Building resilience through co-design: new tools and learning for the migration sector

Across the refugee and migration sector, organisations are navigating increasingly complex challenges, from rising hostility and racism to funding pressures and capacity constraints. While commitment to anti-racist practice and resilience is strong, many organisations are asking the same question: how do we embed this work in ways that are practical, sustainable, and grounded in lived experience?

At Refugee Action, through our Insight to Action programme, we set out to explore this question by moving beyond insight alone and investing in solutions shaped by those closest to the work.

We’re pleased to share the Building Resilience Co-Design Project report, developed by Shift Up in partnership with four grassroots, lived experience–led organisations: Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), Reviving Links CIC, Minority Inclusion Front UK, and the Congolese Association of Merseyside.

From challenge to practical solutions

This project was commissioned in response to insights from the Insight Hub, which highlighted a clear gap: organisations are committed to building resilience and embedding anti-racist practice, but often lack the time, capacity, and tailored support to do this in meaningful ways.

Working with Shift Up consultancy, partners took part in a co-design and action research process. Rather than applying pre-defined solutions, each organisation was supported to:

• define and refine their core challenge
• explore root causes
• test and develop practical responses grounded in their context

A key learning from the project is simple but powerful: defining the problem is itself an intervention. Taking time to move beyond surface-level challenges enabled organisations to develop more focused, effective solutions.

Four organisations, four open resources

Through this process, each organisation developed a practical, open-source resource for the sector:

• A Safe Communication & Media Engagement Policy to support staff and young people facing increasing public hostility
• A Welcome Toolkit to help newly arrived people access essential services
• A Safe Disclosure & Support Framework for working with marginalised groups in complex settings
• A Communications Guide to strengthen how organisations share their work and shift public narratives

These resources are designed to be adaptable and accessible, offering starting points for organisations across the sector to build on in their own contexts.

What we learned

Alongside the tools, the project offers important learning for organisations, funders, and practitioners.

It highlights the importance of:

• creating space for meaningful participation and lived experience leadership
• being realistic about capacity and building in flexibility
• clarifying roles and expectations in co-design processes
• resourcing participation properly, including paying people with lived experience

It also shows that co-design is not a fixed model — it looks different depending on context, capacity, and the nature of the work. What matters is creating the conditions for genuine collaboration, reflection, and testing.

Why this matters now

In the current climate, the need for resilient, anti-racist, and community-led responses has never been greater. This project demonstrates that even within constraints, organisations can develop practical, meaningful solutions when they are supported to lead, reflect, and experiment.

For us, this work is part of a wider commitment through Insight to Action: turning insight into action, and action into shared learning for the sector.

Read the report and explore the resources

The full report and toolkits are now available to download. We hope they will support organisations across the migration sector to strengthen their practice, build resilience, and continue working toward a more just and equitable system.