Skills acquisition and employability through volunteering by displaced youth in Uganda

Lead Research Organisation: Northumbria University
Department Name: Fac of Arts, Design and Social Sciences

Abstract

This project investigates the capacity of volunteering to reduce inequalities experienced by displaced youths in Uganda and to build their skills and employability. Forced displacement has become one of the most intractable challenges of the 21st century, with 65.6 million people displaced worldwide at the end of 2016 - a number which is predicted to rise further in the coming years.

1.4 million of these refugees are currently seeking refuge in Uganda, fleeing from conflicts in the Central African countries of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Somalia to the east. The majority of these refugees are children, and so building the skills and employability of the many young people (understood in this research as aged 15 - 25) - caught up in this crisis is critical not only to their own future prospects, but to the long-term stability of their host country and region.

Often, however, economic and other inequalities will exclude young refugees from formal schooling and wider opportunities for skills acquisition; while they will also frequently "fall through the cracks" of humanitarian programming. Many, though, are engaged in volunteering, a practice increasingly identified with building skills and enhancing employability. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop a new conceptual framework and produce a body of data and evidence for critically analysing whether volunteering by displaced youths in Uganda helps their skills acquisition and employability and reduces the inequalities they experience.

The project will take an interdisciplinary (Youth Studies, Volunteering Studies, Refugee Studies, Urban Studies and Development Studies) mixed method approach, and establish and exploit collaborative links with global South refugee NGOs, volunteers and leading global volunteering and development actors. Fieldwork will be conducted in four case study regions - Kampala city, North Western Uganda, South Uganda, where two of the populations are in the same district, and South West Uganda - and proceed through the following three phases.

In Phase 1, the research team will carry out a series of workshops, key informant interviews and field visits in order to build stakeholder engagement, refine and confirm the impact plan, and establish an initial typology of forms and understandings of volunteering to inform the large-scale quantitative survey in phase 2.

In Phase 2, the research team will design, develop, pilot and launch a large quantitative survey of young refugees involved in volunteering. Preliminary analysis of the data arising from this survey will inform the questions and focus of phase 3.

Comprising 6 main activities - participatory mapping, participatory photography, one to one semi-structured interviews, life history interviews, and stakeholder interviews - Phase 3 will deepen our understanding of where and how young refugees volunteer, address the factors shaping volunteering activity, and its impacts on skills acquisition and employability.

The main outputs from the project will include 10 international peer-reviewed journal articles; presentations at major national and international conferences; a project website, containing findings, updates and working notes targeted at different audiences; a compendium of policy briefings; a (touring) photographic exhibition (and accompanying booklet), drawing on images solicited in the context of the participatory photography exercise; and a volunteering for skills acquisition and employability toolkit.

By developing a conceptual framework and body of data and evidence on the impact of volunteering by displaced youths in Uganda on skills acquisition, employability and inequality, the research will contribute directly to knowledge which supports how creative solutions to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal challenges work with programmes to develop education and skills.

Planned Impact

The research aims, objectives, methodology and impact plans have been co-designed with local partners and stakeholders in Uganda, with input from leading global humanitarian and development actors, ensuring our outputs are oriented to need and likely to have high impact.

We anticipate the research will enhance approaches to tackling inequality, skills acquisition and employability for young displaced people in Uganda by:

- Producing accessible knowledge and evidence to inform and shape policy making that affects the livelihoods of young refugees in Uganda, including by government ministries (e.g. Office of the Prime Minister Refugees Department, The Ministry of Local Government) and civil society organisations.

- Providing knowledge and resources for volunteer and refugee engaging organisations to design, develop and improve approaches to volunteering to maximise impacts on skills acquisition, employability and inequality, such as through improved recruitment, training, placement allocation, volunteer management and support to translate experiences into employment opportunities.

- Raising policy maker, civil society, business and public understanding in Uganda and more broadly, about different forms of volunteering and their capacities to enhance skills acquisition and employability and address inequality, in order to increase volunteer opportunities and participation, aid recognition of volunteer experience in employee recruitment and locate volunteering within wider development policy repertoires around young people, skills acquisition and inequality.

- Developing indicators and building stakeholder capacity to evaluate and assess the impact of volunteering on skills acquisition, employability and tackling inequality within Uganda, as well as in other developing countries hosting young displaced people.

- Building the capacity of local stakeholders to listen to the voices of young displaced people using approaches that recognise the inequalities and challenges they face, and develop strategies enabling young people's voices to shape and influence policy and practice.

- Fostering dialogue and co-ordination between volunteer and refugee engaging organisations in Uganda to develop more integrated approaches to volunteering for young refugees.

Developments in each of these regards will be facilitated by the following outputs: a project website (with integrated social media); Stakeholder workshops; Capacity building workshops; a Volunteering for Skills Toolkit; a compendium of Policy briefings; in-country Policy and Practice workshops; a photography exhibition and booklet; Pop Up Labs; Global policy and practice events; and papers at leading Policy and Practice conferences.

An Alignment, Interest and Influence Matrix (AIIM) will be developed during initial stakeholder workshops, mapping degrees of interest in the programme, alignment with objectives and influence in policy making and practice. An Outcome Mapping process will then confirm our final communications and impact approach. Two sets of indicators will be developed to monitor impact, one for individual young refugees and the other for stakeholder organisations, based on the Theory of Change approach. Our overall approach will be guided by an advisory board of leading Ugandan and global actors including The Norwegian Refugee Council, the Lutheran World Federation and Finn Church Aid and 5 citizen advisory boards of young displaced refugee volunteers.
 
Title RYVU Interactive Games 
Description Three interactive games were developed from the data to help diverse stakeholders understand and explore the research findings. Printed copies of the games were distributed to Youth Advisory Boards and key stakeholders in Uganda for dissemination in the research sites (Bidibidi, Kampala, Nakivale and Rwamwanja). Also, accessible versions of the games are available for download from the project website in four languages (Arabic, English, French and Swahili). - Game 1 "RYVU Volunteering Journey": This role play game invites players to step into the shoes of refugee volunteers and take on challenges and opportunities from different perspectives, opening up discussions on personal volunteering experiences and key concerns to take into account when engaging volunteers; - Game 2 "RYVU Volunteering Diamond": This ranking game invites players to reflect on their own motivations to volunteer and how the meanings of volunteering can be perceived differently by others, allowing participants to discuss what impacts this might have on volunteering policy and practice; - Game 3: "RYVU Photo Pairing Game": This card matching game invites players to engage with photos taken by young refugee volunteers and to try and pair them with the photographers' descriptions of the pictures, encouraging participants to consider different angles when interpreting refugee volunteering experiences. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The games have been used by young refugee volunteers, students and researchers, government officials and staff from volunteer-involving organisations in Uganda and the UK to broker and shape discussions around the ways refugees participate in volunteering activity. Feedback to date includes: - "The team did a great job coming up with the games... it's a smart and creative tool that will impact a lot of people." (Feedback from young refugee in Uganda, 3rd August 2022) - "I really enjoyed the board games and the discussions that were an important aspect of the game. It's really important to consider the challenges and opportunities people face." (Feedback from UK community member, Gallery North Visitor, 9th July 2022) - "Great opportunity for bringing people together to think about the importance and challenges of volunteering in every community." (Feedback from UK community member, Gallery North Visitor, 9th July 2022) - "A key take-away was how difficult it is to define 'volunteering' and understanding the reasons for and barriers to accessing volunteering in a really practical way." (Feedback from NGO stakeholder in the UK, Gallery North Visitor, 28th July 2022) 
URL https://www.ryvu.org/games
 
