in need of resettlement are actually able to access it each year (UNHCR). But reunions and new beginnings do happen, and this data illuminates the work RefugePoint does to assist refugees along the way.
Our longest-serving Expert, who started working in RefugePoint’s Urban Refugee Protection Program in Nairobi before transitioning to the UNHCR Collaboration Project in 2011, has done child protection and family reunification work in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Mozambique, Iraq, Turkey, and Ethiopia. According to our database, she has completed casework for 1,856 children in that time. If we count their families, she has made a lasting impact on the lives of 5,609 people.
When we take those numbers and combine them with the narrative reports Experts submit, their own words add another human dimension to the numbers we collect. As a Program Officer living and working thousands of miles away from the places where our Experts are interviewing refugees, this data gives me a chance to more fully understand and connect to the work we do. When we present data that demonstrates positive impact and share stories like these, remote staff, donors, and readers like you have a chance to see beyond the constant stream of tragic news stories. They remind us that those individual actions—interviews, assessment reviews, legal support—are life-altering for the thousands of people we work with every year. They demand that we continue working to make resettlement and other pathways to safety accessible to more people who need it. And they give us a chance to appreciate the valuable work Experts are doing.
“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” – Albert Einstein
MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) is a critical function of any organization, particularly in the nonprofit sector. The approach to MEL varies greatly from one organization to another, reflecting and driving organizational culture and values. Historically, the purpose of MEL has largely been to demonstrate and uphold transparency and accountability, particularly to donors, boards, governments, senior management, etc. As a result, MEL activities prioritize the prerogatives and perceptions of power holders, not of those directly impacted by the work.
When external stakeholders are prioritized above all else, MEL does not generate the most valuable, reliable, robust, credible evidence of change and impact. In addition, the “L” of MEL is often missing from organizational systems and processes, despite knowing that evidence-based learning and adaptation is a necessary part of ensuring effectiveness and impact. For these and other reasons, evidence has shown that upward-accountability-focused MEL is antithetical to the mission and vision of civil society organizations, particularly those focused on beneficiary-led initiatives and interventions.
More recently, several connected themes have emerged to advance how we think about learning and accountability. First is the recognition, particularly by rights-focused organizations, that people served by development and humanitarian organizations must have a say in program design, implementation, adaptations, and desired impact. While this has been influenced by rights-based programming, numerous scandals have highlighted high costs and wastage when people are not engaged.
The second theme is the acknowledgment that the concept of one NGO single-handedly solving complex social problems (wicked problems; social messes) is a fallacy. Change is complex, authentic partnerships are required, and the pursuit of attribution is methodologically impossible.
Finally, the emergence of strong anti-colonialism/anti-racism movements in connection with the rise of localization has forced the sector to confront long-standing unequal power dynamics, and to meaningfully address the questions of whose voices matter and who defines changes and impact.
“Evaluation is only worth doing and only ethical if the findings are used to improve the reality of the participants. The utility of the findings starts with your methods and the extent to which the voice of the participants is reflected in them.” – Susan Wolfe, Evaluator and Community Psychologist
RefugePoint recognizes that the objective of MEL is to strengthen effectiveness and impact through a balance of learning and accountability, where learning sits at the heart of accountability. We understand and embrace the connectedness of organizational values (continuous learning, accountability, client-focused, excellence, and solidarity), culture and MEL, particularly as we continue on our anti-racism/anti-colonialism journey and seek to be truly refugee-centered. To that end, we have begun introducing a comprehensive agency-wide MEL system that includes and prioritizes the following components:
RefugePoint is committed to a pathway that enables us to become anti-racist and anti-colonialist, where we generate and use evidence of our contributions to longer-term changes and impact, and create spaces for the voices of refugees to guide our understanding of what we need to do and how well we have done. We know that this means not only revising policies but also changing processes and culture—in other words, facilitating structural changes internally and externally that are regularly assessed and improved where needed. Over the last 12 months, RefugePoint has introduced a number of initiatives to strengthen our MEL system in ways that increase and improve learning, foster refugee-centeredness, and emphasize awareness of the impact of power differentials. These initiatives include the following:
Moving forward, we plan to continue the roll-out and improvement of the above and prioritize the implementation and use of reviews and evaluations to understand, learn, and demonstrate our effectiveness. We want everyone who is part of RefugePoint to be involved with defining and understanding what difference we make, in ways that are empowering, especially to refugees, but not overly onerous, and enable us to learn and adapt.
