Project Voice capitalizes on the skills of young refugees in an effort to promote effective advocacy, engage and develop skills of marginalized youth, and reduce vulnerability to extremist narratives. We support and train refugee youth to conduct research, produce policy recommendations, and disseminate their findings on community issues, empowering them to direct their own advocacy agenda.
Refugee narratives in international media and aid publications often present a story of helplessness and victimhood that ignores the capacity and potential of these populations. Such narratives promote the misconception that refugees are unable to speak for themselves, to identify their own community needs, and to advocate for the social, political, and legal changes that will allow them to secure basic human rights.
Project Voice responds to this challenge by supporting and training refugee youth to conduct research, produce policy recommendations, and disseminate their findings on community issues, empowering them to direct their own advocacy agenda. The program begins with a four-day workshop that covers advocacy, interview training, and research skills (including research topics, ethics, and instruments). Participants will design either independent or group research projects by the end of the workshop.
All final projects will center on a theme, challenge, or innovation observed in the community. Examples include (but are not limited to): obstacles to finding safe housing, sexual violence, access to education (either limitations or refugee-initiated opportunities), entrepreneurship in camps or communities, access to proper identification, freedom of movement, and circumstances of repatriation. These projects will allow refugee youth to own their advocacy narratives.