Title RYVU Photovoice Exhibit "Volunteering, Displacement & Livelihoods: Photographs by Young Refugees in Uganda" 
Description As part of the RYVU participatory and creative methodologies, the research team engaged with 20 young refugees living in the four case study sites in Uganda (Bidibidi, Kampala, Nakivale and Rwamwanja) and provided them with cameras, training and local support so they could capture images that best represent their volunteer experiences. They have since taken pictures in their own locations to explore different themes, such as volunteering spaces and the impact and change of volunteering. This exhibit presents photos that, as part of the photovoice methodology, were chosen by the young photographers themselves. These are organised in the exhibit around key themes that reflect what young people identified as significant, as well as analysis of wider RYVU data and dialogues with stakeholders. The exhibit was launched in Uganda in March 2022 as part of the stakeholder workshops engagement and was exhibited across Uganda and the UK throughout the year of 2022 to engage community members, university students and staff, government officials and NGO stakeholders from refugee organisations. The exhibit was also displayed in Senegal in October 2022 as part of the annual global conference of volunteering and development organisations. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The exhibit consists of photos taken by young refugees from Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, documenting their experiences as volunteers in Uganda. This offers a new perspective on volunteering amongst vulnerable communities who are usually portrayed only as 'recipients' of aid, rather than agents of change. Alongside the photos are comments from refugees and stakeholders on the meanings of the images and the roles volunteering plays in refugee lives. The in-person exhibit has been visited by nearly 2,000 people to date (in Uganda, the UK and Senegal), and served to prompt discussion amongst young refugees and stakeholders about the roles and limitations of volunteering for building skills and livelihoods. The photos have also been made available online to allow for 'virtual' visits and increased outreach of the exhibit. The responses to the exhibit have also been captured through online feedback forms, workshop discussions and audio-visually, and were used to inform recommendations to improve policy and practice by raising awareness of the issues young refugee volunteers face and explore what volunteering means to them, as well as to foster wider public debate about volunteering and displacement in Uganda and the UK. 
URL https://www.ryvu.org/gallery-exhibition
 
Description Our findings are significant for conceptualising volunteering and its roles in social and economic development in DAC list countries in East Africa, and Uganda in particular.

a) Dominant ideas of volunteering in Uganda.
Used to describe a range of practices, and connected to policy making for youth empowerment, there is disagreement about what volunteering is principally for, who can and should participate in it and if and how it should be remunerated. Dominant understandings are strongly influenced by European and North American models. This means it is often associated with 'programmed' activity managed by an organisation engaging volunteers in delivering their work or providing opportunities through volunteering. 'Everyday' and community-led forms volunteering are often not seen as 'volunteering', meaning they are missing from debates around what contribution volunteering can make to economic and social development. However, our survey data highlights that these are the most prevalent.

b) Volunteering and inequality.
There are high levels of participation in volunteering amongst young refugees, including the most vulnerable. This new evidence contrasts with scholarly and stakeholder views of volunteering as a preserve of the affluent; as one participant commented 'for us we don't believe a poor man can volunteer. A poor man is actually looking for a way of survival'.

Volunteering can exacerbate inequalities. Volunteering is often seen as synonymous with low paid work, providing a challenge to established thinking. Humanitarian organisations can take advantage of the lack of paid employment opportunities by offering remunerated volunteering that resembles a job but without reliable income or labour protections. The benefits that accrue from such opportunities are not always available to vulnerable refugees who may lack the required skills, qualifications or ability to travel to access opportunities. But volunteering can also help young refugees to mitigate the inequalities they experience, helping them establish connections, navigate social and institutional spaces, develop community leadership and a sense of worth.

These contradictions mean that claims for volunteering's contribution to social and economic development, inclusion and equality in DAC countries need to be treated with caution.

c) Skills and employability.
Volunteering amongst young refugees in Uganda does not necessarily provide a smooth pathway to skills and employability. Getting a job and building skills are key to young people's engagement in volunteering, but the main motivation of 53% of current volunteers is to help their communities. Volunteering does contribute to employability via the development of connections but there is frustration that promised transitions to employment from volunteering do not materialise. Young refugees' volunteering with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) shows how young refugees construct themselves an 'apprenticeship from below' to fill a gap in training opportunities.

d) Reduction in volunteering due to COVID-19.
85% of current youth refugee volunteers reported a decrease in volunteering activities due to COVID-19. Organisations reduced volunteer engagement, and community-led volunteering has dropped due to reduced trust amongst community members. This challenges wider celebrations, particularly in the global North, of the role of volunteering in addressing wellbeing and community need during the pandemic.
Exploitation Route Outcomes are being taken forward via policy briefings, interactive games, blog updates, academic papers, methodological toolkits, photo exhibits, workshops and an enhanced website. These are providing evidence and resources for key stakeholders (e.g. young refugees in Uganda, civil society actors, international donors, Ugandan government bodies, businesses in Uganda, global humanitarian actors) and the UK (e.g. refugee-involving organisations in the Northeast of England, academics, and postgraduate researchers) to use to assess the positive and negative impacts of volunteering and its capacities to build skills and employability for refugees. They will also support young refugees in advocating for change.
The project exhibition has been shared in person and online to raise public awareness of the agency of young refugees through volunteering, and foster debate amongst stakeholders. Workshops and project resources are enabling stakeholders to participate in data sense-making to prompt discussion and identify policy and practice priorities. Final policy engagement workshops and activities have shared findings, recommendations and resources with key stakeholders in Uganda.
COVID-19 has created an even more urgent need for data on volunteering in the global South and this is opening new impact opportunities for global outreach.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other
URL http://www.ryvu.org
 
