Every day, refugees lead in keeping their communities safe and healthy. Today’s crises are larger, more complex, and go on for years at a time, and providing humanitarian assistance has become much more difficult.
Refugee-led organizations are successful because they have awareness outsiders don’t have and connections they can’t reach. Refugee-led groups have proven time and time again that they are able to respond to urgent needs of their communities. Now more than ever this has become evident. The humanitarian response system needs to adapt and directly support grassroots organizations doing frontline work.

“In many environments, especially those deemed too dangerous, remote or complex for international NGOs to access” 

, refugee-led organizations offer the only COVID-19 response services available for refugees. They are also almost always the most trusted. Yet, local organizations including Refugee-led organizations, especially those operating in Malawi are receiving less than 1% of available humanitarian funding. Furthermore, the Solidarity of Refugee Women for the Social welfare (SOFERES) as one of the most active refugee-led organizations operating in Dzaleka Refugee Camp for more than five years is creating an essential space of recognition, trust, and sensitivity within communities. Because of this, communities trust us to facilitate connections between them and host community and state institutions, leading to healthier and more integrated communities.

“At SOFERES, we are really proud to work with so many dedicated humanitarians around the world, and we’d appreciate the opportunity to make a moment today”.