We are pleased to share a powerful new reflection note from our colleagues at following their participation in the December 2025 Global Refugee Forum Progress Review.

Titled “Beyond Presence: Who Shapes Decisions in Global Refugee Governance?”, this piece asks a straightforward but essential question. In a system where everyone now talks about “inclusion,” are refugees actually influencing the decisions that affect their lives, or is their presence mostly symbolic?

The reflection looks honestly at what happened during the Progress Review. While over 250 participants with lived experience attended and the language of partnership was everywhere, the note questions how much has really changed. It asks whether refugees are being brought into the room to speak or to truly shape outcomes.

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On 15 December 2025, LERRN and R-SEAT co-hosted a panel discussion at R-Space in Geneva on the theme “Building Bridges Across Regions: Refugee-Led Dialogue Between East Africa and Latin America”.

Timed to coincide with the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review meeting, the event was a critical opportunity to highlight the shared challenges and opportunities to levering the expertise of refugee leaders in developing and implementing more efficient, effective and accountable responses to displacement. With the room at full capacity and with many key partners in attendance, the event highlighted the critical role that enhanced and meaningful refugee participation can play in ensuring that collective action to respond to the needs of refugees can be mobilized at a time of financial collapse for the humanitarian response sector and growing political skepticism around both multilateralism and upholding core refugee and human rights protection principles.

The event centered around the global launch of LERRN’s synthesis of its work on refugee-led organizations in East Africa and the Middle East and its more recent work, supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, on refugee leadership in East Africa and South America. Presented by the author, Dr. Stéphanie López-Villamil, the synthesis highlights the crucial role of refugee-led responses across regions, in areas as diverse as service delivery, advocacy, and policy development. By outlining the various ways that refugee leaders navigate shifting political opportunity structures, López-Villamil detailed the use of multi-level advocacy used across contexts to address power inequalities and enhance access and impact. The lessons of this analysis are particularly relevant given the moment currently faced by the global refugee regime.

The event then featured responses and perspectives from refugee leaders working in diverse contexts. In her intervention, María Guevara, Latin America Lead for R-SEAT, highlighted how the synthesis report captured the strategies employed by refugee-led organizations across Latin America and how the expertise of refugees is increasingly being recognized in national processes and regional efforts, such as the Cartagena +40 process. Abdullahi Mire, winner of the 2023 Nansen Refugee Award and founder of the Refugee Youth Education Hub, highlighted how the strategies outlined in the report are being used by leaders in places like the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya to navigate the profound consequences of collapse of funding to UNHCR in 2025. Alejandro Gómez, with Fundación Refugiados Unidos in Colombia, noted that while there has been an increased recognition of the substantive value of refugee participation, it is important to highlight that disproportionate barriers remain for many, especially leaders from the LGBTQI+ community. Ana María Díez, President of Coalición por Venezuela, noted that while refugee leadership had contributed to critical policy changes at the national and regional level, such as the regularization of status for some 2 million Venezuelans in Colombia, more work is needed to change the perception of refugees from a burden to a state to understanding refugees as individuals with skills and abilities to contribute to their host community.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively discussion with a highly engaged audience that illustrated the relevance of the results presented in the synthesis report to situations well beyond the contexts included in the report, along with the increased relevance of these issues in advance of the anticipated election of Dr. Barham Salih as High Commissioner for Refugees by the UN General Assembly later in the week.     

The panel highlighted how the challenges and opportunities faced by refugee leaders are remarkably similar across regions. While challenges persist around issues of funding, access and capacity, refugee-led initiatives have responded by drawing on the strength of coalitions, engaging with regional processes, leveraging the combined significance of their unique access to displaced communities and their moral and expert authority, and their ability to mobilize through alternate forms of media, such as social media and virtual networks. Ultimately, the event underscored the key lessons from the research on refugee leadership and refugee-led organizations: At a time of profound need and collapsing support from traditional partners, refugee-led responses bring the combination of moral authority, proven efficiency, technical expertise, and trust-based relationships with affected communities that are urgently needed to reimagine responses to forced migration in a rapidly evolving political reality.

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On 26 November 2025, LERRN in partnership with the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network (GAIN), hosted a webinar titled “UNHCR at 75: Challenges and Opportunities.” The webinar was moderated by Liliana Jubilut, co-chair of GAIN. The panel consisted of four speakers: Jeff Crisp, research associate at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, Jean Marie Ishimwe, East Africa regional lead of Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT), Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR, and James Milner, LERRN’s project director. The distinguished panel was joined by 98 participants online from 22 countries across the world.

