Follow up to the High Commissioner’s December 2012 Dialogue on Faith and Protection  ̶  Call for Examples

Good Practices of FBOs/LFCs towards Protection Outcomes

 

Deadline: 30 April 2013

 

BACKGROUND



Faith-based organizations (FBOs) and local faith communities (LFCs)[1] have been valued UNHCR partners in providing protection and assistance since its establishment. The fifth High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, with the theme “Faith and Protection,” highlighted the important role that FBOs and LFCs play in protecting refugees, asylum-seekers, the internally displaced, and stateless people. At the close of the Dialogue, the High Commissioner made a series of actionable suggestions,  leading to the following initiatives: 1) Highlighting good practices of FBOs and LFCs in yielding protection outcomes, including in partnership with UNHCR; 2) Developing a Code of Conduct for faith leaders working with refugees, asylum-seekers, the internally displaced (IDPs), and stateless people; 3) Identifying key research and learning topics related to faith and protection that deserve further exploration; and 4) Developing guidance for UNHCR staff and partners on ‘faith literacy’.[2] This call for examples is designed to jumpstart the process for the first of these four initiatives.

 

OBJECTIVE



The objective of this call is to document protection outcomes for refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, and stateless people that have resulted from good practices of FBOs/LFCs, including through partnership with UNHCR. A side event on Faith and Protection at the 2013 UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs will further explore themes originating from submitted examples and highlight good practices.

 

Good practices may relate, for example, to the role of FBOs/LFCs in: 

➢ Welcoming refugees, stateless persons, and IDPs within local communities;

➢ Combating xenophobia and discrimination;

➢ Helping realise durable solutions to forced displacement and statelessness;

➢ Promoting reconciliation and peaceful coexistence;

➢ Supporting the multi-dimensional needs of individuals and communities, including through psychosocial support; 

➢ Building community cohesion, including through community-based protection mechanisms;

➢ Providing physical protection to refugees, IDPs, and stateless populations;

➢ Advocating for humanitarian access, strong national asylum systems, respect for non-refoulement and other forms of protection, including mobilizing grassroots advocacy; and,

➢ Innovative partnership models between FBOs/LFCs and UNHCR.

 

PROCESS



All examples should be sent to Marie-Claude Poirier ([log in to unmask]) before the strict deadline of 30 April 2013. Examples should be between 2 and 4 pages long, provide answers to as many of the questions below as possible, and include full contact details for the submitting individual or organization. Any faith leader, LFC representative, FBO representative, UNHCR staff member, or academic is invited to submit examples.

 

Guiding Questions for FBOs/LFCs submitting examples:

1) Briefly describe the protection-related outcome of your FBO/LFC and the activities undertaken to achieve it.

2) In what ways did your faith identity, motivations, and/or structures prompt these activities? 

3) How would you describe your FBO/LFC (e.g. religious affiliation, size, structure, networks, other activities, etc.)?

4) What strengths and/or weakness resulted from your faith identity, motivations, and/or structures in achieving this protection outcome? Why?

5) Did you engage with other organizations or stakeholders in these activities, including other minority/majority faith groups, community members, secular organizations, etc.? If so, how did this strengthen the effort or raise additional challenges?

6) In what ways did you partner with UNHCR? Did you face challenges in developing and expanding protection partnerships with UNHCR or other non-faith-based humanitarian agencies?

7) What did you most appreciate about working with UNHCR (e.g. what is your view of UNHCR’s value-added in helping to achieve the protection objective)? 

8) Could this example be replicable at the local and/or national level? What lessons could be drawn from the experience?

 

Guiding Questions for UNHCR Staff submitting examples

1) Briefly describe the protection-related outcome, accomplished through partnership with FBO(s)/LFC(s) and the activities undertaken to achieve it. 

2) What prompted you to seek the cooperation/engagement of FBO(s)/LFC(s) in pursuing this activity? 

3) How did you identify FBO/LFC partners and understand their material and physical assets or existing capacity to assist in providing protection?

4) What were the strengths and/or weaknesses of this partnership with the FBO/LFC? How effective was the FBO/LFC at engaging with UNHCR and other actors in the humanitarian system? What factors limited engagement and why?

5) What other organizations or stakeholders were involved, including other minority/majority faith groups, community members, secular organizations, etc.? How did this strengthen the effort or raise additional challenges?

6) How effective was the FBO/LFC at engaging with UNHCR and other actors in the humanitarian system? What factors limited engagement and why?

7) Could this example be replicable at the local and/or national level? What lessons could be drawn from the experience? For whom (e.g. UNHCR, other UN agencies/humanitarian organizations, faith-based organizations, local faith communities/leaders, etc.)? 



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the 

Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by Forced Migration 

Online, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Oxford Department of International 

Development, University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the 

views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or 

re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or 

extracts should include attribution to the original sources.



E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Posting guidelines: http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/discussion/forced-migration-discussion-list-posting-guidelines

Subscribe/unsubscribe: http://tinyurl.com/fmlist-join-leave

List Archives: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.html

RSS: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?RSS&L=forced-migration

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/refugeestudies

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refugeestudiescentre