In this article, Ciara Devlin, CEO of Breaking Barriers, describes how the charity works with experts with lived experience to develop effective policies, programmes, and services that are responsive to the refugee community’s needs and the challenges they face.
I first met members of Breaking Barriers’ Lived Experience Panel (LEP) in 2023 while going through the CEO role recruitment process. I was so impressed. Here was an organisation that was putting the people it serves at the forefront of its work and decision-making, truly embodying its organisational value of being ‘mission led’. Meeting the panel so early on was a really enriching experience, including those who had personally been supported by Breaking Barriers’ services.
Members of the LEP are professionals with a wealth of experience across various fields, including research, engineering, management, and law. In addition to their professional expertise, they have personal experience of the UK asylum and refugee system. They are change-makers who are hired as consultants to improve the way the organisation works and strengthen our workplace community.
We use the term lived experience to mean people from a refugee background who have first-hand experience seeking sanctuary or forced migration to the UK. The LEP ensures that Breaking Barriers can develop effective policies, programmes, and services that are responsive to the refugee community’s needs and the challenges they face.
Mission led
Refugees have so much to offer businesses—they bring new knowledge, skills, and fresh perspectives that help drive innovation. However, they are four times more likely to be unemployed than people born in the UK. So, Breaking Barriers’ mission is to support refugees into meaningful employment.
We work directly with clients from a refugee background, providing them with advice, education and training to help them navigate the unfamiliar UK job market. We also work with businesses to open job opportunities and build inclusive and equitable recruitment processes and workplaces to break down some of the barriers to employment that refugees face.
The people we work with are an incredibly diverse group with differing experiences. In 2023-24, we supported 1248 people from 79 countries who spoke more than 100 languages and were aged 18 to 50+. With such a diverse group, each with unique skills, experiences, and support needs, the LEP’s input is essential to ensure our services are effective and to strengthen Breaking Barriers’ own community.
Our Lived Experience Strategy
To practise what we preach, we strive to lower the barriers to employment for refugees within Breaking Barriers. This commitment reinforces our purpose and demonstrates our belief in the value and potential of those we serve.
We provide training and development opportunities for staff with lived experience and mental health support to ensure that they can progress into managerial roles within the organisation. Our goal is to create pathways into employment and invest in staff with lived experience, supporting their long-term growth and leadership within our team.
To be more effective as a charity, we consult people with lived experience to produce our solutions and strategies. They are uniquely positioned to advise us on how to overcome the challenges they face. This collaborative approach leads to programmes that more accurately reflect and meet the needs of the communities we support.
Engaging people with lived experience also fosters a culture of continuous learning and innovation. Their contributions help us adapt to evolving challenges and remain responsive to our clients’ needs.
The LEP’s Contribution
The LEP has significantly enriched our staff’s knowledge of our clients’ unique struggles and perspectives. It has also bolstered our team’s confidence when communicating with our partners and stakeholders about the barriers that refugees face. The LEP was established in July 2023 and is active in four of Breaking Barriers’ current locations. Crucially, this is a two-way relationship. Breaking Barriers provides the LEP with on-boarding, training, and well-being support so that members can contribute their best. Our LEP Involvement Officer closely supports them and reviews their progress in development sessions and appraisals.
Meanwhile, in the last year alone, the LEP has provided 450 hours of consultancy support, with projects including:
- Strategic corporate partnerships that will increase professional opportunities for refugees.
- Advising on a sector-leading programme integration with a partner charity.
- Creating awareness pieces on topics such as workplace advocacy and supporting colleagues during Ramadan.
- Improving policies and documents and making them accessible and jargon-free.
- Co-chairing and participating in significant organisational events, including a Refugee Week webinar for 180 people.
- Inputting into the organisation’s updated Theory of Change.
We know from direct experience that people of refugee backgrounds strengthen and enrich our communities. We are excited that our funders and partners also believe in the power of lived experience to benefit businesses and want to help refugees build new lives across the UK.
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