Refugee Voices In Humanitarian Response

---

 


As a refugee, I’ve learned that survival teaches you things no textbook can. It teaches you resilience, how to build something from nothing, and how to care for others even when you’re struggling.
As a young refugee, I’ve learned that the world often sees us as helpless due to our situation and status, when in fact, we’re already helping each other in ways that go unnoticed.
I still remember when I met a young Rohingya girl whose father had been detained, and the family was left without income, food, or any sense of security.
Her mother came to me in tears, unsure how to feed her children or pay the next month’s rent.
I didn’t have much, but I couldn’t ignore their pain. I talked to a few community members and fundraised through the community, and made sure the family received aid.
We managed to keep them safe and together. That experience reminded me that our strength is not just in survival but in how we reach and lift each other.
We know how to help each other best
Across the region, and especially here in Malaysia, refugee-led organisations (RLOs) are doing the real, day-to-day work of supporting our communities.
We speak the language, understand the culture, and know the pain because of our lived experiences.
At the Rohingya Youth Supports Network (RYSN), we actively support newly arrived refugees by assisting them with the registration process on the UNHCR website portal to ensure they are able to initiate their application for refugee status in a timely and informed manner.
Many newcomers often face language barriers, limited digital literacy, or a lack of awareness about registration procedures.
Our team provides guidance, translation support, and access to essential information to help them complete this crucial first step toward protection and documentation, as well as health literacy and financial literacy.
In addition to registration support, RYSN is also committed to promoting social cohesion by fostering meaningful engagement between refugee and host communities.
We organise community dialogues, cultural exchange activities, and collaborative initiatives that aim to strengthen mutual understanding, reduce prejudice, and build durable, peaceful relationships.
We believe that true integration begins with inclusive communication and shared experiences, and we continue to advocate for stronger bonds between displaced individuals and local society in the pursuit of long-term sustainability and dignity for all.
Refugee Fest 2022I’ve seen and experienced it firsthand myself. The way young refugees reclaim their space in advocating for themselves despite being in limbo.
They organise themselves in front of others to speak up, educate their peers, resist harmful practices, and build new pathways of hope, often from the ground up and with no external support.
This is the heartbeat of youth-led refugee leadership, resilience, purpose, and self-determination.
In a world where forced displacement continues to rise, the conversation around refugee protection cannot remain incomplete.
This is especially in the Southeast Asian region, where the refugee narrative often goes unnoticed as compared to refugee and displaced communities in the Middle East/Africa.
For far too long, the humanitarian response has been shaped without the voices of those most affected. It is time we acknowledge a simple truth: solutions for refugees must be led by refugees.
And more specifically, they must centre the leadership of young people, who represent not only the future of displaced communities but also their present strength.
The role of RLOs
RLOs exist because we must act. We may not have formal training or large offices, but we are young people stepping up to meet urgent needs.
Not because we have all the resources, but because we live with the consequences of what’s missing, and we care too deeply to just sit and watch.
RLOs emerge from necessity, not from structure or funding, and they endure because no one understands our challenges, pain, and potential better than we do.
When formal systems are overstretched, it’s often RLOs that fill the gap.
RLOs offer
• Lived experience and cultural fluency
• Community trust and access
• Efficient, grassroots responses
• Sustainable impact rooted in dignity and relevance
Examples around the world show how powerful RLOs can be. In Malaysia, the Refugee Emergency Fund (REF), led by refugees, offers emergency financial aid to refugees across Malaysia.
REF supports refugees with urgent medical financial assistance, rental assistance during crises, and empowerment of health literacy.
The Rohingya Women Development Network (RWDN), led by refugee women, runs health education and literacy programmes while raising awareness on gender-based violence.
Our leadership is not a substitute for international support. It is a critical foundation for making that support effective, accountable, and inclusive.
Refugees are not just beneficiaries. We are architects of change.
Power of youth leadership
Young refugees are often dismissed as victims or silenced by systems that deem them too inexperienced or too informal, but every day, youth-led RLOs are proving that we are catalysts of transformation.
We educate, we research, we advocate, we build, and we do all this while navigating the weight of statelessness, displacement, and legal exclusion.
Youth leadership is powerful because it dares to imagine what others overlook.
Refugees taking digital literacy classes at the Elom Community Centre, circa 2022We do not wait to be empowered. We act because our survival demands it. We turn struggle into strategy and marginalisation into movement. And while the world debates refugee inclusion, we are already doing the work of inclusion on the ground.
What funders, donors, and agencies can do
1. Fund refugee-led work directly and sustainably
Provide flexible, long-term funding that allows RLOs to grow and lead, not just survive project-to-project.
For example, ensuring sustainable and equitable support salaries for refugee staff. As Malaysia does not allow refugees to work legally, this will provide an opportunity for more refugees to work at a professional level and develop their skills while ensuring a good livelihood.
2. Shift from consultation to collaboration
Refugee youth must be included in design, decision-making, and accountability processes at all levels.
For example, too often, refugee youth are invited to speak but not to decide. Tokenistic consultations must give way to meaningful collaboration, where refugee voices are not only heard but genuinely shape the programmes, policies, and decisions that affect their lives.
Inclusion must start from the beginning in programme design, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation.
Refugee youth are experts in their own experiences, and their participation strengthens the relevance and success of any intervention.
3. Recognise diverse forms of leadership
Many RLOs may not be formally registered, but their work is real, impactful, and community-validated.
Funding criteria must reflect this because many impactful RLOs are grassroots initiatives, often unregistered due to legal barriers beyond their control. Yet they provide essential services, support, and advocacy in ways that formal systems cannot.
4. Rebalance power, not just programmes
True partnership means trusting refugees with resources, responsibility, and accountability. It means shifting from top-down aid models to relationships built on equity and mutual respect.
Refugees should not have to continuously prove their worth. They should be trusted with the tools to lead.
When we move from control to collaboration, from oversight to trust, we unlock the full potential of refugee leadership.
A call to act
Refugee youth-led organisations are not waiting to be discovered; we are already taking action, leading initiatives, and working to uplift our communities with determination and care.
What is needed now is for the global community to recognise and align with the leadership that is already in motion.
To every donor, policymaker, and humanitarian actor reading this, we respectfully urge you to acknowledge the value of our work and to support it meaningfully. The time to engage with us is now.
We’re stepping forward with hope and confidence, reaching out with open hands to build genuine partnerships rooted in mutual respect. We are vital contributors to the solutions our world needs.
We believe in a future shaped by all of us, together, and we warmly invite the global community to walk beside us, as allies, in this shared journey toward a more inclusive tomorrow. - Mkini
HUSSON AHMAD is a community advocate and RYSN founder.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

---