The potential of migrant and refugee community organisations to influence policy

A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on a partnership set up to test how migrant and refugee community organisations could change policies and practices that are crucial to the lives of their communities.

'Change from Experience' addresses the ways in which migrant and community groups can use their own history and experience to develop the skills to bring about change. It challenges ideas about these organisations as ‘comfort zones’ and places them at the centre of debates about identity, gender, migration and cohesion.

This report looks at: 

• how a partnership based on ‘critical pedagogy’ – a learning tool used in community development – was created;
• methods and processes;
• the experiences of the three organisations involved;
• what did and did not work in the processes and why;
• core elements in the curriculum that are useful to organisations wishing to change themselves; and
• why migrant and refugee organisations struggle with policy.