Description While COVID-19 and budget cuts caused significant delays, the project has shared findings extensively with key policy-makers and the wider volunteer engagement community. Findings have contributed to the global Call to Action as part of the UN/IFRC Plan of Action to Integrate Volunteering into the 2030 Agenda and are being fed into a range of other relevant policy and practice fora (e.g. Red Cross Volunteering Alliance) both through formal events and direct contact and knowledge sharing with key policy professionals and practitioners. The project and its findings have underpinned invitations to the PI and other team members to advise on key sector project activity and thinking (e.g. IAVE; IVCO; CUSO). This has particularly focused on supporting organisations to recognise volunteering's intersections with inequality, and the need to revisit whose ideas of volunteering count when developing volunteer involvement strategies. Findings have been shared across a network of Uganda and UK stakeholders whose work is concerned with refugee youth, volunteering and skills and employability, through public engagement activities, workshop and cultural events, photo exhibits, policy briefings and wider communications. Further impacts have arisen through the research processes, notably through the training of research enumerators and in bringing young refugees together in advisory boards across the research settings. Our workshops in March 2022 have also engaged youth refugee filmmakers and performers to document activities and create resources for sharing with wider audiences within and beyond Uganda. Our workshops in June 2022 have particularly engaged representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) who are responsible for refugee management in Uganda. Gender equality: A number of measures have been put in place to ensure gender equality in our approach and in the data we collect. In particular: (a) In recruiting Youth Advisory Board members, attention has been paid to ensure participation across genders; (b) The Youth Advisory Boards have been consulted in the development and roll out of survey work to ensure gender sensitivity; (c) Following feedback and analysis of pilot survey data, questions were adjusted to ensure they captured volunteering participation across genders and nationalities; (d) The survey sampling and methodology were also adapted following the pilot to ensure young female refugees were not excluded through a focus on recruitment via public spaces in Kampala where there may have been reduced presence of young female refugees; (e) Gender has been identified as a critical theme and informed the qualitative tools for data collection, while the survey data from the project can be disaggregated by age, gender and nationality. Secondary impacts have emerged in the context of the UK's engagement of volunteers during the COVID-19 crisis, and what can be learnt from volunteering experiences amongst refugee youth in Uganda. To date, this has involved participation and dialogue with key volunteer engaging stakeholders in the UK to share learning from our research and to highlight existing evidence outside the UK that can be drawn upon.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other
Impact Types Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description Invitation for Professor Matt Baillie Smith to Chair Advisory Board of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) Research on Volunteering Leadership and COVID-19
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://leadership4vol.iave.org/
 
Description Invitation for Professor Matt Baillie Smith to become academic advisor for the project 'A New Dawn for Volunteering for Development' of the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum).
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description RYVU project citation in Implementation Report of Red Cross and Red Crescent International Resolution
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
Impact The research has been cited as an example of best practice in responding to the gaps in understanding volunteering experiences in humanitarian and development settings. Although it is not possible to quantify the specific reach of the impact, the policy document highlights its significance in providing for the first time an evidence-based dataset about the forms of volunteering undertaken by young refugees in Uganda and the impact on their skills, employability and livelihoods.
 
Description Use of RYVU interactive games for educational development of students and researchers on refugee volunteering experiences
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The games have been used in different educational contexts to open up discussions and improve understandings of volunteering and refugees' lives. At Northumbria University, for example, the games were used as part of the activities of the MSc in Disaster Management and Sustainable Development to provide an interactive tool for Master's students to explore refugee experiences and the multiple implications of volunteering on livelihoods and sustainable development strategies.
URL https://www.ryvu.org/games
 
Description Use of RYVU interactive games for influencing policy-making on volunteering and displacement
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
Impact The games have been used by government officials and staff from volunteer-involving organisations in Uganda and the UK to open up discussions and improve understandings and policies around refugee volunteers' engagement in volunteering. Feedback from participants has been very positive: - "The game is a winner and will prompt many discussions on volunteering in Uganda at all levels - grassroot, national and regional levels." (Feedback from NGO stakeholder in Uganda, 5th August 2022); - "It was great to be thinking about what this research means and how it can impact work in the Northeast of England." (Feedback from NGO stakeholder in the UK, Gallery North Visitor, 28th July 2022); - "The game brought a new way of collaboration, engagement and working with the refugees and the people in the community, highlighting also the importance of inclusion of refugees in all the activities and decisions done for and through them." (Feedback from Community Based Organisation stakeholder in Uganda, 31st August 2022).
URL https://www.ryvu.org/games
 
Description Exploring Refugee Entrepreneurs in Uganda through South-South Entrepreneurial Development Spaces
Amount £4,950 (GBP)
Organisation Northumbria University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2020 
End 12/2020
 
Description Internal Funding
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Organisation Northumbria University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2022 
End 07/2022
 
Description International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Volunteering Policy Study
Amount € 21,000 (EUR)
Organisation Spanish Red Cross 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Spain
Start 11/2020 
End 03/2021
 
Description Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Volunteering Together
Amount £140,000 (GBP)
Organisation Voluntary Service Overseas 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2020 
End 06/2021
 
Title Skills Acquisition and Employability Through Volunteering by Displaced Youth in Uganda, 2019-2022 
Description This archive contains the full dataset of the project "Skills acquisition and employability through volunteering by displaced youth in Uganda", also known as Refugee Youth Volunteering Uganda (RYVU), an interdisciplinary research project funded by the UK's Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The archive includes the project's quantitative and qualitative data collected in four locations in Uganda (Kampala city, and the refugee settlements of Bidibidi, Nakivale and Rwamwanja). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact By developing a conceptual framework and body of data on the impact of volunteering by displaced youths in Uganda on skills acquisition, employability and inequality, the research dataset contributes directly to knowledge on the relationships between volunteering and the livelihoods of displaced young people. It provides an accessible evidence base that can be used to inform, develop and improve the engagement of diverse volunteer groups (including from displaced communities) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that develop their education, skills and livelihoods, and in ways that do not increase inequalities. 
URL http://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/id/eprint/855975
 