With people displaced worldwide, the global refugee regime is confronting an unprecedented level of complexity and scale in forced displacement. This magnitude—further compounded by budget cuts and the withdrawal of political and humanitarian commitments by major donor countries—has raised critical questions about the capacity of leading organizations to effectively respond to the needs of refugees, stateless persons, internally displaced persons, and other forcibly displaced populations. On the eve of UNHCR’s 75th anniversary, this webinar convened academics, civil society actors, and refugee leaders to reflect on the organization’s historical role and its future in the global refugee regime. Ahead of the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review in Geneva later this month, the panel discussed both the obstacles and opportunities facing UNHCR in the current political climate and offered suggestions for future action. The panelists collectively agreed that in order to adequately safeguard refugee protection in an increasingly turbulent world, stakeholders must work towards greater solidarity, inclusion, and multilateral collaboration that centers refugees’ lived experience and expertise. 

Menikdiwela opened the session by noting that has evolved over the past 75 years in response to the changing context and increasing complexity of forced migration. She outlined the agency’s expanded scope—now encompassing stateless persons and, in some cases, internally displaced people—and its three core pillars: international protection, durable solutions, and adherence to the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. She emphasized the need for national and international support that benefits both refugees and host communities, while highlighting five key challenges: the scale of mass displacement driven by protracted conflicts, a shrinking humanitarian space and the politicization of asylum, persistent funding gaps and staffing shortages, the growing complexity of displacement, and the accelerating global climate crisis. To address these challenges, Menikdiwela underscored the importance of reliable data, cross-sector and inter-agency collaboration, participatory research, and inclusive practices that amplify refugees’ expertise. She highlighted how partnerships with academia and refugee-led organizations (RLOs), along with localization and multidisciplinary approaches, can strengthen the global refugee regime’s effectiveness and legitimacy.

Reflecting on 75 years of leadership in emergency response, protection, and the pursuit of durable solutions, Menikdiwela emphasized that UNHCR’s mandate remains as vital and relevant today as it was at its inception.

James Milner outlined several current challenges shaping discourse around the functioning of the global refugee regime and UNHCR’s mandate: a collapse in funding as traditional donors redirect resources toward defense rather than protection; rising political hostility to the asylum regime that undermines foundational refugee and human rights norms; and declining confidence in multilateralism. Despite this context, Milner expressed optimism, noting that the regime has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to adapt to geopolitical shifts. He reminded the audience that geopolitics have shaped UNHCR’s evolution since the early days of the Cold War. These transformations, he argued, have also created openings for stronger refugee-led responses, increased leadership from the Global South, and the emergence of new norms that may positively reform the regime. Looking ahead, Milner highlighted the importance of cooperation among like-minded actors and states, along with greater civil society participation—particularly by refugee-led organizations—as a pathway toward more effective co-governance within the regime. He underscored the value of innovative approaches and collective efforts aligned with the principles of the , including locally produced knowledge and equitable partnerships.

Drawing on his personal experience working in East Africa— a region that is both a host and a producer of displaced persons—where meaningful refugee participation is becoming an emerging norm, Ishimwe emphasized the need to restructure the system by placing refugee leadership at the core of the refugee regime. He argued that partners must move beyond tokenistic approaches to participation and instead ground their policies and programming in collective solidarity and genuine recognition of refugees as experts and innovators, rather than as burdens or aid-dependent populations. He noted that while East Africa is seeing a growing number of refugee-led organizations (RLOs), these groups often struggle for recognition and sustainable funding, as governments and institutions frequently limit their role to consultation rather than leadership. True progress, Ishimwe suggested, requires resetting the humanitarian system with new leadership; institutionalizing meaningful refugee participation at the center of the system beyond project-based engagement; and positioning refugees in executive roles to ensure that policies and programs are effective, just, and reflective of their needs, aspirations, and lived realities.

