Celebrating diverse leadership

The recent Small Charity Week and Refugee Week has inspired Dr Vita Terry, a PhD student associated with the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership, to think about refugee community organisations (RCOs) and the important role they play within society. Such organisations have demonstrated commitment and motivation to address the needs of asylum seekers and refugees, who in the wider socio-political environment are often ‘politicised’ and viewed as ‘undeserving’ of welfare entitlements. In recent years many organisations have widened their remit to include Eastern European migrants who have faced sometimes similar, and sometimes quite different, challenges.  

Nearly two decades ago the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act introduced the no-choice dispersal programme that located asylum seekers across the UK. The selected areas – often in deprived areas where housing was in ‘low demand’ and hence cheap – often lacked appropriate infrastructure support and had little understanding of the intricacy of this group, including cultural awareness, language skills or how to navigate the complex asylum process.

In response some asylum seekers and refugees took the initiative to set up informal groups in dispersal areas to provide language support and basic immigration advice (Wren, 2007). Many of these organisations are now of long standing. Some have become formalised organisations on which the state is dependent in order to deliver some public services. My research has shown these established asylum seeker and refugee third sector organisations form the backbone of welfare support to these migrant groups, offering a range of services - advice, advocacy, wellbeing, community development and various integration services.

On a daily basis they face multiple challenges, not only from the austerity-induced cutbacks, but are also subject to the government’s hard-line attitude towards migration and rising xenophobic attitudes. It is arguable that a society without such service provision would result in a devastating impact on this group, mainly by a rise in asylum seekers and refugees living in deprivation and a predictable rise in destitution (Randall, 2015).

So, I think the spirit of recent celebrations initiated by Small Charities Week and Refugee Week should also encapsulate the role of these inspirational asylum seeker leaders. Individuals who have demonstrated ‘leadership’ by collectively mobilising resources and actors, driven by a clear vision to fill a gap in need, whilst radiating courage and commitment to operate in a system and culture that is not only alien to them, but frequently unwelcoming.

More inclusive leadership development

Following this thinking, should asylum seekers not also be encouraged to become third sector leaders? In the current market of third sector leadership development there is an apparent gap for asylum seekers to access such courses and programmes, which are typically restricted to those viewed as having the right to remain in the UK. This echoes wider government attitudes of viewing migration as a temporary issue and not fully committing to resettlement and integration of asylum seekers and refugees.

It has been well researched that asylum seekers and refugees can be entrepreneurial, resourceful, and active within UK society (Lyon et al., 2007; Betts, 2017), but evidently lack the resources and opportunities to follow this path and enable them to become strong leaders. To make leadership development more available to asylum seekers means consideration of two much broader debates on the topic of leadership development - accessibility and the perception of who is a ‘leader’.

Firstly, leadership development needs to move away from being London-centric and a fee paying service, restricting provision only to the elite few. For many small charities, with limited resources and capacity, it creates barriers for leaders to access such programmes, therefore leadership development should be more inclusive across the spectrum of leaders, and when possible free of charge. The Open University has already taken steps to address these barriers by designing and delivering free online e-learning courses on Voluntary Sector Leadership as part of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership.

Secondly, the misconception that third sector leaders are traditionally based in hierarchal positions within third sector organisations, and therefore, leadership development is only for those in power positions urgently needs to be addressed. Asylum seekers and refugees have demonstrated strong leadership within and across the sector, with leaders operating at a grassroots level, using a bottom up approach, and often with limited resources and capacity. By encouraging asylum seekers to undertake leadership development will not only address negative attitudes, such as being perceived as ‘benefit scroungers’, but will demonstrate the contribution this group makes within the community. Such developments will have knock-on effects promoting social cohesion and integration within society.

Addressing both access to leadership development and building inclusive attitudes towards leadership, will encourage the movement of individuals from other marginalised groups to think of themselves as leaders and to want to build their leadership abilities. Tackling this stigma and attitude that leadership development is only for the elite few can potentially open the door for others to collectively contribute to making social change.  

23rd July 2017