Impact case study database
- Submitting institution
- University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 21 - Sociology
- Summary impact type
- Societal
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
The Center for Migration, Refugees and Belonging’s (CMRB) work produced pioneering evidence of the widespread effects of hostile environment measures. This evidence:
influenced government’s policy and practice on country-of-origin evidence, health-related immigration and return operations;
shaped anti-hostility organisations’ health, education, accommodation, and immigration enforcement campaigns;
raised national and international evidence-based understanding;
upskilled irregular migrants to become cultural producers.
Direct and indirect beneficiaries of the research range from forced migrants to racialised communities, and from anti-hostility campaigning groups to governmental bodies such as the Home Office and the UN.
2. Underpinning research
Since 2010, UK legislation has substantially restricted access to benefits and services for non-citizens. These multi-faceted immigration measures, subsumed under the term ‘hostile environment’, were originally targeted at 800,000 - 1,200.000 unauthorized migrants. However, as early as 2013, CMRB researchers exposed the unforeseen consequences of the policies to society, in particular to racialised people.
CMRB’s research was conducted across 16 locations in the UK, France, Italy, Rwanda, and Uganda with 3,331 research participants. The methods comprised of ethnographic observations lasting between 3 and 36 months, 34 focus-groups with 374 participants, 16 arts workshops with 72 migrants, 2624 survey respondents, and 261 interviews. This research builds on CMRB’s distinctive expertise in intersectional and situated positionality.
Wemyss and Yuval-Davis’s EU-funded project Borders, Intersectionality and the Everyday ( G1) was among the first to identify the effects of the hostile environment beyond its intended targets - those migrants who have no legal right to reside in the UK. This transformed the nature of civic participation across society despite the public stance of the Government.
In 2014, Wemyss, Yuval-Davis and their research partner coined the terms ‘everyday bordering’ and ‘everyday border guards’ as a lens to clarify the wider societal effects of borders and bordering processes, as they increasingly encroach on people’s lives ( R1, R2). For example, health workers and welfare administrators are required to check the immigration status of all service users and racialised minorities with regular immigration status are denied access to services. Meanwhile, private citizens who are landlords or employers are turned into ‘border guards’ required to check immigration status.
Bhattacharyya’s ESRC project, Go Home: mapping immigration controversy, uncovered the racist impact of hostile environment policies, particularly the creation of an increased sense of precarity among racialised minorities independently of their immigration status ( R3, G2). The collaborative street survey gathered the first systematic evidence that Operation Vaken, the Home Office scheme to encourage illegal residents to leave voluntarily, was having adverse effects on racialised minorities with legal settled status. Bhattacharyya’s AHRC Performing Memory upskilled migrant-led groups in England and Italy to challenge hostile environment policies through cultural production ( R4, G3).
CMRB projects address the international ramifications of the UK Government’s hostile environment policies. Wemyss and Yuval-Davis found that Britain’s ‘everyday bordering’ practices negatively affect by migrants and locals living near the UK border in Calais, France. Doná’s long-term research on global refugee movements (R5, G4) and in conflict countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, Uganda, and Rwanda ( R6), demonstrates how the hostile environment policy is shaped by the conditions in countries of origin and intentional pressures and collaborations.
3. References to the research
R1. Yuval-Davis, N., Wemyss, G, and Cassidy, K. 2018. Everyday bordering, belonging, and the reorientation of British immigration legislation. Sociology, 52 (2), 228–244. Winner 2019, Sage Sociology prize for Innovation and Excellence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517702599
R2. Yuval-Davis, N., Wemyss, G. and Cassidy, K . 2019. Bordering, Polity Press.
R3. Jones, H., Gunaratnam, Y. and Bhattacharyya, G. et al. 2017, Go Home? The politics of immigration controversies. Manchester University Press.
R4. Forkert, K., Bhattacharyya, G., Oliveri, F. and Graham, J. 2019. Media and the making of migrants. Manchester University Press.
R5, Doná, G. and Young, M. 2016, Refugees and forced migrants, in D. L. Sam and J. W. Berry (eds.) Cambridge handbook of acculturation Psychology. Cambridge University Press, 153-172. [Second edition, 2018]. Winner 2017, B. Gudykunst Outstanding Book Award, International Academy for Intercultural Research.
