Call to organisations: Join a Building Resilience Co-design Project

Do you lead/ work for a grassroots or lived experience-led organisation in the migration sector committed to anti-racism? Would you like tailored support to strengthen your organisation against racism, threats, and hostility and help co-create an open-source resource?

Apply now to join a group of organisations receiving tailored support to strengthen safety and resilience in the face of racism, rising threats, and hostility—while co-designing valuable learning to share across the sector.

1. Setting the scene 

This project, delivered through the Insight to Action Programme, is rooted in insights gathered through our Insight Hub and responds to a need within the sector for accessible, sustainable anti-racism support (See bulletin 28). Specialist training and support is invaluable but can be costly and therefore difficult to access for some organisations without specific budgets to allocate to the work. We are seeking to pilot a collaborative, co-designed project that centres the expertise and experience of some of those organisations. 

We run regular surveys to track trends and identify sector-wide challenges. In response, we develop resources and training through our Collective Support initiatives, helping organisations adapt and strengthen their work. Bulletin 28 highlighted barriers such as racism, rising hostility, limited capacity, and funding pressures that undermine organisational resilience. 

There’s a strong call for deeper community engagement, more lived experience leadership, and practical support—such as clearer policies, better collaboration infrastructure, and guidance from trusted organisations like HOPE Not Hate and collated information from Migration Exchange. We will be working with a consultant/ consultancy to help harness commitment to change into practical, shareable outputs that can drive sustainable change across the sector alongside recommendations for embedding safe and resilient practices. 

2. About the Project

Aims

• Four organisations receive one to one support with an aspect of building resilience in their organisations. 
• These organisations come together to co-create learning/ a resource with a consultant
• The learning and outputs are shared widely to promote tools and practice for resilient anti-racist practice. 

Key Objectives

• Each organisation identifies a focus area of resilience building and is supported by a consultant to develop their work areas
• Development work is documented by the consultant
• A debrief is designed and convened to share learning, discuss potential outputs and develop a shared resource. 
• A resource which is practical, meaningful, and sustainable is created
• The process and outputs are accessible, inclusive, and rooted in equity.

3. What’s Involved

If selected, your organisation will:

• Receive project support from the Insight Hub Team (onboarding in October 2025). 
• Participate in a co-design session with 3 other Lived Experience Led or grassroots organisations to identify key areas of work to support resilience/ safety building/ and/ or embedding anti-racist practices (November)
• Receive 3-4 one-to-one sessions over a period of 2-3 months to develop a piece of work (November to January)
• Participate in a debrief meeting to share learning and discuss potential outputs (January)
• Support the creation of a practical, meaningful, and sustainable final resource (January - February)
• Provide course feedback (February)

Your organisation will receive £500 - £1000 in engagement expenses providing you engage with all aspects of the programme. 

4. Who Should Apply

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Organisations who meet all the following criteria will be prioritised: 

• Your organisation is lived experience led (of forced migration)/ grassroots led

• The lead participant has lived experience of forced migration

• Your organisation is engaged with the Insight Hub (have completed 1-2 surveys and/ or attended at least one call this year). 

• You commit to attending the co-design workshop in November and the debrief in January.

• You commit to all one to one sessions with the consultant and to actioning recommendations. 

• Your organisation has an assigned lead who is committed to the aims and objectives of the project

• Senior Leadership from the organisation must be engaged with the project and supportive of making capacity for the lead to engage with the work. 

5. How to Apply

Complete the application form by Monday 20th October (midnight).

If you have questions or need support with the application process, please contact:
📧 pascaleg@refugee-action.org.uk

The questions in the form are below if you would like to prepare prior to completing the application form. 

1. Full name:
2. Contact email address (ideally work)
3. Name of organisation
4. Is your organisation led by people with lived experience of forced migration?
5. If you answered yes to the last question, please explain your answer. 
6. Do you work for a grassroots organisation? 
7. Annual turnover? (0-£250,000, £250, 000 - £500,000, £500,000- £1,000,000, over £1 million
8. Who will lead the project?
9. What is their role in the organisation? 
10. Do they have lived experience of forced migration? 
11. Which member of senior management is going to oversee the work and ensure that the lead has capacity to engage? 
12. Is your organisation committed to attending all sessions and providing feedback at the end of the project (dates include, 30th October and 4th and 7th November)?
13. Why do you want to be part of this project? 
14. Have you completed an Insight Hub survey this year (2025)? 
15. Have you attended an Insight Hub call this year (2025)? 
16. We will run an additional session for trustees of your organisation (ideally the chair). Can you agree that they will attend a session (date to be arranged)? 

6. More information about the rationale for this work and Insight to Action

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Racial injustice lies at the core of the hostility faced by people seeking asylum in the UK. It operates on three levels. First, it is embedded in the very structures, policies, and narratives that shape the refugee protection system. Second, it is evident in the everyday experiences of racist abuse and discrimination. Thirdly, it is evident in behaviours and standards of white supremacy that centre whiteness and harm racialised people and communities disproportionately. Yet, conversations around asylum and refugee protection often fail to address the role racism plays. UK border and immigration policies are shaped by racial bias and must be recognised as matters of racial justice. Our stance is clear: the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees and, by extension, all migrant communities, reflects racial injustice in action. If we are to build a just and equitable society in the UK, we must confront and challenge this reality. With over 800 organisations working across the migration sector, there is both the capacity and responsibility to centre racial justice in this work.

The Insight Hub, part of the Insight to Action programme, is a collaborative platform that strengthens the refugee and migration sector by sharing learning, responding to crises, and embedding lived experience and anti-racism. It connects organisations, campaigners, and funders, with a growing focus on grassroots and lived-experience-led groups supporting migrant communities.

Collaboration is at the heart of Insight to Action. Supported by an advisory group, the programme team works to minimise power imbalances, communicate openly and honestly, and remain responsive to changing needs. We actively seek feedback from the organisations who take part in our surveys to ensure the programme continues to reflect their realities. 

Thanks to Oglesby and This Day Foundation for making this work possible. 

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Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

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