Description Local Consultancy Partners 
Organisation Agency for Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD)
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has actively engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda for the design and implementation of the project. These organisations work closely with refugee, youth and volunteer communities across each of the settlements where the research for the project was conducted and the research team has organised meetings with them to discuss the project's approach, negotiate local access, reinforce local ownership of the project, and strengthen stakeholder active engagement with the research activities.
Collaborator Contribution Local consultants are leading local authorities working with young refugees in Uganda and have engaged extensively in the development of the research design and in shaping the project, particularly at early stages of the project through advising on and facilitating local access, logistics, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork and liaison with the Youth Advisory Boards. At later stages of the project, the local consultants have also joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings; and high-level meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, they have been actively supporting the dissemination of the final outputs and research materials, particularly the interactive games and policy briefings.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the successful roll out of the project's data collection methods, particularly the quantitative survey that reached over 3,000 respondents, ensuring local appropriateness and ownership of the project by Ugandan partners. It has also informed the development of the working papers and policy briefings listed in the publications section.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Local Consultancy Partners 
Organisation Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development - Uganda (ACORD-U)
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has actively engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda for the design and implementation of the project. These organisations work closely with refugee, youth and volunteer communities across each of the settlements where the research for the project was conducted and the research team has organised meetings with them to discuss the project's approach, negotiate local access, reinforce local ownership of the project, and strengthen stakeholder active engagement with the research activities.
Collaborator Contribution Local consultants are leading local authorities working with young refugees in Uganda and have engaged extensively in the development of the research design and in shaping the project, particularly at early stages of the project through advising on and facilitating local access, logistics, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork and liaison with the Youth Advisory Boards. At later stages of the project, the local consultants have also joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings; and high-level meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, they have been actively supporting the dissemination of the final outputs and research materials, particularly the interactive games and policy briefings.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the successful roll out of the project's data collection methods, particularly the quantitative survey that reached over 3,000 respondents, ensuring local appropriateness and ownership of the project by Ugandan partners. It has also informed the development of the working papers and policy briefings listed in the publications section.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Local Consultancy Partners 
Organisation COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has actively engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda for the design and implementation of the project. These organisations work closely with refugee, youth and volunteer communities across each of the settlements where the research for the project was conducted and the research team has organised meetings with them to discuss the project's approach, negotiate local access, reinforce local ownership of the project, and strengthen stakeholder active engagement with the research activities.
Collaborator Contribution Local consultants are leading local authorities working with young refugees in Uganda and have engaged extensively in the development of the research design and in shaping the project, particularly at early stages of the project through advising on and facilitating local access, logistics, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork and liaison with the Youth Advisory Boards. At later stages of the project, the local consultants have also joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings; and high-level meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, they have been actively supporting the dissemination of the final outputs and research materials, particularly the interactive games and policy briefings.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the successful roll out of the project's data collection methods, particularly the quantitative survey that reached over 3,000 respondents, ensuring local appropriateness and ownership of the project by Ugandan partners. It has also informed the development of the working papers and policy briefings listed in the publications section.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Local Consultancy Partners 
Organisation Finnish Refugee Council (FRC)
Country Finland 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The research team has actively engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda for the design and implementation of the project. These organisations work closely with refugee, youth and volunteer communities across each of the settlements where the research for the project was conducted and the research team has organised meetings with them to discuss the project's approach, negotiate local access, reinforce local ownership of the project, and strengthen stakeholder active engagement with the research activities.
Collaborator Contribution Local consultants are leading local authorities working with young refugees in Uganda and have engaged extensively in the development of the research design and in shaping the project, particularly at early stages of the project through advising on and facilitating local access, logistics, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork and liaison with the Youth Advisory Boards. At later stages of the project, the local consultants have also joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings; and high-level meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, they have been actively supporting the dissemination of the final outputs and research materials, particularly the interactive games and policy briefings.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the successful roll out of the project's data collection methods, particularly the quantitative survey that reached over 3,000 respondents, ensuring local appropriateness and ownership of the project by Ugandan partners. It has also informed the development of the working papers and policy briefings listed in the publications section.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Local Consultancy Partners 
Organisation Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID)
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has actively engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations in Uganda for the design and implementation of the project. These organisations work closely with refugee, youth and volunteer communities across each of the settlements where the research for the project was conducted and the research team has organised meetings with them to discuss the project's approach, negotiate local access, reinforce local ownership of the project, and strengthen stakeholder active engagement with the research activities.
Collaborator Contribution Local consultants are leading local authorities working with young refugees in Uganda and have engaged extensively in the development of the research design and in shaping the project, particularly at early stages of the project through advising on and facilitating local access, logistics, stakeholder engagement, fieldwork and liaison with the Youth Advisory Boards. At later stages of the project, the local consultants have also joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings; and high-level meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, they have been actively supporting the dissemination of the final outputs and research materials, particularly the interactive games and policy briefings.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the successful roll out of the project's data collection methods, particularly the quantitative survey that reached over 3,000 respondents, ensuring local appropriateness and ownership of the project by Ugandan partners. It has also informed the development of the working papers and policy briefings listed in the publications section.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Volunteer-involving Partner Organisations 
Organisation African Volunteers Association (AVA)
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has identified key national and international volunteer-involving organisations as partners for the dissemination of project findings. These partner organisations have a wide outreach and are recognised as key stakeholders in volunteer spaces in Uganda and internationally. Therefore, the research team has remained in constant dialogue with them since the research inception and actively engaged with them as strategic stakeholders throughout the different stages of the research.
Collaborator Contribution The partner organisations have contributed to the co-design of the research activities at earlier stages of the projects and have received regular updates on research progress during data collection. During the last year of the project, the partner organisations joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings. The organisations based in Kampala and Nakivale also joined high-level stakeholder meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, the partners have been disseminating the final outputs and research materials shared through e-mail and social media.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the participatory and interdisciplinary approaches of this project. Working with these partner organisations has allowed the different stages of the research project (e.g. design, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) to be informed by stakeholders actively working with young refugees in Uganda (Uganda Youth Development Link, Uganda Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Service Uganda) and beyond (African Volunteers Association, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). This also means that the collaborations have strategically positioned the project team and the project resources in spaces that can inform future policy changes on volunteering practices in the context of displacement.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Volunteer-involving Partner Organisations 
Organisation International Federation of Red Cross and Crescents
Country Switzerland 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has identified key national and international volunteer-involving organisations as partners for the dissemination of project findings. These partner organisations have a wide outreach and are recognised as key stakeholders in volunteer spaces in Uganda and internationally. Therefore, the research team has remained in constant dialogue with them since the research inception and actively engaged with them as strategic stakeholders throughout the different stages of the research.
Collaborator Contribution The partner organisations have contributed to the co-design of the research activities at earlier stages of the projects and have received regular updates on research progress during data collection. During the last year of the project, the partner organisations joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings. The organisations based in Kampala and Nakivale also joined high-level stakeholder meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, the partners have been disseminating the final outputs and research materials shared through e-mail and social media.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the participatory and interdisciplinary approaches of this project. Working with these partner organisations has allowed the different stages of the research project (e.g. design, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) to be informed by stakeholders actively working with young refugees in Uganda (Uganda Youth Development Link, Uganda Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Service Uganda) and beyond (African Volunteers Association, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). This also means that the collaborations have strategically positioned the project team and the project resources in spaces that can inform future policy changes on volunteering practices in the context of displacement.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Volunteer-involving Partner Organisations 
Organisation Jesuit Refugee Service
Department Jesuit Refugee Service, Uganda
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has identified key national and international volunteer-involving organisations as partners for the dissemination of project findings. These partner organisations have a wide outreach and are recognised as key stakeholders in volunteer spaces in Uganda and internationally. Therefore, the research team has remained in constant dialogue with them since the research inception and actively engaged with them as strategic stakeholders throughout the different stages of the research.
Collaborator Contribution The partner organisations have contributed to the co-design of the research activities at earlier stages of the projects and have received regular updates on research progress during data collection. During the last year of the project, the partner organisations joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings. The organisations based in Kampala and Nakivale also joined high-level stakeholder meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, the partners have been disseminating the final outputs and research materials shared through e-mail and social media.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the participatory and interdisciplinary approaches of this project. Working with these partner organisations has allowed the different stages of the research project (e.g. design, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) to be informed by stakeholders actively working with young refugees in Uganda (Uganda Youth Development Link, Uganda Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Service Uganda) and beyond (African Volunteers Association, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). This also means that the collaborations have strategically positioned the project team and the project resources in spaces that can inform future policy changes on volunteering practices in the context of displacement.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Volunteer-involving Partner Organisations 
Organisation Uganda Red Cross Society
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has identified key national and international volunteer-involving organisations as partners for the dissemination of project findings. These partner organisations have a wide outreach and are recognised as key stakeholders in volunteer spaces in Uganda and internationally. Therefore, the research team has remained in constant dialogue with them since the research inception and actively engaged with them as strategic stakeholders throughout the different stages of the research.
Collaborator Contribution The partner organisations have contributed to the co-design of the research activities at earlier stages of the projects and have received regular updates on research progress during data collection. During the last year of the project, the partner organisations joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings. The organisations based in Kampala and Nakivale also joined high-level stakeholder meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, the partners have been disseminating the final outputs and research materials shared through e-mail and social media.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the participatory and interdisciplinary approaches of this project. Working with these partner organisations has allowed the different stages of the research project (e.g. design, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) to be informed by stakeholders actively working with young refugees in Uganda (Uganda Youth Development Link, Uganda Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Service Uganda) and beyond (African Volunteers Association, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). This also means that the collaborations have strategically positioned the project team and the project resources in spaces that can inform future policy changes on volunteering practices in the context of displacement.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Volunteer-involving Partner Organisations 
Organisation Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL)
Country Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team has identified key national and international volunteer-involving organisations as partners for the dissemination of project findings. These partner organisations have a wide outreach and are recognised as key stakeholders in volunteer spaces in Uganda and internationally. Therefore, the research team has remained in constant dialogue with them since the research inception and actively engaged with them as strategic stakeholders throughout the different stages of the research.
Collaborator Contribution The partner organisations have contributed to the co-design of the research activities at earlier stages of the projects and have received regular updates on research progress during data collection. During the last year of the project, the partner organisations joined co-analysis participatory workshops in the four research settings (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja) to inform the data analysis through sense-checking early findings. The organisations based in Kampala and Nakivale also joined high-level stakeholder meetings to inform the development of policy briefings and other policy-focused resources. Finally, the partners have been disseminating the final outputs and research materials shared through e-mail and social media.
Impact This collaboration has contributed to the participatory and interdisciplinary approaches of this project. Working with these partner organisations has allowed the different stages of the research project (e.g. design, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) to be informed by stakeholders actively working with young refugees in Uganda (Uganda Youth Development Link, Uganda Red Cross, Jesuit Refugee Service Uganda) and beyond (African Volunteers Association, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). This also means that the collaborations have strategically positioned the project team and the project resources in spaces that can inform future policy changes on volunteering practices in the context of displacement.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Article in 'The Conversation' on Covid19 and volunteering 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith contributed an article in 'The Conversation' entitled, 'Coronavirus volunteers aren't just a source of free labour - don't take advantage of them'. This drew on insight from the early phases of the RYVU project and argued for greater attention to volunteering experiences in the global South when planning and developing volunteer responses to COVID19.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-volunteers-arent-just-a-source-of-free-labour-dont-take-adva...
 