R6. Doná, G. 2019. The marginalised in genocide narratives. Routledge.
G1. Nira Yuval-Davis, Georgie Wemyss, Bordering, political landscapes and social arenas: potentials and challenges of evolving border concepts in a post-cold war world’ - UEL led WP9 ‘Borders, intersectionality and the everyday, EU 7 th framework, 2012-2016, EUR233,600 (UEL share GBP211,641).
G2. Gargi Bhattacharyya, ‘Go Home’: mapping immigration controversy, ESRC, 2013-2015, GBP159,000.
G3. Gargi Bhattacharyya, Performing memory and memorialising conflict at a distance: innovative approaches to understanding the views of displaces people and receiving communities, AHRC, 2016-2017, GBP83,000.
G4. Giorgia Doná, Bystanders to the Rwandan genocide: revisiting genocide narratives and reconciliation initiatives, Leverhulme Trust, 2008-2010, GBP31,078.
4. Details of the impact
Since 2013, CMRB findings have been used to substantially reshape key elements of policy and practice, limiting the effects of different components of hostile environment policies.
1. Improving policy and practice about country-of-origin evidence for the Government
Doná was invited to join the influential Independent Advisory Group on Country Information (IAGCI) ( S1), whose recommendations are laid before Parliament. One of only ten invited experts, Doná has advised the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) on the content and quality of Home Office country-of-origin evidence, which immigration officers rely upon when making case decisions. The evidence Doná provided significantly improvements to the quality of country-of-origin evidence produced by the Home Office for 17 additional countries over five years. Home Office policy and practice implemented 13 of 14 key recommendations of the ICIBI 2017 report. By clarifying eligibility for immigration status, Doná played a direct role in regulating the implementation of hostile environment practices at the Home Office. ( S2)
2. Raising awareness of the effects of bordering and shaping campaigning evidence for organisations, politicians, and migrants
The novel concept of ‘everyday bordering’ reached audiences nationally and internationally through the online film Everyday Borders ( S3a) and 36 public debates. Feedback showed that 93% of audiences achieved a greater understanding and 89% were motivated to take action “as a result of attending the event” ( S3b).
In 2016, the team were invited to the Houses of Parliament to organise a discussion, Immigration Bills and Everyday Bordering, based on the national and political relevance of the research. Stuart C MacDonald, MP, testifies that “Everyday Bordering is a helpful term … the film shows how it affects all, which Parliament didn’t appreciate … we need to push back. All feel its effects” ( S3c). MPs present subsequently signed the ‘MPs not border-guards pledge’ in 2018 ( S3d, S3e).
CMRB’s concepts shaped understanding and campaigning evidence by migrant health campaign groups in submissions to the Health Select Committee on Data Sharing and the Department of Health and Social Care on charging overseas visitors. ‘Docs Not Cops’ representative, Jess Potter, asserted:
“My campaign work with Medact, Docs Not Cops, Migrants Organise and others and my writing of expert witness statements and policy responses have been strongly influenced by my understanding of the concept of everyday bordering” ( S4a).
Campaign work by Docs Not Cops and other organisations ( S4b, S4c, S4d) use CMRB’s evidence to argue against these policies, resulting in the termination of the NHS Data sharing agreement with the Home Office in 2018 and the suspension in 2020 of the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Research findings informed campaigns among formal partners such as Southall Black Sisters on immigration raids ( S5a) and others, including English for Action ( S5b) in collaboration with Against Borders for Children and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrant's (JCWI) campaign against hostile environment ‘Right to Rent’ policy ( S5c).
Bhattacharyya’s ‘collaborative memory project’ trained 72 migrants with irregular status to become cultural producers, enabling migrant-led organisations such as Global Sistaz United to campaign against the hostile environment beyond the scope of the project, at venues including New Arts Exchange, Nottingham in 2018 ( S6a, S6b) and Kack Work Museum in Stockport in 2020 ( S6c).
