What does participatory philanthropy look like in practice? This article discusses the process of setting up the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees (APNOR) pooled fund for refugee-led organisations in the region.

Involving refugees in meaningful ways is increasingly recognised not only as a moral imperative but also as a strategy for creating more effective and legitimate policies and programmes. This critical shift towards greater refugee participation in decision-making processes and funding streams is gaining traction on a global scale, as highlighted by initiatives like the Grand Bargain and the Refugee Participation Pledge. At a local level, powerful advocacy efforts, such as those led by the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees (APNOR), underscore the importance of this movement, which is summed up by the phrase ‘nothing about us without us.’

Refugees are frontline responders to crises in their communities. Yet, they often live with few rights and their contributions are almost always unpaid, forcing them to juggle income generation, family care and practical issues like lack of registration or language skills. Moreover, refugee leaders and refugee-led organisations face limited funding opportunities, as they are often barred from setting up bank accounts or becoming legally registered entities in their host countries.

APNOR, as a refugee-led organisation/initiative (RLO/I) itself, understands these challenges intimately and is on a mission to amplify participation and the voice of refugees within philanthropic processes in the Asia-Pacific region. We have developed a refugee-led pooled fund designed to support the crucial work of RLO/Is, grounded in the principles of participatory philanthropy. The pilot phase of this fund has been completed and the next round of funding will be released shortly. We hope it will be an on-going source for RLO/Is in Asia-Pacific.

The set up of the pooled fund for RLO/Is in Asia Pacific

APNOR’s pooled fund is intentionally designed to be inclusive and refugee-centred. APNOR draws on its extensive networks and the lived experience of its trustees to create a high-trust due diligence process for assessing applicants and ensuring that RLO/Is can apply for funding even if they lack formal registration or a bank account. Flexible transfer methods, such as Wise, Hawala and Western Union, are used to meet the needs of each successful RLO/I. Partnerships and collaboration with other stakeholders who act as trusted third parties are also possible solutions. For instance, fiscal sponsors or auspice arrangements are considered to bridge legal and financial gaps, with RLOs encouraged to formalise partnerships through Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs).

Our initiative challenges the traditional power dynamic between funders and recipients, where funders make decisions based on their priorities and recipients have little influence. Our pilot programme involved recipients in the design of the grants, aiming to shift this imbalance. APNOR seeks to transform the aid sector by directly funding RLO/Is in the region and providing capacity-strengthening support within this.

The pooled fund pilot was backed by three prominent international philanthropic institutions, all deeply committed to promoting refugee leadership. The pooled fund offers a sustainable and flexible model that accommodates contributions of varying amounts from multiple donors, enabling even smaller contributions to have a wide-reaching impact on a diverse range of RLO/Is. In its pilot phase, a total of USD 400,000 was raised and disbursed to 21 successful applicants, with grants ranging from USD 1,340 to USD 30,250.

One of the main reasons donors were drawn to this pooled fund was the strong alignment of values. With a shared commitment to advancing refugee leadership, the fund provided donors with the opportunity to directly support RLO/Is that they might not have been able to reach through their own programmes due to institutional requirements. The pooled fund acted as a bridge between donors and RLO/Is, demonstrating a new, innovative and effective way to provide funding. Additionally, APNOR placed a strong emphasis on building the capacity of RLO/Is throughout the process, empowering them to engage directly with donors in the future.

Piloting and pursuing best practice in participatory grant-making

APNOR’s pooled fund is designed to provide unrestricted funding to RLO/Is, empowering them to develop skills, strengthen organisational capacity and use funds according to their own priorities. A participatory process drove the creation of the grant tools, including the application form, guidelines, reporting templates and assessment criteria, ensuring that the intended beneficiaries had a decisive role in shaping these tools. This process fostered two-way communication, learning and sharing.

The fund aligns with five key pillars of best practice in participatory grant-making:[1]

1. clarity of grant-making philosophy;
2. commitment to supporting capacity building and not-for-profit resilience;
3. support for scaling, replication and collaboration;
4. increasing the strength of the relationship between grant makers and grant seekers; and
5. deepening confidence, expertise and resources for embedding approaches to evaluation and social impact.

In terms of the first pillar, this fund has a clear philosophy centred on addressing refugee needs. APNOR and the Refugee Leadership Alliance (RLA) are refugee-led and seek to directly fund RLO/Is in the region and provide capacity-strengthening support as requested by refugees. The guidelines and reporting frameworks are RLO/I-centric and seek to model best practice, working in solidarity with RLO/Is, recognising their strengths and the challenges they face, while also aligning with relevant legislation.

The second pillar is reflected in our participatory approach to creating the grant. It allowed RLO/Is to identify skills and areas of development which informed APNOR’s tailored capacity-strengthening programme. This approach ensures that the application process itself becomes a learning opportunity.

The third pillar is reflected in APNOR and RLA’s aspiration to scale this pilot project into a sustainable funding source for RLO/Is in the Asia-Pacific region. This would include complementary capacity-strengthening training on key topics such as project management, organisational development, accounting techniques, as well as networking and peer-to-peer learning and support opportunities.

The fourth pillar is reflected in the aim of this project to connect RLO/Is with new donors, facilitating future funding opportunities and fostering stronger relationships.