Description Blog post for IFRC 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith together with Bianca Fadel and Aisling O'Loghlen authored a blog on volunteering and livelihoods based on research about volunteer remuneration and hierarchies in the Global South. The team were invited by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to do this on the basis of the RYVU project and wider research about volunteering in the Global South.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://future-rcrc.com/2020/10/26/its-time-to-talk-about-paying-volunteers/
 
Description Blog post on The Covid-19 lockdown and the case for praxis research 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Moses Okech, a member of the research team from Uganda Martyrs University, wrote a blog post entitled 'the Covid-19 lockdown and the case for praxis research: The experience of urban refugees in Uganda'. The post appears on the project website and provided some insights into how the lockdown affected refugees in Uganda when restrictions were at their tightest, in March 2020.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/work-and-livelihood-experiences-of-young-refugees-during-the-covid-19-pand...
 
Description Blog post on Work and Livelihood Experiences of Young Refugees during the Covid19 pandemic in Uganda 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr. Robert Turyamureeba, a member of the research team, wrote a blog post on work and livelihood experiences of young people during the Covid19 pandemic in Uganda. The blog was posted onto the project website and gave first hand insights into the experiences of young refugees at the time when the pandemic hit in Uganda.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://ryvu.org/2020/06/12/work-and-livelihood-experiences-of-young-refugees-during-the-covid19-pan...
 
Description Celebration of International Day of Peace, AIESEC Uganda 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Bianca Fadel was invited joined a panel to share project activities and findings during a panel discussion with youth organised by AIESEC in Uganda to celebrate the International Day of Peace (21 September). The theme of the panel was "Everyday peace fighters: How to contribute to everyday peace in your community". During the activity, Bianca Fadel shared project findings to explore the roles of refugee youth in building and sustaining peace in their own locations through different kinds of voluntary labour. This includes both programmed and everyday forms of volunteering, as well as their efforts in bridging gaps between refugee and host communities. The panel emphasised the importance of livelihoods approaches when striving for peace in every domain, as well as the need to recognise and tackle existing inequalities in terms of youth participation in decision-making - particularly considering the effects of Covid-19 among youth. The panel has also highlighted the importance of local action and community mobilisation, and the unique roles of youth as change-makers contributing to everyday peace in their own surroundings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/international-day-of-peace-event-how-to-contribute-to-everyday-peace-in-yo...
 
Description Contribution to Volunteering and COVID19 Evidence Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited participation in Volunteering and COVID19 Evidence Group Roundtable, convened by a group of academics and practitioners reporting findings from live research on volunteering during the pandemic to the UK government and key stakeholders.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Contribution to global practitioner/policy conference - Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Baillie Smith made an invited contribution to the leading global forum for volunteering in development contexts organised by the INGO Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Kigali, Rwanda. The event was attended by key civil society stakeholders from across the region. This included sharing project approaches and initial findings on volunteering, power and inequality and led to a debate about which kinds of volunteers are missed from current research approaches. Participation in the event also included convening of a pop-up labs on volunteering and the SDGs for participants and led to discussion of the ways refugees are engaged in volunteering in other settings in the region.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Cuso International Town Hall 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact Bianca Fadel joined an interactive discussion with volunteers and volunteer managers of the volunteer-involving organisation Cuso International in an online event they organised as a town hall in recognition of International Development Week 2022. The theme of the event was "Stronger together - helping to build community resilience". During the activity, Bianca shared learning about community volunteering in different contexts, in particular the refugee youth volunteers' experiences unearthed through RYVU research in Uganda.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Decolonial workshop 'Coloniality and Ethics in Development Research: Whose Reality Counts? The case of RYVU collaborative research project'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Dr Moses Okech was invited as a keynote speaker in a series of workshops on decolonisation supported by the Development Studies Association (DSA). The activity was aimed at students, early-career researchers and development practitioners, interrogating how coloniality is embedded within development research and practice and how global development can be a driver of contemporary global, racialised inequalities. During his participation, Dr Okech shared findings about refugee youth volunteering from the RYVU research and called for a reconsideration of the notions of 'formal' and 'informal' volunteering and the place for 'African volunteering' in development literature and practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/decolonial-chats-coloniality-and-ethics-in-development-research-whose-real...
 