3. Underpinning evidence of the racist effects of hostile environment policies for activists and the UN
Figure 1 'Go home' Van
In 2013, Action against Racism and Xenophobia (AARX) was formed with Bhattacharyya to collaboratively gather the first evidence of the negative effects of the ‘Go Home’ vans and Operation Vaken on multi-ethnic neighbourhoods ( S7a). AARX’s ground-breaking findings underpinned the successful public challenge by Refugee and Migrants Forum of Essex and London (RAMFEL) ( S7b). The public debate ( S7c) sparked by the controversy contributed to the cessation of Operation Vaken and the Home Office review of the impacts of future campaigns on racialised communities and migrants with settled status. ( S8)
The pivotal findings resulted in external funding ( G2, R3) to collate systematic evidence in Scotland and Wales. The nationwide evidence, publicly demonstrated in two films and open access resources ( S9), was internationally significant. The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism in the UK cited the findings in the End of Mission Statement, which was presented to the UN General Assembly as evidence of the racist effects of the hostile environment policies. The report stated that as ‘many members of the wider public have difficulty understanding the distinctions between legal and irregular immigrants’ and “many people reported harassment for being ‘illegal immigrants’ when they held settled status or were British citizens.” ( S10).
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
S2. Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. 2018. An Inspection of the Home Office’s production and use of Country of Origin information: April-August 2017. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/677556/An_inspection_of_the_production_and_use_of_Country_of_Origin_Information.pdf
S3a. Everyday Borders. https://vimeo.com/126315982
S3b. Everyday Borders film/public debates quantitative and qualitative feedback.
S3c. Email from Stuart C McDonald MP. Link to MPs not Border guards:
S3d. ‘I am an MP not a border guard’ tweet from Rushanara Ali MP 15/10/2018. https://twitter.com/rushanaraali/status/1051884384905822209?lang=en
S3e. https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/our-campaigns/migration/mps-not-border-guards-pledge-signatories/
S4a. Testimonial letter from Dr Jess Potter, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, founding member Docs Not Cops. http://www.docsnotcops.co.uk/
S4b. Potter, J. 2018. Patients not passports – no borders in the NHS! Justice, Power and Resistance 2(2), 417‐429 references our work and uses ‘everyday border guards’ https://egpress.org/Docs-Not-Cops
S4c. This campaign is covered in Gal-Dem everyday borders page ‘New policy transforms NHS workers into borderguards’ https://gal-dem.com/tag/everyday-borders/
S4d. https://www.migrantsorganise.org/?p=26424
S5a. SBS meeting in conjunction with AARX: https://southallblacksisters.org.uk/news/go-home-campaign-public-meeting/
S5b. Testimonial letter from English for Action.
S5c. Feedback comments from JCWI following viewing of ‘Everyday Borders’ ( S3a) in December 2019. ‘really useful resource we are in the process of expanding our networks and this would be a great tool’. JCWI states ‘The Government hasn’t considered the concerns of landlords who don’t want to be borderguards’ https://www.jcwi.org.uk/right-to-rent and ‘Right to Rent turns landlords into untrained border guards’ https://www.jcwi.org.uk/news/court-of-appeal-agrees-that-the-right-to-rent-scheme-causes-racial-discrimination.
S6a. Blog showing regular participation by Global Sistaz United in annual festival by Nottingham Contemporary, bringing together food and performance, https://thenottinghamfoodblog.com/2018/05/12/melting-pot-food-and-culture-festival-2018-the-global-sistaz-united/
S6b. Exhibition notice evidencing participation of Global Sistaz United in further arts project on the topic of national identity, continuing work initiated through ‘Performing Memory’ on the topic What does it mean to be British? at Playworks, Nottingham, 14 September - 12 October 2018.
https://www.bosedaolawoye.com/copy-of-2016-2017
S6c. Exhibition notes demonstrating further collaboration in arts projects beyond Nottingham by Global Sistaz United. https://apocketfuloftreasure.wordpress.com/a-museum-of-journeys-in-a-chest-of-drawers/
S7a. AARX press release on pilot study findings. AARX Press Release: Survey shows government ‘Go Home’ message is ‘unacceptable’ « Action Against Racism and Xenophobia (wordpress.com)
S7b. BBC report on ending of Operation Vaken. 'Go home' vans legal threat shelved
S7c. Migrants Rights Network blog by interim director Rita Chadha: https://migrantsrights.org.uk/blog/2018/07/22/go-home-vans-five-years-on/ referencing the https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.com as beneficial to reframing discussions.
S8. Home Office. 2013. Operation Vaken: evaluation report, October 2013.