Jeff Crisp shifted the conversation to the role of academia in shaping UNHCR’s policies, programs, and practices, and examined the extent to which academic research influences the organization’s mandate. He noted that while independent research has helped shape UNHCR’s broader intellectual framework—informing policy agendas on issues such as repatriation, refugee mobility, and refugee-led organizations—its direct impact on UNHCR’s day-to-day policies and practices has been difficult to measure. Crisp suggested that some of these challenges stem from academics’ tendency to use inaccessible language, produce research in formats misaligned with policy needs, or propose studies at moments when they are not actionable. Academic work also sometimes overlooks localized knowledge or recommends solutions that do not align with current priorities or available resources. From the organizational side, Crisp observed that UNHCR’s engagement with academia has historically depended heavily on leadership support, including initiatives like the open-access working paper series and partnerships with research centers worldwide. However, he noted that this support has declined in recent years due to growing skepticism toward independent researchers and, at times, an unwillingness to hear critiques of the organization. He recommended revitalizing and strengthening these relationships through timely, innovative collaborations—rather than simply expanding tokenistic networks.

Q&A Discussion

During the Q&A session, panelists’ interventions sparked a vibrant discussion in response to questions submitted by the audience. With growing concern that the regime is facing its most profound crisis—and that the protection of refugee rights may be at risk—the panelists were asked to share their calls to action for global leaders and their vision for UNHCR’s future.

In response, Milner emphasized that no single actor can reform the regime without broad consensus and multisectoral collaboration; UNHCR relies on partnerships to fulfill its mandate, and the importance of collective action cannot be overstated. Crisp called for a reassessment of UNHCR’s scope and activities to ensure the organization prioritizes its core mandate of refugee protection. Ishimwe stressed the centrality of refugee participation and the need for a mindset shift toward a system accountable not only to donor countries but to refugees themselves. He added that while the system may not yet be prepared for refugees to lead, such a paradigm shift is essential for meaningful change.

In their concluding remarks, all panelists underscored the importance of centering lived experience and localized knowledge in policy and programming. They recommended leveraging new technologies to co-create knowledge with researchers who have lived experience of displacement, using prominent platforms to elevate the work of refugee researchers, allocating sustainable funding to RLOs, and—most importantly—expanding refugee participation beyond storytelling to genuine leadership and substantive influence in executive spaces, ensuring participation is meaningful rather than performative.

Watch the full webinar:

Relevant Content

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Para la versión en español, desplácese hasta la parte inferior de esta página.

On February 08, 2025, the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN) hosted a webinar to present and discuss the findings of a recently completed special research project on the Politics And Processes Of Refugee Leadership In The Global South, generously supported by the ,  with a specific focus on South America and East Africa. The webinar attracted over 100 participants from 19 different countries. The panellists discussed the results of an 18-month comparative study on the conditions that enable or constrain refugees from demonstrating leadership in local, national and regional power structures, and shared greater insight into how they think leadership can be redefined in the context of displacement and local solutions in the selected countries of the global South.  

The webinar was moderated by James Milner, who began the discussion with introductory remarks on the growing research interest in meaningful refugee participation and refugee-led organizations over the last decade. He reflected on the gap in the existing literature, which has predominantly conceptualized refugee leadership from the perspective of the Global North, particularly in humanitarian-based contexts that overlook forms of refugee leadership at the local level. Inspired by this research findings, he encouraged attendees to draw from the panellists’ presentations to critically reflect on how leadership is defined, understood, and mobilized.  

Stephanie Lopez Villamil, Project Lead Researcher in South America, presented her findings from research conducted in Chile and Colombia, where her team focused on leadership dynamics amongst displaced Venezuelan and Haitian populations. She highlighted how refugee leaders did not necessarily see themselves as leaders but rather thought of themselves as another member of the community trying to help others. Building on this, she noted the substantial differences between conventional political leadership and the circumstantial leadership positions that refugees assume when seeking out solutions to their plight. The South American research team also found that gender was a very relevant factor in the self-identification of leadership, with Dr. Lopez Villamil sharing how women, particularly in the Venezuelan community, were hesitant to refer to themselves as leaders. Her presentation concluded with reflections on the conditions that must be addressed in order to strengthen refugee leadership in the Global South, calling for greater social and mental health support, direct funding to RLOs, capacity-building, and increased opportunities for meaningful refugee participation. Her powerful words resonated with the audience, serving as a reminder that refugee leaders are powerful agents of change: 

Ronald Sebba Kalyango, Project Lead Researcher in East Africa, then shared his team’s insights from research based in Uganda and Kenya, which focused on refugee leadership in the urban contexts of Kampala and Nairobi as well as refugee settlements of Nakivale and Kakuma.  Dr. Kalyango’s presentation echoed the earlier conversation about how refugees become leaders by seeking solutions, sharing how many of the refugee leaders in the East Africa region start as activists, interpreters, and researchers who desire change.  

