We don't just attend the conversation. We help shape it.

Meaningful Refugee Participation (MRP)

We don't stop at frameworks, we bring them to life. Translating the principles of MRP into everyday practice: in our programmes, partnerships, and communities we work with. Because a right that stays on paper changes nothing.

International Framework

A Right We Put Into Practice

In December 2025, the Independent Declaration on the Right of Persons with Experience of Forced Displacement or Statelessness to Participate in Decisions That Affect Them was launched at the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review in Geneva. We don't just endorse it, we build our work around it.

Participation is not a courtesy extended to refugees. It is a legal right, a normative right, a human right. We also apply the Guidelines on Co-produced Research with Refugees and Other People with Lived Experience of Displacement because the standard isn't working on communities. It's working with them.

Why This Matters for Our Work

The global conversation about refugee participation is evolving. International bodies, governments, and civil society organisations are being asked to move from rhetoric to accountability. Tawasul Foundation is part of that shift.

We engage with this framework because it reflects who we are and what we believe: that every person with lived experience of displacement has not only the right to be heard, but the knowledge and capacity to lead.

How We Engage

Our work is built on a simple conviction: frameworks only matter when they change how you show up.

We Centre Lived Experience

The people most affected by displacement are our most important collaborators, in programme design, advocacy, and community dialogue.

We Advocate for Structural Change

Participation must be embedded in law and policy, not left to individual goodwill. We push for frameworks that make refugee participation a requirement, not an exception.

We Build Capacity, Not Dependency

Through mentorship, knowledge-sharing, and network-building, we invest in displaced leaders so their voices carry weight in every room.

diverse group discussion circle