S9. Go Home: mapping immigration controversies website ( G2, R3) hosts a variety of resources: https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.com. Final research findings here: https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/end-of-project-findings-leaflet-final.pd
S10. Report of UN Special Rapporteur, point 35. OHCHR | End of Mission Statement of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance at the Conclusion of Her Mission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Submitting institution
- University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 21 - Sociology
- Summary impact type
- Societal
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
UEL research has generated an influential model for refugee higher education access and progression, OMNI - Open and free; Multiple-modality and holistic; Narrative; Inclusive and gender-sensitive – which is refugee-centred, starting from refugees’ own stories. UEL higher education preparation programmes following this model, resulted in 750 women and men from refugee backgrounds accessing and progressing in higher education in the UK, France and the Middle East. The programmes increased participants’ other overall wellbeing and helped them generate cultural self-representations. UEL research on refugees accessing higher education underpins best-practice models for many educational institutions, NGOs, policy-makers and cultural producers nationally and internationally.
2. Underpinning research
UEL’s Centre for Narrative Research (CNR) and Centre for Refugees, Migration and Belonging (CRMB) have brought together their findings from forced migration and narrative research to provide a new and powerful ‘OMNI’ model for programmes to combat refugees’ exclusion from higher education.
Only 3% of refugees access higher education worldwide and refugee women are half as likely to enter HE. Tertiary education is fundamental to refugees’ development and achievement, wellbeing, social belonging and contributions to the wider society. Interconnected barriers to refugees’ HE participation include:
direct and indirect costs;
difficulties in transferring qualifications;
learning academic English;
regularising citizenship status;
unfamiliar learning cultures;
oppression and migration histories;
and gender inequalities.
The research findings indicate how to break down those barriers.
Since the 1990s, CNR’s and CMRB’s research has demonstrated how marginalised communities of people living with HIV ( R1), young people in low-resourced areas ( R2), and forced migrants ( R3), can improve self-esteem and strengthen collective identities by generating their own narratives. Research on the early stages of UEL’s preparation programmes for inclusion of HIV-positive refugees demonstrated that curriculum focused on narrative agency fosters high levels of retention for participants from forced migrant backgrounds ( R4, R5).
CNR and CMRB research ( R2, R3, R4, R5) has indicated that participants’ narrative projects benefit from choosing modalities that fit with their skills and interests, strengthening their public voice. The research revealed that refugee HE inclusion programmes that work multimodally by supporting creativity in education attract students from a wider range of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds ( R2, R4).
Research with refugees and other marginalised groups has found that participatory structures generate sustained engagement and reach a wider range of participants ( R2, R3, R4, R5). Responding to participants’ own demands for holistic provision, the evaluation highlights the importance of offering a range of services that support free and open educational access by meeting transport and materials costs, providing food, legal advice, IT training and resources, and being psychosocially aware and gender sensitive ( R4, R5). The results demonstrate that these factors constitute the necessary context within which successful refugee HE inclusion can happen ( R4, R5).
Finally, our research has foregrounded the gendered inequalities that shape refugee experiences of services such as HE, in Jordan, France and the UK ( R6, R4). These inequalities, differently articulated in each national context, affect access, involvement and progression. Preparation programmes directed at refugee HE inclusion work best if they adopt a holistic, multimodal and creative approach, centred on narrative agency, as well as attending to gender-equitable recruitment, curriculum, assessment and retention structures, that enable women students’ educational achievement.
3. References to the research
R1. Squire, C. 2013. Living with HIV and ART. Palgrave.
R2. Esin, C. and Squire, C. 2013. Visual autobiographies in East London: narratives of still images, interpersonal exchanges, and intrapersonal dialogues. FQS 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-14.2.1971
R3. Doná, G. 2007. The microphysics of participation in refugee research. Journal of Refugee Studies, 20(2), 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fem013
R4. Esin, C. and Lounasmaa, A. 2020. Narrative and ethical (in) action: creating spaces of resistance with refugee-storytellers in the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1723202
R5. Squire, C. and Zaman, T. 2020. The ‘Jungle’ is here; the jungle is outside: university for all in the Calais refugee camp, in J. Bhabha, W. Giles and F. Mahomed (eds) A better future: the role of higher education for displaced and marginalized people. Cambridge University Press, 427-450. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108655101.020
R6. Jabiri, A. 2016. Gendered politics and law in Jordan. Palgrave.