This notion of leadership affirmed similar findings of the South America research group, which also challenged conventional understandings of leadership by observing refugees in more informal spaces of advocacy and social movements. He then compared the challenges faced by refugee leaders in East Africa to those in South America, drawing similarities between barriers such as tokenization, precarious legal status, and male-dominated leadership structures. These barriers also exist within layers of complex intersectionality, wherein factors such as race, class, nationality, gender, and education can impact the types of challenges that refugee leaders face. Recognizing the need for greater equality amongst refugee leaders, Dr. Kalyango advocated for increased support for female refugee leaders in both RLO and political spheres.   

In response to these points, Dr. Milner invited both lead researchers to reflect on what leadership means to refugees in both regions, as well as how scholars and policymakers abroad can reframe how they think about leadership in practice. From the conversation, it became increasingly clear that current conventional understandings of leadership fail to capture the diverse and entrepreneurial nature of refugee leadership. There is tremendous diversity in the way that leadership is pursued, engaged, and expressed, and it does not need to be formally organized or related to a political structure. Dr. Kalyango emphasized that in these spaces, 

The discussion was furthered by valuable insights from Lublanc Prieto, Director of Fundación Refugiados Unidos, and Mohamed Hassan, research officer at the Refugee-Led Research Hub. Both panellists offered their own personal reflections on the research in conjunction with their own expertise and knowledge on refugee leadership. Culturally specific understandings of leadership, opportunities for collaboration both between and within refugee communities, and the entrenched systems of othering were key topics in this discussion. Each discussant also offered suggestions on how to address the barriers that limit effective refugee leadership. Central to these recommendations was the need for comprehensive capacity building. As Prieto emphasized, refugee leadership often emerges in informal spaces with limited resources, and leaders are continuously learning how to navigate the complex power dynamics while also serving their communities. Supporting refugee leadership thus requires going beyond traditional humanitarian programming and moving towards greater recognition for the social movements that emerge from refugee communities. It was further stressed that developing structures that allow for meaningful dialogue between refugee leaders and various actors is at the cornerstone of implementing meaningful refugee participation.  

Hassan added to this discussion by posing critical questions about whether refugee perspectives are prioritized and valued in formal policymaking settings. He emphasized the importance of addressing the tokenization and stigmatization that surrounds refugee leaders, and noted how meaningful participation means more than access to these spaces, but rather the chance for refugee leaders voices to be heard and influence decision making. He states that 

The Q&A session centered on mechanisms for accountability and transparency within organizations that support refugees, specifically in regard to how to track progress towards meaningful refugee participation and refugee leadership. Issues regarding inadequate funding, training programs, and reporting systems were discussed by the panellists as the primary pressure points in both regions, noting how political drawbacks and uncertainties may affect the future of ongoing projects. Dr. Lopez Villamil referred to this tension as the cycle of vulnerability that refugees face and highlighted how this is especially pertinent in South America where refugee leadership is still slowly emerging. Navigating a new country and unfamiliar systems may limit refugee leaders’ ability to compete for donor funding against larger humanitarian organizations, yet this does not negate the invaluable impact that they have.  

Despite facing structural and institutional limitations, the panellists discussed numerous instances wherein refugee leaders were mobilized as activists and agents of change. They concluded that the findings from the research project offered optimistic direction for redefining leadership and expressed their hopes that current understandings of the term can be expanded to become more inclusive of how refugee leaders learn, work, and elicit positive change.  As emphasized throughout the discussion, meaningful refugee participation requires moving beyond tokenized representation and recognizing that refugee leadership differs from traditional conceptualizations. Shifting the power towards localized solutions means creating spaces where refugee leaders can have their voices included in decision-making processes that affect their communities.  

For more information about the research project, you can visit the webpage here.  

