Which organisations receive funding, and what for, is a key driver of strong climate action. How can funders strategically and inclusively empower refugee and migrant led organisations working on climate-linked mobility?

We spoke with representatives of refugee and migrant led organisations in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, discussing drivers and barriers to participating in the political and policy debates about climate-linked mobility.

The result, outlined in this report, is a set of nine recommendations
for strategic intervention by funders in this space. The recommendations address the specific concerns raised by refugee and migration organisations, as well as the ways in which climate change is likely to fundamentally reshape patterns of mobility.

This report was commissioned by the foundation Robert Bosch
Stiftung, which has invested 1.9 billion euros in charitable work since it was established in 1964.

Our investigation explores the potential for refugee and migrant led organisations to become active participants in the political and policy debates about climate-linked mobility.

To understand this, we spoke to 12 representatives from refugee and migration organisations who have started working on the issue, to understand both the motivations for, and barriers to, undertaking this work.

Through these interviews we have distilled the common driving or motivating forces that pushed these organisations to begin working on climate-linked mobility, as well as the common barriers and challenges that constrained their work.

Based on this analysis, combined with our experience working on climate-linked mobility, and the insights from the interviews, the report offers a series of recommendations for strategic intervention by funders in this space:

• Widen the field of organisations working on climate-linked mobility
• Fund organisations that are at different stages of their thinking and development
  on climate-linked mobility
• Fund southern organisations to turn their work into international advocacy
• Create a supportive structure for organisations new to the space
• Support individual champions while they create internal organisational consensus
• Encourage northern climate and environmental organisations to collaborate,
  but listen to southern partners
• Fund a diversity of approaches, but play to existing strengths
  Offer long-term, flexible funding, especially to southern organisations
• Show leadership

The interventions could also push the issue up the political agenda and make refugee and migrant voices central to the debate. This new political traction could accelerate many of the policy processes designed to address climate-linked mobility, and ultimately lead to better outcomes in terms of welfare and legal protection for the most vulnerable.