4. Details of the impact
CNR and CMRB research developed the OMNI – open and free, multiple-modality and holistic, narrative and refugee-centred, inclusive and gender-sensitive – model of refugee HE accessibility and progression. As a result, two free refugee programmes were founded. Life Stories is a validated ‘gateway’ short course, taught in the Calais ‘Jungle’, Manchester, London, Jordan and Lebanon ( S1a, S2a). The Open Learning Initiative, OLIve, is a London-based HE ‘bridging’ programme, with UEL Foundation degree places for three students annually ( S1b, S2b). These programmes have resulted in many organisations such as York, Manchester and Leicester Universities and Birkbeck’s Compass programme using the OMNI model ( S2, S3).
Isabelle Habib, Senior Access Officer for Forced Migrants, Birkbeck, University of London states that:
“Colleagues at the University of East London were helpful in offering guidance to Birkbeck staff who were establishing a university access project with the forced migrant community...Students who (participate) in OLIve start university with more confidence and preparedness for study”. ( S3a)
Internationally, MOSAIK Jordan and Lebanon’s pre-HE programmes for refugees use the Life Stories ‘toolkit’ and a psychosocial/gender-aware approach. ( R6)
1. Refugee HE engagement, attainment, and wellbeing
OLIve and Life Stories overcame inclusion barriers bringing 750 forced migrants into first or renewed contact with HE institutions. The programmes delivered gender-balanced recruitment, gender-sensitive content and opportunities. They resulted in refugees’ preparation for and further HE progression ( S1, S2). Life Stories won the Guardian 2017 Universities Student Diversity and Widening Participation award in recognition of the success and innovation of the programme offering an accredited course in the Calais refugee camp. ( S4)
In OLIve, 311 completed some and 152 all the Weekend course. 12 completed the OLIve-Up Foundation year through fee-waived UEL studentships. Over 100 students have taken Life Stories; a further 150 attended Life Stories HE workshops. 300 alumni remain active in the programmes’ social media. OLIve students write that the programme ‘made me focus and believe in myself’, that they found ‘beautiful ways of relaxing and loving myself’. One said simply: ‘I love to be here’ ( S2d).
OMNI’s participatory emphasis developed Life Stories and OLIve participants’ own teaching and research capacity. For instance, OLIve students and staff co-authored a paper on education and displacement for Forced Migration Review in 2019. ( S5) Five OLIve students run an academic writing group contributing to conferences like Social Scientists Against the Hostile Environment’s 2020 ‘Higher education, the hostile environment and Covid-19’, with 150 academic, NGO and policymaker attenders. Ten ex-students have taught OMNI and other HE classes; one co-founded and runs HopeTowns, a uniquely refugee-led English learning programme. ( S6)
The transferrable skills, referrals and psychosocial support the programmes provide have helped students find full-time employment or progress to other trainings incoding and drama. Students use creative writing, performance and art skills developed to represent refugees publicly. For example, twenty-two Life Stories students wrote the book ( S7a) Voices from the ‘Jungle’: stories from the Calais refugee camp, a collection of individual testimonies written by a number of people residing in the so-termed Calais ‘Jungle’, the refugee camp in Northern France. The stories from the book inspired volunteers to help ( S7b) and a two-hour radio documentary on the Calais ‘Jungle’ and Life Stories that features Lounasmaa throughout. ( S7c)
OLIve and Life Stories students gained online audiences for their oral, poetic and visual narratives on the ‘Living refugee archive’ and ‘Displaces’ websites and exhibited photographic work with large audiences at the Barbican in the Papers festival and at the Centre Pompidou in Calais – testimonies de la ‘jungle’. One student, an animator, has made a series of short films that have been powerful forms of refugee advocacy, including - for Help Refugees - ‘The journey’. OMNI’s work led to students collaborating with established artists and broadcasters to produce films, photo exhibits, a book by award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel. ( S8)
- Refugee HE inclusion policy and practice beyond HEIs
The OMNI model reached 300 education and other ministers through Lounasmaa’s 2018 address to the World Education Forum. OMNI team members made key contributions to NARIC’s ‘recognition of prior learning’ toolkits. They workshopped with Student Action for Refugees, enabling STAR to provide HE preparation which recognised refugees’ specific needs nationwide, and to set up the nationwide Universities of Sanctuary list. OMNI’s influence led to a similar emphasis on supporting refugee cultural production in other organisations, and for the Refugee Council and Refugee Support Network to signpost Higher Education preparation as essential.