En Español

El 8 de febrero de 2025,  el Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN) organizó un seminario web para presentar y debatir las conclusiones de un proyecto de investigación especial recientemente finalizado sobre las políticas y los procesos de liderazgo de los refugiados en el Sur Global, generosamente financiado por la , con especial atención a Sudamérica y África Oriental. El seminario atrajo a más de 100 participantes de 19 países. Los ponentes debatieron los resultados de un estudio comparativo de 18 meses de duración sobre las condiciones que permiten o limitan a los refugiados demostrar su liderazgo en las estructuras de poder locales, nacionales y regionales, y compartieron una amplia perspectiva sobre cómo creen que puede redefinirse el liderazgo en el contexto del desplazamiento y las soluciones locales en los países seleccionados del Sur global.  

El seminario web fue moderado por James Milner, que inició el debate con unas observaciones introductorias sobre el creciente interés de la investigación en la participación significativa de los refugiados y las organizaciones lideradas por refugiados en la última década. Reflexionó sobre el vacío existente en la bibliografía, que ha conceptualizado predominantemente el liderazgo de los refugiados desde la perspectiva del Norte Global, en particular en contextos de base humanitaria que pasan por alto formas de liderazgo de los refugiados a nivel local. Inspirado por los resultados de esta investigación, animó a los asistentes a aprovechar las presentaciones de los ponentes para reflexionar críticamente sobre cómo se define, entiende y moviliza el liderazgo.  

Stephanie López Villamil, investigadora principal del proyecto en Sudamérica, presentó los resultados de la investigación realizada en Chile y Colombia, en la que su equipo se centró en la dinámica del liderazgo entre las poblaciones desplazadas venezolana y haitiana. Destacó que los líderes y lideresas refugiadas no se veían necesariamente a sí mismos como líderes, sino más bien como un miembro más de la comunidad que intenta ayudar a los demás. A partir de ahí, señaló las diferencias sustanciales entre el liderazgo político convencional y las posiciones circunstanciales de liderazgo que asumen los refugiados cuando buscan soluciones a su difícil situación. El equipo de investigación sudamericano también descubrió que el género era un factor muy relevante en la autoidentificación del liderazgo, y la Dra. López Villamil compartió cómo las mujeres, especialmente en la comunidad venezolana, dudaban a la hora de referirse a sí mismas como lideresas. Su presentación concluyó con reflexiones sobre las condiciones que deben abordarse con el fin de fortalecer el liderazgo de los refugiados en el Sur Global, pidiendo un mayor apoyo psicosocial y de salud mental, la financiación directa a Organizaciones Lideradas por Refugiados – OLRs, el fortalecimiento de capacidades, y mayores oportunidades para la participación significativa de los refugiados. Sus poderosas palabras resonaron entre el público y sirvieron para recordar que los líderes y lideresas refugiadas son poderosos agentes de cambio: 

Ronald Sebba Kalyango, investigador principal del proyecto en África Oriental, compartió a continuación las ideas de su equipo sobre la investigación realizada en Uganda y Kenia, centrada en el liderazgo de los refugiados en los contextos urbanos de Kampala y Nairobi, así como en los asentamientos de refugiados en Nakivale y Kakuma. La presentación del Dr. Kalyango hizo eco de la conversación anterior sobre cómo los refugiados se convierten en líderes buscando soluciones, compartiendo cómo muchos de los líderes refugiados en la región de África Oriental comienzan como activistas, intérpretes e investigadores que desean el cambio.  

Esta noción de liderazgo reafirmó hallazgos similares del grupo de investigación de Sudamérica, que también desafió las concepciones convencionales del liderazgo al observar a los refugiados en espacios más informales de defensa y movimientos sociales. A continuación, comparó los retos a los que se enfrentan los líderes refugiados en África Oriental con los de Sudamérica, estableciendo similitudes entre barreras como la simbolización, el precario estatus legal y las estructuras de liderazgo dominadas por los hombres. Estas barreras también existen dentro de capas de compleja interseccionalidad, en las que factores como la raza, la clase, la nacionalidad, el género y la educación pueden influir en los tipos de retos a los que se enfrentan los líderes refugiados. Reconociendo la necesidad de una mayor igualdad entre los líderes refugiados, el Dr. Kalyango abogó por un mayor apoyo a las mujeres líderes refugiadas tanto en el ámbito de las OLRs como en el político.  