“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” – Albert Einstein
MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) is a critical function of any organization, particularly in the nonprofit sector. The approach to MEL varies greatly from one organization to another, reflecting and driving organizational culture and values. Historically, the purpose of MEL has largely been to demonstrate and uphold transparency and accountability, particularly to donors, boards, governments, senior management, etc. As a result, MEL activities prioritize the prerogatives and perceptions of power holders, not of those directly impacted by the work.
When external stakeholders are prioritized above all else, MEL does not generate the most valuable, reliable, robust, credible evidence of change and impact. In addition, the “L” of MEL is often missing from organizational systems and processes, despite knowing that evidence-based learning and adaptation is a necessary part of ensuring effectiveness and impact. For these and other reasons, evidence has shown that upward-accountability-focused MEL is antithetical to the mission and vision of civil society organizations, particularly those focused on beneficiary-led initiatives and interventions.
More recently, several connected themes have emerged to advance how we think about learning and accountability. First is the recognition, particularly by rights-focused organizations, that people served by development and humanitarian organizations must have a say in program design, implementation, adaptations, and desired impact. While this has been influenced by rights-based programming, numerous scandals have highlighted high costs and wastage when people are not engaged.
The second theme is the acknowledgment that the concept of one NGO single-handedly solving complex social problems (wicked problems; social messes) is a fallacy. Change is complex, authentic partnerships are required, and the pursuit of attribution is methodologically impossible.
Finally, the emergence of strong anti-colonialism/anti-racism movements in connection with the rise of localization has forced the sector to confront long-standing unequal power dynamics, and to meaningfully address the questions of whose voices matter and who defines changes and impact.
“Evaluation is only worth doing and only ethical if the findings are used to improve the reality of the participants. The utility of the findings starts with your methods and the extent to which the voice of the participants is reflected in them.” – Susan Wolfe, Evaluator and Community Psychologist
RefugePoint recognizes that the objective of MEL is to strengthen effectiveness and impact through a balance of learning and accountability, where learning sits at the heart of accountability. We understand and embrace the connectedness of organizational values (continuous learning, accountability, client-focused, excellence, and solidarity), culture and MEL, particularly as we continue on our anti-racism/anti-colonialism journey and seek to be truly refugee-centered. To that end, we have begun introducing a comprehensive agency-wide MEL system that includes and prioritizes the following components:
RefugePoint is committed to a pathway that enables us to become anti-racist and anti-colonialist, where we generate and use evidence of our contributions to longer-term changes and impact, and create spaces for the voices of refugees to guide our understanding of what we need to do and how well we have done. We know that this means not only revising policies but also changing processes and culture—in other words, facilitating structural changes internally and externally that are regularly assessed and improved where needed. Over the last 12 months, RefugePoint has introduced a number of initiatives to strengthen our MEL system in ways that increase and improve learning, foster refugee-centeredness, and emphasize awareness of the impact of power differentials. These initiatives include the following:
Moving forward, we plan to continue the roll-out and improvement of the above and prioritize the implementation and use of reviews and evaluations to understand, learn, and demonstrate our effectiveness. We want everyone who is part of RefugePoint to be involved with defining and understanding what difference we make, in ways that are empowering, especially to refugees, but not overly onerous, and enable us to learn and adapt.
“An American host helped my family thrive after we escaped from Afghanistan. Now a new program lets the next generation of Americans do the same,” writes Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner.”
“An American host helped my family thrive after we escaped from Afghanistan. Now a new program lets the next generation of Americans do the same,” writes Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner.”
Join us at RefugePoint’s 20th Anniversary Gala on Tuesday, October 14. Tickets are now on sale!
