Giving citizens a say in development

As the dire state of the refugee crisis worsens and thousands have been left stranded in the cold European winter, we have been continuing our work to actively listen to and make effective use of direct refugee feedback.

We have continued our work in Northern Greece with the International Rescue Committee, as part of the Client Voice and Choice Initiative (CVC). We completed our third and final round of data collection to conclude our investigation of constituent voices from three camps near Thessaloniki. The findings indicate continued positive results and improvements in most aspects of the programme, particularly regarding hygiene needs / WASH services, awareness of all camp residents of women-specific IRC spaces, and the effects of the IRC spaces on women’s lives and the emotional wellbeing of children in the camp. While feedback results also indicate an increased openness of respondents towards approaching IRC staff with concerns, there were complaints about the cold weather, absence of heating and protection from the rain.

In December, we launched our first local project with the Vienna-based Projekt Verein Integrationshaus, a housing and counselling service provider for refugees and asylum-seekers in Austria. We are applying our constituent voice methodology to collect feedback from those receiving counselling services at the Integrationshaus, and completed our first round of data collection in December.

Simultaneously, we are working on a large-scale project for DFID’s Refugee Children Fund for Europe. We are conducting surveys of unaccompanied minors supported by UNHCR, the IRC, and Save the Children, who are staying at shelters in Athens, Lesvos and Thessaloniki, and also tracking perceptions of staff members who have received training by various organisations including the IRC, METAdrasi and Save the Children and its partners.

Additionally, we are one of the seven NGOs that have jointly launched a mixed migration platform (MMP) to deliver research, analysis and policy recommendations for a better understanding of mixed migration patterns in the Middle East and Europe and to enhance the protection of, and information available to, people on the move.