The fifth pillar is reflected in the pilot’s approaches to evaluation and social impact. We assessed how the pilot supported the objectives of selected Sustainable Development Goals. Continuous feedback is sought from all participants to refine the programme with regular reflection meetings to discuss lessons learned and implement necessary adjustments.

Developing the grant administration tools

To create effective grant tools and adhere with best practice APNOR conducted in-depth consultations. The aim of this process was to enable two-way learning, for both the donor and recipient, to understand how funding processes work and how they could be improved. It involved multiple feedback loops to shift the traditional power dynamics and create a system where recipient perspectives are prominent.

The Co-Chairs of the RLA Pooled Fund trustees initiated one-on-one online interviews with relevant RLO/Is across the Asia-Pacific region. The Co-Chairs carefully selected interviewees and ensured a rights-based approach by obtaining signed or verbal consent and providing information detailing the project’s scope and the use of their input.

The interview questions covered the application process, aims, progress and acquittal reports, cross-cutting issues, monitoring and evaluation, and assessment criteria. Six virtual interviews were conducted with RLO/Is of varying levels of experience, from established entities to newer organisations. The transcripts of these interviews were shared with the participants for approval and to ensure accuracy. The approved transcripts were then analysed to identify key themes.

A preliminary draft of grant tools was developed based on the key themes and insights gathered. The interviewees and trustees reviewed the draft, and further feedback was incorporated from lawyers before a final legal review. After approval by the trustees, the fund opened for applications.

Outcomes from the pilot phase

This refugee-led process fundamentally challenged the status quo, placing refugees at the heart of grant tool creation and fund structures. This approach empowered those who would use the funding to have a central voice in shaping the funding structures. Specific feedback from grant recipients highlighted several benefits: the flexible conditions were highly advantageous, enabling them to employ staff and foster economic development. Additionally, this method helped build trust within local communities.

In relation to best practice, placing RLO/Is at the centre of the process was crucial for developing relevant and contextualised grant tools. Having the chance to gather feedback on drafts meant that issues could be identified early and addressed to ensure that the tools were user-friendly and contextualised. This also enabled reflections on whether the grant tools were aligned more with what the donor or the recipient wanted, leading to excellent discussions and reiterations of the tools to ensure alignment with the funding programme’s aims and values. Compensation for participants’ time was a key element, challenging the sector’s reliance on voluntary work and emphasising the importance of valuing contributions fairly.

Through this project, APNOR and RLA gained invaluable insights into the donor perspective, which significantly enhanced our ability to engage with donors as informed peers. By deeply understanding the complexities and challenges of being a donor, while balancing our experiences as grant recipients, we were able to forge stronger, more collaborative relationships with funding partners.

For instance, feedback from interviews with RLOs highlighted the need for application forms to include questions about the unique value of the applicant and how the funding would support long-term sustainability. This aligns with APNOR’s goal of developing the capacity of RLO/Is to secure their own funding and articulate their uniqueness and sustainability, and it has been instrumental in attracting further funding.

APNOR and RLA learnt a great deal through the implementation of the funding programme. For example, even though a participatory process was implemented, the grant tools developed were still seen as too complex by some RLO/Is. We are making revisions to the tools for the next round of funding to address these concerns.

If more funding could have been secured to support the pilot phase it would also have had a significant positive impact, but applying for funding takes time and the team’s capacity was constrained by lack of resources and having to work voluntarily. There is a need to move away from this status quo of RLOI/Is working voluntarily and we hope that this article can inspire other donors to provide more support to RLO/Is so they can be compensated adequately for the work they are completing and have access to the necessary resources to support this work as well.

Increasing participation in other funding processes

Through this article we aim to encourage further debate about using participatory processes that centre recipients’ voices within funding structures. We hope that this article could encourage debate about the positive participation of recipients in funding processes in other sectors as well, for example, within the climate change and community development spaces.

Based on the experiences of this funding programme, the key recommendations are:

1. embedding participation at the core of funding processes, especially in the refugee sector;
2. that funders should review their processes to assess whether the needs and expectations of the recipients are being incorporated into the funding structures, and that these structures are accessible and contextualised; and
3. that there is a need for more knowledge and resources on participatory philanthropy related to RLO/Is, and for more case studies from, and research in, participatory processes in Asia-Pacific.

By adopting these recommendations, the funding landscape can become more inclusive, equitable and effective, ultimately leading to better outcomes for all involved.

 

Thomas Gillman
Project coordinator, APNOR
thomas@apnor.org

Najeeba Wazefadost
Founder and CEO, APNOR; and Founder of Global Independent Refugee Women Leaders
ceo@apnor.org
linkedin.com/company/asia-pacific-network-of-refugees

Michael Poots
Communications Officer, APNOR

Adama Kamara
Co-Chair of Refugee Leadership Alliance Pooled Fund Trustees and Deputy CEO Refugee Council of Australia
adama.kamara@refugeecouncil.org.au
linkedin.com/in/adama-kamara-376346196

 

[1] These pillars are taken from Gillies L, York J and Minkiewicz J (2018) Philanthropy: Towards better practice https://bit.ly/philanthropy-better-practice

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