NGO and voluntary sector
Introduction
Many voluntary sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with and on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers have a long history of conducting research into issues affecting these groups.
However, as ideas surrounding evidence-based policy and practice gain currency in the voluntary sector, research is being used by an even wider range of organisations to underpin service development and advocacy work.
This page provides some basic information about voluntary sector and NGO research on UK asylum and refugee issues - namely, who conducts it, why and how. If you would like more information about voluntary sector research on refugees, please contact us at or if you are looking for a specific project or publication, try searching ICAR's research in progress directory or resources directory.
Why do voluntary sector organisations and NGOs conduct research?
Voluntary sector organisations and NGOs conduct research for many reasons. Research on refugees and asylum seekers' needs and experiences allows organisations that work with this group to refine their service delivery and develop targeted services. Research can reveal the degree to which clients' needs are being met by existing services and where gaps in service provision exist.
It can also provide detailed information on cultural, gender and social issues as well as information on country of origin situations that increases understanding of those refugees that come to the UK. More targeted evaluative research may seek to ascertain the impact of a particular intervention or service provided by an organisation by examining clients' responses to the service and providers' experiences of service delivery. Knowledge gained through research can then:
- inform the development of particular services and influence working practices within an organisation;
- provide the basis for funding bids to finance new services or develop existing ones;
- establish instances of best practice that can help organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers;
- help monitor impacts of internal and external policy changes and assist with strategic planning.
Using research to inform practice is known as 'evidence-based' or 'evidence-informed' practice. Although this is a buzzword more prevalent in statutory service provision, it is becoming increasingly common in the discourses and policies of voluntary sector service providers.
In addition to developing services, research can also be used to inform advocacy and campaigning. Information gathered through research can be used to raise awareness of a particular issue and inform the public, media and policy makers about the situation of particular exiled groups or the impacts of particular policies or governmental practices. For example, Refugee Action's recent campaign 'Standing up for women's safety' was built around findings from a recent research report it commissioned.
What kind of research is conducted by voluntary sector organisations and NGOs?
These organisations may conduct research around a particular issue, e.g. health or community development, and/or about a specific national, ethnic, age or gender group, such as Somali women or elderly Vietnamese. The research may focus solely on the situation of refugees in the UK or may also incorporate studies of situations and experiences in countries of origin. The theme of the research is likely to depend on the primary aims and responsibilities of the organisation, its client group and the issues it is concerned with. Some research may have a more general focus in seeking to find out a wide range of information on a particular group or issue, for example unaccompanied minors in a particular region, whilst other research may be more targeted and seek to evaluate the impacts of a particular policy or project, for example the impact of withdrawal of support from in-country applicants or the work of a new mental health project.
What kind of research methods does such research use?
Research methods used in work commissioned by the voluntary sector is quite diverse and is usually selected according to the type of issue that is being researched, financial and time constraints and considerations such as access to research participants. Research projects commissioned by NGOs and voluntary sector organisations includes both primary and secondary research methods.
Most reports include a summary of other published research to contextualise findings from their own primary research and secondary sources may be relied upon when the researcher is unable to conduct primary research due to practical constraints, as is often the case for information on country of origin situations. Organisations may also make use of aggregate data they gather through their service provision activities, such as that collected through their client databases.
NGOs and other voluntary sector organisations often use surveys and questionnaires to monitor public opinion and gather baseline demographic data on individuals, while semi-structured interviews and focus groups are often a feature of research that looks at the experiences of asylum seekers, refugees and service providers, and their responses to services and service provision.
Parallel pressures to include percentages as well as 'real lives' studies or quotations from individuals usually means that research conducted by the voluntary sector tends to have both quantitative and qualitative components with case study material often provided alongside statistical breakdowns of the information collected.
Although longitudinal research (where information is gathered systematically over a period of time) is important for strategic planning, much of the research conducted by voluntary sector organisations tends to represent a single moment in time, a 'snapshot' of a situation, due mainly to the reactive nature of much NGO research and the financial and resource constraints such organisations face.
Discourse analysis techniques have also been used to analysis media reporting of asylum issues and recently there has been an interest in developing participatory research methods that seek to involve refugees and asylum seekers in all stages of the research process rather than just as 'research subjects'. However, although refugees are often enlisted to conduct research, they are still often excluded from the process of commissioning, designing and analysing the research. Work by organisations such as the Africa Educational Trust, the Ethiopian Community Centre in the UK, and RAPAR are working to change this.
Similarly oral history or life history research methods are increasingly being used by refugee community organisations (RCOs) that wish to document their communities' experiences and use issues raised to prompt discussion and debate. The Evelyn Oldfield Unit is working with a number of RCOs to develop community-led oral history projects in the London area and Refugee Action has recently completed its Vietnamese Oral History Project in collaboration with Panos, the Museum of London and the British Library.