The Refugee Support Network reports OLIve “has had such a positive impact in the lives of some of the young asylum seekers we've worked with...we've seen numerous young people grow in knowledge and confidence”. ( S9c)
The OMNI team also established the London Refugee Higher Education network of 60 cross-UK organisations including local councils, trade unions, refugee led organisations, international NGOs and community groups as well as universities, which disseminated the OMNI model as best practice. ( S9)
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
S1a. https://educatingwithoutborders.wordpress.com/university-for-all-2/
S1b. https://olivecourseuel.wordpress.com
S2a. Life Stories external examiner report, June 2016, Professor Olivia Sagan, St Mary's University.
S2b. OLIve independent course evaluation, 2018, Dr Mastoureh Fathi, University College Dublin.
S2c. Final reports for Erasmus+ on the Refugee Education Initiative which implemented the OLIve programme in test European universities with at the University of Vienna with UEL. 2019.
S2d. Student testimonials and evaluations from the courses.
S3a. Testimonial letter from Isabelle Habib, Senior Access Officer for Forced Migrants, Compass Project, Birkbeck, University of London.
S3b. Testimonial letter from Alecs Palanac, English Language Teaching Unit, the University of Sanctuary Facilitator, University of Leicester.
S3c. Testimonial letter from Dr. Mark Doidge, Principal Research Fellow, School of Sport and Service Management, Centre for Arts and Wellbeing. Cities, Injustice and Resistance Research and Enterprise Group, and Centre of Resilience for Social Justice.
S3d. Testimonial letter from Liberty Oberlander, Head of Business and Programme Development, Association of Commonwealth Universities.
S5. OLIve course students, IT trainer and director. 2019. “Education is key to life”: the importance of education from the perspective of displaced learners. Forced Migration Review, March 2019. https://www.fmreview.org/education-displacement/OLIve
S6b. https://peacefulborders.org/hopetowns/.
S7a. Godin, M., Møller Hansen, K., Lounasmaa, A., Squire, C. and Zaman, T. (eds). 2017. Voices from the ‘Jungle’: stories from the Calais refugee camp. Pluto Press. Translated into French [Guillotine 2020].
S7b. Tia Bush. 2020. Here in Calais’ refugee camps, coronavirus is making lives even harder. Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/calais-refugee-coronavirus_uk_5ee3a01cc5b639dabca9bb29
S7c. Canadian Broadcasting Company. 2016. No man’s land, part one and two. Ideas programme.
Part one aired 25 May 2016. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/no-man-s-land-part-1-1.3597999
Part two aired 31 August 2016. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/no-man-s-land-part-2-1.3624468
This programme won the Gold Award in its category at the 2017 New York Festival International Radio Competition.
S8. Notable examples include:
S8a.The Refugee Council’s Living refugee archive is housed at the University of East London.
https://en.we-refugees-archive.org/network/living-refugee-archiv/
S8b. Displaces blog: https://displacesblog.wordpress.com/about/
S8c. Exhibition Calais – testimonies de la ‘jungle’ of Displaces artists at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (. https://www.artrefuge.org.uk/post/16th-october-witnessing-the-jungle-exhibition-at-centre-pompidou-paris
S8d. Work by artists drawing on the project. Gideon Mendel, DZHANGAL, Autograph Gallery, January – 11 February 2017. https://autograph.org.uk/exhibitions/dzhangal
S8e. Papers . Barbican Centre, London. A day-long festival celebrating the art, culture and architecture of the refugee crisis, 12 June 2016. https://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/papers-festival/
S8f. Bhavesh Hindocha. 2016. Who opens a school. https://vimeo.com/171770509
S8g. Majid Adin. 2017. The journey. https://helprefugees.org/news/majid-adin-the-journey/
S9a. Testimonial letter from Emily Crowley Chief Executive of STAR (Student Action for Refugees)
S9b.Testimonial letter from Dr Mark Doidge, Brighton Migrant and Refugee Solidarity.