En respuesta a estos puntos, el Dr. Milner invitó a ambos investigadores principales a reflexionar sobre lo que significa el liderazgo para los refugiados en ambas regiones, así como sobre la forma en que los académicos y los responsables políticos en el extranjero pueden replantearse su forma de pensar sobre el liderazgo en la práctica. A partir de la conversación, quedó cada vez más claro que las concepciones convencionales actuales del liderazgo no logran captar la naturaleza diversa y emprendedora del liderazgo de los refugiados. Hay una enorme diversidad en la forma en que el liderazgo se persigue, se compromete y se expresa, y no necesita estar formalmente organizado o relacionado con una estructura política. El Dr. Kalyango subrayó que, en estos espacios, 

El debate se enriqueció con los valiosos aportes de Lublanc Prieto, Directora de la Fundación Refugiados Unidos, y Mohamed Hassan, investigador del Refugee-Led Research Hub. Ambos ponentes ofrecieron sus reflexiones personales sobre la investigación, junto con su propia experiencia y conocimientos sobre el liderazgo de los refugiados. Los temas clave de este debate fueron las interpretaciones culturalmente específicas del liderazgo, las oportunidades de colaboración entre las comunidades de refugiados y dentro de ellas, y los arraigados sistemas de exclusión. Cada ponente ofreció también sugerencias sobre cómo abordar las barreras que limitan el liderazgo efectivo de los refugiados. En el centro de estas recomendaciones se encontraba la necesidad de un desarrollo integral de las capacidades. Como subrayó Prieto, el liderazgo de los refugiados suele surgir en espacios informales con recursos limitados, y los líderes aprenden continuamente a navegar por las complejas dinámicas de poder al tiempo que sirven a sus comunidades. Apoyar el liderazgo de los refugiados exige, por tanto, ir más allá de los programas humanitarios tradicionales y avanzar hacia un mayor reconocimiento de los movimientos sociales que surgen de las comunidades de refugiados. Además, se hizo hincapié en que el desarrollo de estructuras que permitan un diálogo significativo entre los líderes y lideresas de los refugiados y los diversos actores es la piedra angular de la aplicación de una participación significativa de los refugiados.  

Hassan se sumó a este debate planteando cuestiones críticas sobre si se priorizan y valoran las perspectivas de los refugiados en los entornos formales de formulación de políticas. Hizo hincapié en la importancia de abordar la �ٴǰ��Ծ���������ó�� y estigmatización que rodea a los líderes refugiados, y señaló que una participación significativa va más allá del acceso a estos espacios, siendo más bien la oportunidad de que las voces de los líderes refugiados sean escuchadas e influyan en la toma de decisiones. Afirma que 

La sesión de preguntas y respuestas se centró en los mecanismos de rendición de cuentas y transparencia de las organizaciones que apoyan a los refugiados. En concreto sobre cómo hacer un seguimiento de los avances hacia una participación y un liderazgo significativos de los refugiados. Los panelistas debatieron cuestiones relativas a la financiación inadecuada, los programas de formación y los sistemas de información como principales puntos de presión en ambas regiones, y señalaron cómo los inconvenientes y las incertidumbres políticas pueden afectar al futuro de los proyectos en curso. La Dra. López Villamil se refirió a esta tensión como el ciclo de vulnerabilidad al que se enfrentan los refugiados y destacó cómo esto es especialmente pertinente en Sudamérica, donde el liderazgo de los refugiados aún está emergiendo lentamente. Navegar por un nuevo país y por sistemas desconocidos puede limitar la capacidad de los líderes y lideresas refugiadas para competir por la financiación de los donantes con organizaciones humanitarias más grandes, pero esto no niega el inestimable impacto que tienen.  

A pesar de enfrentarse a limitaciones estructurales e institucionales, los ponentes debatieron numerosos casos en los que los líderes refugiados se movilizaron como activistas y agentes del cambio. Llegaron a la conclusión de que los resultados del proyecto de investigación ofrecían una orientación optimista para redefinir el liderazgo y expresaron su esperanza de que la interpretación actual del término pueda ampliarse para incluir en mayor medida la forma en que los líderes refugiados aprenden, trabajan y generan cambios positivos.  Como se subrayó a lo largo del debate, la participación significativa de los refugiados exige ir más allá de la representación simbólica y reconocer que el liderazgo de los refugiados difiere de las conceptualizaciones tradicionales. Desplazar el poder hacia soluciones localizadas significa crear espacios en los que los líderes refugiados puedan hacer oír su voz en los procesos de toma de decisiones que afectan a sus comunidades 

Para más información sobre el proyecto de investigación, puede visitar la página web �����í.  

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