Description Development of enhanced RYVU website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The RYVU project website was completely redesigned in consultation with stakeholders and designers to create accessible pages for increased engagement and sharing of the project's findings, updates and resources in accessible ways. The project's policy briefings and downloadable games are available in four languages (Arabic, English, French and Swahili) following consultation with the Youth Advisory Boards in Uganda, and a virtual gallery was created to increase the outreach of the RYVU photo exhibit.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/
 
Description European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith co-convened a panel on "Volunteering, solidarity and development" which explored key themes emerging from the project, and also presented a paper on "Volunteering, Solidarity and Displacement: Young Refugees Volunteering in Uganda". The purpose of the panel was to move beyond a focus on how volunteering promotes development to explore what kind of development volunteering facilitates and for whom. Presentations focused on diverse volunteering experiences in the global South, and volunteering's relationship to efforts to build trust across different scales, struggles for peace and social justice, and responses to the climate emergency. The RYVU paper explored the relationships between volunteering, solidarity and displacement through a focus on the voluntary activities of young refugees in Uganda. It discussed forms and scales of solidarities that produce or are produced by local forms of volunteering, other than international volunteering. It argued that the framing of volunteering as an act of benevolence by the affluent toward the less well-off has further limited analyses of volunteering's relationship to solidarities, side-lining activities by individuals and communities who are themselves from disadvantaged communities and 'beneficiaries' of aid and support.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/eadi-iss-conference-2021
 
Description International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Members of the RYVU team presented findings in a panel on 'Active citizenship'. Dr Sarah Mills led the presentation of the paper "Active citizenship and volunteering: young refugees in Uganda", co-authored by Professor Matt Baillie Smith, Dr Cuthbert Tukundane and Dr Moses Okech. This paper discussed initial findings from the RYVU project by outlining the inequalities that young people encounter in accessing both volunteer and work opportunities in Uganda. It also explored the contested political and legal geographies of refugee rights in the context of volunteering, a practice often associated with 'active' citizenship which emphasises responsibilities rather than rights. Overall, the paper examined the everyday spaces where young refugees in Uganda volunteer and how these practices reveal wider geographies of citizenship 'at the border'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/rgs-ibg-conference-2021
 
Description International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Contribution to panel on 'Geographies of Displacement'. Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Bianca Fadel presented a paper on "Volunteering and displacement: situating the voluntary labour of young refugees within humanitarian and development spaces in Uganda", also co-authored by Dr Frank Ahimbisibwe and Dr Robert Turyamureeba. This paper focused on the ways young refugees' voluntary labour articulatse with the infrastructures and strategies of humanitarian and development programming that govern displaced populations in Uganda. By developing an account of the nexus of volunteering and displacement, the paper highlighted the importance of voluntary labour to understanding the geographies of displacement and, in particular, the experiences of young refugees in Uganda.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/rgs-ibg-conference-2021
 
Description International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Members of the RYVU team convened the panel 'Geographies of volunteering through and beyond crisis and recovery' and presented findings during the panel 'Refugee youth, Resilience and Recovery'. Prof Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Bianca Fadel presented the paper "Volunteering, resilience and refugee lives: the experiences of young refugees in Uganda", which was also co-authored by Professor Sarah Mills, Dr Frank Ahimbisibwe and Dr Robert Turyamureeba. This paper focused on how young refugees work and re-work ideas and practices of volunteering to build their resilience and agency, challenging traditional ideas of volunteering as 'service-delivery' for refugee communities. By analysing the relationship between refugee volunteering and 'work' and the roles of volunteering in young refugees' navigation of the spaces and places of displacement, the paper suggested that we need to address the simultaneous potential of volunteering for increasing resilience and entanglement with experiences of vulnerability in young refugees' lives. Professor Sarah Mills presented the paper "Young refugees in Uganda: volunteering in the context of Covid-19", co-authored also by team members Dr Cuthbert Tukundane, Dr Moses Okech, Prof Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Bianca Fadel. This paper discussed key findings from the RYVU project on the institutional agendas surrounding refugee youth volunteering activities in Uganda and how these ideas have been understood in relation to the Covid-19 crisis. The presentation provided a counterpoint to celebrations of volunteering during Covid-19, exploring how voluntary labour by young refugees during the pandemic articulated with refugee status, the spaces and places of displacement, and the inequalities refugees experience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/rgs-ibg-conference-2022
 
Description International Geographical Union (IGU) Roundtable 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Dr Moses Okech was invited by the International Geographical Union (IGU) to share RYVU findings and approaches during the virtual roundtable "Mobilising Geographical Research Methods in Times of Covid-19: How has geographical research transformed during the pandemic?". Dr Okech shared the experience of undertaking the RYVU project in Uganda during the pandemic, and particularly the roles of the Youth Advisory Boards informing RYVU approaches to navigating Covid-19 changes and challenges. RYVU team member Professor Sarah Mills facilitated the discussion at the end of the roundtable, focusing on the lessons and legacies of mobilising geographical research methods during Covid-19 and how they might inform future practices in the field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://igumethods.org/news/news-from-the-commission/
 
Description International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations (IVCO) Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact RYVU team members shared key findings from the research with leading global stakeholders from the global volunteering and development sector during their annual conference in Senegal. Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Moses Okech presented findings from the RYVU project during the panel session "Volunteering by and for Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers". After the panel, the RYVU team also organised a side event to encourage further discussion on the experiences of refugee youth volunteers through interactive games. Conference participants were invited to step into the shoes of young refugees by navigating challenges and opportunities in different volunteering journeys, and also play with the photos taken by photovoice participants in the RYVU research. The RYVU photo exhibit - "Volunteering, Displacement & Livelihoods: Photographs by Young Refugees in Uganda" - was also presented during the conference. The exhibition provided a unique perspective from RYVU photovoice participants on the ways young refugees use volunteering to build their lives and livelihoods, a key area of discussion during the conference activities. After the conference, Prof Baillie Smith, Dr Okech and Dr Bianca Fadel also led capacity-building sessions at the Forum Research, Practice, Policy and Learning (RPPL) in-person and online meetings, drawing on RYVU experiences to facilitate discussions amongst academics who work in the field of volunteering.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/ivco-senegal-conference-2022
 
Description International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations (IVCO) Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Peter Kanyandago and Professor Matt Baillie Smith were invited to present data and learning from the RYVU project during the panel session "Community Volunteering and Localisation". In their contribution, they presented RYVU findings to leading global volunteering practitioners on the high rates of volunteering participation amongst youth refugees in Uganda, but also how this needs to be seen as part of complex livelihoods strategies by the vulnerable. Moreover, Professor Peter shared his experience with the African Volunteers Association (AVA) in Uganda to highlight the potential of volunteering to address poverty and inequality, but also the importance of recognising that community-led and owned approaches don't always fit established thinking. These issues were linked in the session to the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and experiences of community volunteering, as well as existing challenges and potential for cooperation between national and international organisations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/ivco-conference-2021
 
Description International Volunteer Day: African Union Celebration Panel 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact r Moses Okech was invited by the African Union to share RYVU findings during a panel discussion as part of International Volunteer Day celebrations. The panel was centred on the roles of volunteering to promote inter-citizen solidarity in the African Union Member States, drawing upon lessons learned from Uganda, alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. During his presentation, Dr Okech discussed key findings from RYVU research, particularly on the roles of volunteering in the relationships between refugees and host communities, the impacts of volunteer work on refugee livelihoods, and the ways COVID-19 affected volunteering experiences amongst refugee youth in Uganda. RYVU resources were also shared with participants as the project's policy briefings and interactive games were launched in Arabic, English, French and Swahili to mark International Volunteer Day 2022 celebrations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/international-volunteer-day-african-union-celebration-panel
 