S9c. Testimonial letter from Emily Bowerman, Head of Programmes RSN (Refugee Support Network)
- Submitting institution
- University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 21 - Sociology
- Summary impact type
- Societal
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
The research undertaken in Bihar, India resulted in a profound change to the livelihoods of over 1 million women and their communities. The stigma of ‘angutha chaap’ - women who could not write their own name and had to sign documents with their fingerprints - has been greatly reduced by a new mandatory policy of ‘signature literacy’ in Bihar which empowered disadvantaged women to pursue better access to public provision, form their own advocacy group and create improvements to their village infrastructures.
2. Underpinning research
The research investigated role of individual and collective agency in improving economic, social and health opportunities for the rural disadvantaged communities in Bihar, India ( R4, R5). This longitudinal inquiry between 2009-2013, entailed in-depth study of 240 members of the Jeevika Self-Help-Group (SHG) network of poor women in Bihar. Jeevika network is a platform through which the state supported World Bank funded organisation Bihar Rural Livelihoods Programme (BRLP) delivers development programmes ( R2).
The research is part of Tiwari’s work within Centre for Social Justice and Change. She has investigated multidimensional poverty ( R1) in various geographical regions using Sen’s Capability Approach. Each project enhanced specific dimensions of human wellbeing, offering insights into effective development methodologies.
Figure 1 Woman learn how to sign her name
Tiwari’s research in Bihar found two key trends regarding women’s empowerment and expenditure being drawn from group resources to meet payments for chronic illness. In the domain of women’s empowerment, the research found some Community Mobilizers were taking initiative to teach SHG members to sign their name instead of using thumb imprint for signature.
Those using thumb imprint are considered having lower levels of understanding of how to access public service provision by the society. Furthermore, the cohort using thumb imprint did not fully engage with financial inclusion and showed poor grasp of information related to health matters, education and livelihoods.
In addition to being treated with disrespect, use of thumb imprint created a hierarchy as some women had basic literacy (34 percent in 2006 - World Bank data, current female literacy in Bihar is 54 percent - Government of India data). These large borrowings were syphoning much of the collective group resources, leaving meagre amounts to improve their livelihoods, which was the key objective of SHG network fund ( R2). Tiwari’s research showed most members were taking out SHG weekly loans to pay for treatment of chronic illness in the family. However, with poor health provision, villagers were using services of local health providers who were unqualified practitioners which were much cheaper but ineffective, requiring frequent visits and eventually taking the patient to city. ( R2, R4)
Having carved relationships with SHG women and officials for over ten years, Tiwari led the institutional GCRF funded project to examine the role of dignity in improving menstrual health in rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India with colleagues Pickering-Saqqa and Brimicombe ( G2, S6).
3. References to the research
R1. Tiwari, M. 2009. The meaning of wellbeing: a grassroots level perspective – how much of it is visible to the researchers? Social Indicators Research 90 (1), 127-140.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9316-6
R2. Tiwari, M. 2010. ‘Didi’ of rural Bihar: the real agent of change? Economic and Political Weekly, 45 (33), 27-30 .
R3. Tiwari, M and Ibrahim, S. 2012. Sustainable Human Development at the Grassroots: Different Contexts, Similar Ingredients? Oxford Development Studies, 40(1), 69-86.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2011.650161
R4. Tiwari, M. and Ibrahim, S. 2014. Capability approach: from theory to practice, Palgrave.
https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137001436
R5. Tiwari, M. 2017. Exploring the role of capabilities in social innovation, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 18 (2), 181-196.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2016.1271312
G1. Meera Tiwari, The role of Women’s Collectives in livelihoods and development in rural Bihar, ESRC-ICSSR (Indian Council for Social Science Research), 2008-2009, GBP5000.
G2. Meera Tiwari, Dignity and Menstrual Health in rural India, UEL QR GCRF Global Challenge Research Fund, 2018-2019, GBP21,230.
4. Details of the impact
Jeevika policy makers made signature literacy mandatory in its entire network in 2013-14 ( S1, S2). The roll out has been ongoing resulting in over 90% rural women from marginalised communities signing their name in official documents. Due to its significant empowering impact, signature literacy has been included in national rural livelihoods mission ( S3). Women who had learned to sign their name instead of using thumb imprint, exhibited different levels of confidence to those still using a thumb imprint ( R5).