Who carries out the research?
Research can be conducted internally by members of the organisations themselves or contracted out to professional researchers or academics. Certain consultancies like Michael Bell Associates specialise in conducting research for refugee organisations and increasingly refugee agencies are developing partnerships with universities in order to facilitate research. Refugee Action, Bail for Immigration Detainees, Praxis and the Ethiopian Community Centre in the UK are just a few of the organisations that have worked collaboratively with academic researchers.
Which organisations of this type conduct research?
Many different organisations of varying sizes and diverse areas of interest conduct research on refugees.
Large refugee agencies such as Refugee Action and Refugee Council have well-developed research functions, and their research publications date back to the early 80s. Other well-known agencies that work specifically with and for refugees such as North of England Refugee Service (NERS), Asylum Aid (and the Refugee Women's Resource Project based there) Praxis, the Scottish Refugee Council, the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and Education Action International have also been involved in commissioning and conducting research to underpin their service development and campaigning activities.
Refugee community organisations (RCOs) have also undertaken research projects on the refugee populations they seek to serve, with organisations such as the Somali Education and Cultural Community Association (SECCA), the Ethiopian Community Centre in the UK (ECCUK) and the An Viet Housing Association all conducting important studies into specific refugee communities in local and national contexts.
Organisations that have a wider remit than the UK context, such as European Council for Refugees and Exiles, or who provide services to other immigrants as well as asylum seekers, such as Bail for Immigration Detainees, are also contributors to the body of research on refugees in the UK.
Other organisations that have an interest in refugee and asylum seeking populations as part of their client group or as one of their areas of work, make up a large percentage of the voluntary sector research conducted on asylum and refugee issues. Given their wider sphere of activity, these organisations often have a longer history of research and well-developed dissemination mechanisms that are now being successfully applied to refugee and asylum issues.
As refugee and asylum issues are multi-faceted, encompassing issues such as housing, children, poverty, health, employment, community cohesion and so forth, the specialist knowledge of single issue organisations such as Save the Children, BAAF, the Maternity Alliance, the Children's Society, NIACE, the Work Foundation, and Shelter has generated targeted research that has contributed significantly to the understanding of refugees' and asylum seekers' experiences in the UK.
The UK sections of international organisations such as Oxfam and Amnesty International have also provided important research contributions on social welfare and human rights issues, as well as more specific issues such as media coverage of asylum. Key service providers such as NACAB have also devoted significant research attention to this section of their client group. Smaller voluntary organisations also conduct research on locally resident refugee populations, such as the Bow Family Centre, as do other smaller organisations with international remits such as Africa Educational Trust.
Do organisations work in collaboration when conducting research?
Organisations frequently commission and conduct research in collaboration with each other. Often these research collaborations are the result of wider coalitions of organisations that are working together on a specific campaign or issue, such as the research published by the voucher campaign coalition or the Refugee Children's Consortium, or who work together as a local umbrella organisation, such as the recent report by Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum.
Organisations may also forge a research partnership when they are both keen to develop particular services or awareness-raising around a particular topic, or are keen to fill a information gap they have both identified. Refugee Council and Oxfam's report on poverty, the joint report produced by Bail for Immigration Detainees, the Maternity Alliance and London Detainee Support Group, and the Medical Foundation's collaboration with the British Medical Association all provide examples of this.
Voluntary organisations and NGOs are also beginning to develop research partnerships with academic institutions. For example, Praxis has conducted research with Queen Mary University of London, Bail for Immigration Detainees has worked with Southbank University and the Ethiopian Community Centre in the UK (ECCUK) has collaborated with Middlesex University.
Clearly there are advantages to such inter-organisational collaboration that include practical concerns such as sharing resources, avoiding duplication and pooling expertise, as well as wider aims such as extending the scope of advocacy and service development beyond the individual organisation.
Who funds research conducted by voluntary sector organisations and NGOs?
Voluntary sector organisations and NGOs usually obtain charitable and sometimes statutory funding to research the needs of client groups or to support advocacy. In some cases, funding for a particular research project will be sought directly, while in other cases funding for research will be secured as part of a wider grant for work on a particular area. Specialist voluntary sector funders with an interest in refugees and asylum seekers, such as the King's Fund, also fund research on refugees and asylum issues.
Where can I find out more about voluntary sector and NGO research on refugees?
- If you would like to find out more about specific research projects on refugees in the UK, search ICAR's research in progress directory. You can also visit organisational websites using the links above.
- If you want to find out more about published research on refugees in the UK, search ICAR's resources directory.
You can also search academic databases such as the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences or Web of Science which often do include reports published by NGOs and other voluntary sector organisations.
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Last Updated: 25/02/09
