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THE PROBLEM

• 60 % of refugees live in urban settings, it is urgent to enhance the way the humanitarian community responds to their needs.
• Good practices in urban refugee programing have already been identified. It is necessary to ensure that those good practices are replicated or inspire new programs adapted to local challenges.
• Urban displacement is becoming more and more massive: this platform could play a vital role.

OUR PROJECT RESPONSE

• Facilitate the replication of successful urban refugee programs.
• Build a vibrant global community of practice. Members will not only share their good practices but also help others replicate them, guided and supported by our team.
• The methodology used to create this community of practice will be inspired from Collective impact and gamification methodologies that were both proven to greatly facilitate the emergence of active global communities.
• We will use a “lean” approach, starting small, one good practice at a time, evaluating, refining and then scaling up our replication model.

INNOVATIVE APPROACH

• Mentoring: Organisations with identified good practice will be matched with organisations willing to replicate it. URBAN REFUGEES serves as an intermediary, identifying suitable organizations and facilitating ongoing communications until good practices are replicated. A collective impact methodology will be used to sustain an ongoing dynamic within the whole community.
• Gamification: Games will be introduced to increase engagement of community members, incentivizing them to share their good practices and to mentor each other. We will use the three key areas under the gamification banner to produce a community in which engagement and motivation flourishes: rewards, badges and levels.
• Toolbox: For each good practice identified, a toolbox will be developed to enable easy replication by other organizations. This toolbox will take the form of a downloadable folder containing a short manual as well as other key resource that were developed by the mentor organization (such as questionnaires, templates of MoU etc…). URBAN REFUGEES will put together and translate this material to make it a digestible document for all community members.
• Calls for interest: Will be launched regularly inviting organizations to express their interest in getting support to replicate a particular good practice

PROCESS

The following process will be used for each replication:

1. Identification of a good practice that can be replicated
2. Contact with the concerned organization to:
   1. Gauge interest in becoming a member, incentivizing using gamification methodology
   2. Develop together a replication toolbox
3. Launch a call for interest to identify organizations willing to replicate the good practice
4. First Skype call between the mentor and the mentee and delivery of the replication toolbox to the mentee
5. Close follow-up with the mentee and ongoing communication maintained between the two organizations
6. Second Skype call to clarify unclear elements and find solutions to potential problems
7. Close follow-up with the mentee and ongoing communication maintained between the two organizations
8. Third Skype call to evaluate the replication process
9. Advertising on social media, on the website and within the community about the successful replication
10. Delivery of rewards or gifts won by mentor or mentee

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The approaches delineated above will lead to a dynamic, engaged community of practice resulting in the uptake of shared learning and the replication and adaptation of good practices targeting urban refugees. Ultimately, the outcome will be enhanced protection, strengthened advocacy and more effective services for urban refugees.

“Responding to the full range of challenges facing the urban displaced in protracted situations is beyond the scope of any one actor or sector. There are roles for humanitarian, development, political and human-rights actors, at international, national and very local levels. Making use of their different capacities will require a collaborative effort”, Simone Haysom, ODI 2013