Description Launch of Youth and Transitions Hub of the Open University's Centre for the Study of Global Development 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact On World Youth Skills Day, Professor Matt Baillie Smith was invited to join a panel as part of the launch of a new Centre and thematic group at the Open University, UK. He shared experiences from the RYVU project in the panel "Post-pandemic recovery: How can marginalised youth be supported in Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the labour market?". The discussion focused on the lessons learnt during the Covid-19 crisis and the multiple ways in which Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and labour market systems can ensure equitable outcomes for the most marginalised. Professor Baillie Smith discussed findings from the RYVU project to explore the roles of voluntary labour in building skills and employability for refugee youth in Uganda. He argued that there is a risk that volunteering is seen as a panacea for youth development in the global South, ignoring the inequalities it can (re)produce and limited evidence on its impacts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/youth-and-transitions-panel-discussion
 
Description North East Festival of Languages 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The RYVU project joined the 2023 "Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages" to celebrate diverse languages and cultures and the connections of the North East of England to the world, and in particular the synergies between the experiences of refugees and volunteers in Uganda and the UK. As part of the Festival, the RYVU interactive games were shared in their four languages (Arabic, English, French and Swahili) to provide fun, visual and creative ways for participants of all ages and backgrounds to explore the impacts of refugee volunteering experiences on young people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://expressyourselfne.com/volunteering-games/
 
Description Participated in UNV/IFRC Expert Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The significance of the RYVU project for volunteering research and policy was a key factor in the invitation of Professor Baillie Smith and Bianca Fadel to participate in the United Nations Volunteers/ International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Expert Group of the Global Technical Meeting on "Reimagining Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda" (GTM 2020). This consisted of a group of thought-leaders either from or actively working in the Global South in the fields of volunteering, civic engagement and sustainable development that provided expert input to the United Nations Plan of Action to Integrate Volunteering into the 2030 Agenda. The group held regular meetings as a critical challenge function in the content preparation of GTM 2020 including inputting research findings and insight and ensuring the thematic framing of the GTM 2020 aligned with the evidence base.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Participated in the Global Technical Meeting Re-imagining Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Because of his work on the RYVU project, Professor Peter Kanyandago was invited as a key speaker to present at the Global Technical Meeting "Re-imagining Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda" (GTM 2020). The GTM2020 took place virtually on 13-16 July 2020 as a special event during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2020, as set out in General Assembly resolution A/RES/73/140 on Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It was co-chaired by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Professor Kanyandago spoke to the GTM Plenary Session 2 "Global Volunteering Snapshot: What is volunteering doing for the SDGs" on the Live conversation "How can evidence and knowledge help us reimagine volunteering?". More than 4,000 people participated in the virtual session and the recording remains available and was also widely disseminated via UN social media pages (UN Web TV, UNV Twitter and UNV Facebook). In the presentation, Professor Kanyandago highlighted how the experiences of the Global South can help improving the understandings of relationships between volunteering and the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDGs), drawing particularly on the RYVU project's focus on the role of volunteering in developing young refugees' self-reliance, network and skills.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://unitednationsvolunteers.swoogo.com/gtm2020/speakers
 
Description Peer-support meeting of the Comhlámh Code Network 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Bianca Fadel was invited to share project findings during an online workshop with volunteer managers of international volunteer-involving organisations based in Ireland. The workshop focused on spotlighting current and emerging themes and trends shaping the future of volunteering. The knowledge shared about refugee youth volunteers' experiences in Uganda was welcomed as an important basis of evidence for influencing decision-making in the work of the international organisations that took part in the workshop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description RYVU Academic Engagement in Uganda 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact As part of RYVU's impact and engagement strategy in Uganda, RYVU team members organised academic engagement activities at Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) and at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, which involved 125 participants amongst postgraduate and undergraduate students, academic staff and professional services at both universities. During the events, Professor Matt Baillie Smith, Professor Peter Kanyandago, Dr Bianca Fadel, Dr Cuthbert Tukundane, Dr Moses Okech and Dr Robert Turyamureeba shared findings from the RYVU project. Professor Baillie Smith also shared learning about grants writing and applications to build local capacities. During the activities at both universities the RYVU photo exhibit was displayed and the RYVU team shared the project's interactive games as resources for educational development on volunteering and displacement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description RYVU Photo Exhibit Activities in Newcastle upon Tyne 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The RYVU team presented the photo exhibit "Volunteering, Displacement & Livelihoods: Photographs by Young Refugees in Uganda" at Northumbria University's Gallery North, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Between 20th June and 29th July 2022, the exhibit was visited by over 500 people, including community members, university students and staff, and NGO stakeholders from refugee organisations in the Newcastle. The photo exhibit opened at Gallery North on the 20th of June to mark the World Refugee Day, and it was also part of the UK Refugee Week calendar of events. The exhibit was then officially launched on the 6th of July by Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, Chair of the Board of Governors at Northumbria University and former Shadow Minister for International Development, alongside Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Bianca Fadel. During the exhibit period at the Gallery, various activities were organised to bring together the general public, students, researchers and representatives from volunteer-involving and refugee organisations in the Northeast of the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/ryvu-photo-exhibit-in-the-uk
 
Description RYVU Policy Engagement Workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact As part of RYVU's impact and engagement strategy, final workshop meetings with high-level stakeholders were organised in Uganda in June 2022 to share findings, recommendations and resources with stakeholders from the four research sites (Kampala, Nakivale, Bidibidi and Rwamwanja). These workshops were attended by stakeholders from government, including the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) (that is responsible for refugee management in Uganda); Youth Advisory Members who have provided guidance and support throughout the project; civil society and other actors (e.g. Federation of Uganda Employers) who are working in areas related to the project's focus. During the workshops, RYVU team members reported on the final project activities and shared the project's recommendations and interactive resources first-hand with the stakeholders in Uganda, as well as exploring how they might be used in stakeholders' policy and practice strategies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description RYVU Policy and Practice Stakeholder Workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact As part of RYVU's impact and engagement strategy, 2 face-to-face stakeholder workshops were held in the case study settlements of Nakivale and Bidibidi on the 9th and 10th of March 2022. These workshops were attended by stakeholders from government, civil society and the third sector working in areas related to the project's focus. Stakeholders that had joined the 2019 workshops - which helped shaping the RYVU project's approach and data collection strategy - were invited, along with young refugees and other stakeholders engaged during the research. The workshops reported on project activities; shared and explored findings; provided opportunities for stakeholders to input into policy recommendations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description RYVU Stakeholder Workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 4 stakeholder workshops were held across Uganda in the case study settlements of Kampala, Nakivale, Rwamwanja and Bidibidi in October 2019. These workshops were attended by stakeholders from government, civil society and the third sector who engaged with the sectors related to the project: refugees, young people and those involved in building skills and employability. The main objectives of the workshop were as follows:

? Introduce RYVU to key stakeholders
? Provide opportunities to input into the delivery of RYVU
? Identify and make connections with existing activities and initiatives
? Validate the analysis tools with a wider group of stakeholders
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://ryvu.org/2020/02/12/newsletter-february-2020/
 