Women who had become signature literate gained societal respect, for example by being offered a chair to sit and given a pen to sign by officials ( R2). This immensely boosted the self-confidence and respect of these women helping them to become emboldened in several domains including:
The women’s collective felt confident to report this to authorities and approached the teachers directly to ensure regular presence. Village schools in Bihar had over 40% absent teachers ( S7).
Concerned at poor quality of food being served as part of school mid-day meal scheme, SHG women joined the School Committee to monitor quality of food and hygiene following the Bihar food poisoning incident, which killed 23 students and poisoned dozens more.
SHG women exposed black-marketing activities of the local dealer for subsidized consumables, resulting in cancellation of his license. In fear of losing licenses, other dealers improved services in surrounding villages benefiting a population of around 10,000 people. (R5)
Signature literacy led to rural women’s increased participation in financial inclusion activities and uptake of new livelihoods opportunities such that 6 million households had improved income and nutritional availability by 2019 ( S4, S5).
With over 900 participants, NGO leaders, experts, government and World Bank officials, Jeevika women sat alongside sector leaders, making presentations substantiated with evidence without any visual or written aids. Their body language and communication skills indicated significant improvement in overcoming barriers of gender-based low esteem and speaking confidently in presence of men. ( S6)
Health Risk Fund (HRF) and financial support and protection
Jeevika weekly loans’ data indicated large amounts of borrowing to pay for chronic illnesses, leaving meagre funds towards livelihoods support. This influenced the decision makers to establish a separate Jeevika HRF for meeting the health-related expenses of Jeevika women and their families. Using regular, albeit small savings from each SHG member, Jeevika funds were augmented to the HRF with just under 38,000 village organisations (VO) accessing the funds by 2018-19 ( S5).
HRF freed up resources for livelihoods improvement. The HRF facilitated rapid access to funds for health emergencies, substantially reducing hardships villagers faced to have ready cash available for health-related incidents that required urgent and life-saving treatment in the city ( S1, S4). New opportunities for over 60% of Jeevika members included setting up of village shop, incense making, poultry, beekeeping to purchasing tractor with group and bank support ( S2, S5).
In tandem with creation of HRF, efforts by Jeevika officials urging the state to improve public health provision resulted in better equipped primary health care centres (PHCs). It resulted in better coordination of VOs with PHCs and district general hospital to facilitate treatment and follow up of chronic illnesses ( S4).
Dignity and Menstrual Health (MH):
Tiwari’s research found high prevalence of stigma around MH, societal restrictions and 87% of the 600 women interviewed learnt about MH when they first had their period ( S8, S9), and there is a reluctance to talk about MH issues in the community. A girl’s street theatre group, Udaan, was formed with partner organisation RGMVP to perform stories about the importance of MH. The group performed MH focused theatre in over 12 different regions before travel was halted because of the pandemic. Local male researchers were trained to conduct MH research, and to collect data on the crowd’s reactions to the theatre performance. This challenged cultural stigma and raised their awareness, encouraging them to be confident in interviewing other males and discussing the research with their female colleagues. ( S10)
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
S1. Testimonial letter from Mr Arvind Choudhary, Rural Development Secretary, Government of Bihar.
S2. Testimonial letter from Mr Bala Murgan, CEO Jeevika.
S3. Testimonial letter from Mr Anjani Kumar, Senior Programme Manager India, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
S4. BRLP (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society) Annual Reports, 2013-2014. http://brlp.in/annualauditreports
S5. BRLP (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society Annual Reports, 2018-2019. http://brlp.in/annualauditreports
S6. Jeevika’s Newsletter December 2019, 1-5. http://brlp.in/newsletter
S7. Jaivir Singh. 2018. Why rural India still has poor access to quality education. The Financial Times. https://www.financialexpress.com/education-2/why-rural-india-still-has-poor-access-to-quality-education/1393555/
S8. The Role of Dignity in Improving Menstrual Health: Rural Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh, India. https://bit.ly/DignityMHBriefingPaper1
S9. The Role of Dignity in Improving Menstrual Health: Rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India
https://bit.ly/DignityandMHBriefingPaper2
S10. Testimonial letter from Mr Ravi Kumar Singh, Senior Project Manager, RGMVP http://rgmvp.org/