Description RYVU World Refugee Day Activities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The RYVU project celebrated World Refugee Day across borders, with simultaneous activities happening in Kampala, Nakivale refugee settlement, in Uganda, and Newcastle upon Tyne, in the UK. In total, the engagement activities were attended by more than 800 people. In Kampala, the RYVU team partnered with refugee-led organisations to celebrate the date, during which the RYVU photo exhibit was displayed and RYVU team members Prof Matt Baillie Smith, Dr Bianca Fadel, Dr Moses Okech and Dr Robert Turyamureeba spoke about the project and actively engaged with event participants. The RYVU project also joined celebrations that took place in Kampala on the 29th June, supporting UNHCR and the Ugandan Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). In Nakivale, RYVU joined activities organised on the 20th of June, during which the RYVU photo exhibit was displayed and presented to participants with the support of the refugee-led organisation Stand for Change and Unity. The activities were attended by the refugee communities, government officials and representatives from humanitarian and development organisations. At the same time, in the UK the photo exhibit "Volunteering, Displacement & Livelihoods: Photographs by Young Refugees in Uganda" was opened at Gallery North, in Newcastle upon Tyne. RYVU team member Dr Sarah Mills presented the exhibit and key messages from the project to a group of visitors including students, community members and university staff.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/ryvu-world-refugee-day-activities-in-uganda-and-the-uk
 
Description RYVU webinar "Volunteering, skills development and employability: reversing the narrative?" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The RYVU team organised a webinar that brought together key academics and stakeholders in Uganda to share knowledge and exchange ideas for future research and policy development on skills and volunteering in Uganda. The ideas for this session emerged from previous discussions held during the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work, Gulu University Conference in April 2021. The webinar was moderated by Professor Matt Baillie Smith and had two panellists from Uganda: Ms Anna Nabulya, Deputy Executive Director of Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL), and RYVU Team Member Dr Moses Okech. Their presentations were followed by reflections from Mr David Andrew Ochiengh, Programme Coordinator Livelihoods at VSO Uganda, and Ms Scovia Adrupio, Coordinator for the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work at Gulu University, Uganda. Participants discussed inclusion, risks of exploitation, livelihoods and learning in relation to skills development and employability, particularly when it comes to youth volunteering experiences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/webinar-recording-volunteering-skills-development-amp-employability-revers...
 
Description Seminar hosted by the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith was invited to discuss preliminary findings from the RYVU project at the seminar 'Convenient saviours: local volunteers in humanitarian crises, conflicts and development' hosted by the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University. The seminar drew on insight from the early phases of the RYVU project to explore assumptions behind the celebration of the 'local' volunteer, the invention of 'informal' volunteering and donor creation of volunteering hierarchies in the global South, asking whether the term volunteering has run its course in both academic and practice terms.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.dur.ac.uk/ihrr/about/events/?eventno=45337
 
Description Sharing learning from RYVU policy impact 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Bianca Fadel was invited by the Research and Innovation Services Team at Northumbria University to share the RYVU experience of developing policy briefings and the importance of engaging with different audiences to share research findings. As part of this engagement activity, Dr Fadel highlighted how the RYVU policy briefings provide key recommendations for how policy-makers and humanitarian and development practitioners can enhance the impacts of volunteering on refugee skills and employability, while promoting fairer practices for recruiting, training and recognising refugee volunteer activity, and prevent volunteering from increasing the inequalities they might experience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Tyne & Wear TV coverage of RYVU Photo Exhibit 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact RYVU team members Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Bianca Fadel were interviewed by journalist Imogen Holland during the official launch of the RYVU photo exhibit "Volunteering, Displacement & Livelihoods: Photographs by Young Refugees in Uganda" in Newcastle upon Tyne. The photo exhibit was launched on the World Refugee Day at Northumbria University's Gallery North, and it was also part of the UK Refugee Week calendar of events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/media-coverage-of-ryvu-photo-exhibit
 
Description UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy & Learning for Social Transformation - Seminar Series on Education and Development 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This activity was hosted by the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy & Learning for Social Transformation, at the university of University of East Anglia, and it was part of a wider Seminar Series on Education and Development focused on 'Learning, Social Movements and Collective Action'. Professor Matt Baillie Smith's talk was on the theme "Volunteering, learning & power: the experiences of young refugees in Uganda". In this activity, he explored what volunteering means for refugee youth in Uganda, how learning happens (or not) in their experiences, and the forms of learning that emerge through and against their volunteer work. There was an opportunity for active discussion with participants, and sharing of RYVU materials.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/panel-discussion-volunteering-learning-amp-power
 
Description UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work, Gulu University Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Members of the RYVU research team, Dr Cuthbert Tukundane and Dr Moses Okech, presented on the subject of "Why young refugees volunteer in Uganda: community, skills and employment" and Dr Tukundane also chaired a panel discussion with other speakers from the RYVU project and key stakeholders from NGOs. During their participation in the conference, they explored data from the RYVU project survey that involved 3,053 young refugee volunteers in Nakivale, Rwamwanja, Bidibidi and Kampala to explore who volunteers and in what ways, how this relates to their existing skillsets, and whether it enables them to develop new skills and capacities. They also discussed some of the implications for policy and practice, if volunteering is to play an inclusive and effective role in supporting young refugees' strategies to enhance their capacities and build more sustainable livelihoods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/gulu-conference-2021
 
Description Video on resuming fieldwork 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Robert Turyamureeba created a video which accompanied a news story on the project website. The new story explained that the Team were able to restart fieldwork after the initial Covid19 lockdown in Uganda. Robert's video offered insight into the affect the lockdown had had on young refugees in Uganda.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/fieldwork-resumes
 
Description Webinar "Volunteer Tourism Conversation Series" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith was invited to present project findings at the online "Volunteer Tourism Conversation Series" jointly hosted by the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University and the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS). During the webinar, Prof Baillie Smith shared learning from the Refugee Youth Volunteering Uganda project on the multiple meanings and implications of volunteering amongst displaced communities. This activity was part of a series of conversations providing cutting-edge insights into recent theoretical, methodological and empirical advancements in the field of volunteer tourism and international development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/volunteer-tourism-panel-discussion
 
Description Webinar hosted by the Institute for Volunteering Research at the University of East Anglia together with the School of Political Science and Public Administration at the East China University of Political Science and Law 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Moses Okech discussed the RYVU project at a webinar hosted by the Institute for Volunteering Research at the University of East Anglia together with the School of Political Science and Public Administration at the East China University of Political Science and Law. The webinar was called 'Youth Volunteering: participation in times of Covid19'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://sway.office.com/pW53sHuBOyJViByp?ref=Link
 
Description Webinar on volunteer responses to Covid-19 co-hosted by the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation and the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Professor Matt Baillie Smith spoke about the RYVU project at a webinar entitled 'Volunteer responses to Covid 19: what can we learn moving forward?'. The event was co-hosted by the Institute for Volunteering Research at the University of East Anglia and the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation. The aim of the discussion was to provide a space for volunteers, volunteer organisations, policy-makers, academics and practitioners to share critical insights and learning on volunteering during COVID19, with the aim of shaping ongoing debate and policy and practice formation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ryvu.org/blog/volunteer-responses-to-covid-19-what-can-we-learn-moving-forward