Thinking beyond the grant: the ‘Enabling Labour Pathways Programme’ as an example

 

Currently, there are over 270 million migrants spread across the world, many of whom face a high risk of violence, abuse and exploitation as they attempt to flee danger and resettle in new places. Migrants make up the majority of the estimated 40 million people trapped in modern slavery; and in the space of four years, over 30,000 migrants have died trying to reach safer countries. Despite the inner strength of the forcibly displaced individuals facing these difficult odds, many also encounter systems and policies that exacerbate their struggles – often stripping them of dignity, marginalising and criminalising them. 

There is a tendency among organisations trying to help to create programmes without the participation of people with lived experience, resulting in strategies that are not fit for purpose. They often fail to alleviate risk and leave migrants in jeopardy. This is why Porticus has taken steps to rethink its approach to become more migrant-centred, redesigning our processes to increase the possibilities for safer pathways and more dignified experiences, especially for the most vulnerable migrants. 

The Enabling Labour Pathways programme, undertaken jointly by Porticus in MENA and in Asia, takes a different approach to grants. The concept here is to shift some of the power from Porticus staff, making way for people from affected communities so they can become more central. The aim is not only to give migrants an opportunity to shape the strategies that affect their lives, but also to foreground and advocate for human and labour rights; to hold governments, employers and NGOs accountable; and to provide opportunities for migrant workers to collectively network, connect and organise. 

What this means in practice is a change to the programme design and grant-making processes to enable and encourage even more listening. Programme managers will enact this by replacing the previous first step of creating a concept note with the creation of a programme note, which is a hybrid of the traditional concept note and programme plan. This programme note sets out the parameters of system change with more context than a concept note, and less prescriptive detail than a traditional programme plan. The immediate period following the approval of the programme note refines these initial ideas and is followed by a co-design process with key partners.   

The Enabling Labour Pathways Programme has trialled this idea, thinking about the process in these three stages:

1. Early research into identifying problems and providing context analysis, conducted with the help of research consultants and people with lived experience.  
2. A selection of MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) partners are invited (and renumerated), serving as “critical friends”, provoking thought and asking questions that will be baked into the programme design. 
3. Finally, the post-programme note is approved and one of the MEL learning partners is selected to stay on. That partner works alongside Porticus hosting a series of country-specific design workshops, grounding the initial research in a reality based on lived experience, which ultimately results in a Theory of Change. 

This programme is an example of how Porticus is taking a back-seat approach, encouraging partners to set the direction of our philanthropic programmes. That doesn’t mean shrinking out of sight, but instead working to get the balance right between expressing a clear view and not getting in the way of people with more relevant lived experience. 

Marat Yu, Programme Manager, says: “We’re excited, but it’s also unnerving. And we aren’t expecting it to be a totally smooth process. We have to learn to sit back, to give space and listen. It can be hard to let go and sometimes NGOs aren’t super-comfortable because they’re used to the previous way of doing things. Porticus plays a different role than we have before – acting primarily as a convenor, connecting people, and letting communities lead the way. Our main aim is to think beyond being a grant giver and to focus on relationships. The pilot has been warmly received and the phased roll-out has huge potential, not just in this sector but across other challenges too.” 

Over the next three years the programme will move forward with a wider global roll-out with the aim of refining the new approach, sharing findings with other funders and key players as together we rethink how migrants are involved in the processes that involve them, whether at the government, employer, or NGO and donor level. Over the next five years all programmes in the PotM Challenge will move forward with deeper understanding of meaningful participation, and Porticus aims to walk the talk as a funder, convenor and ally to people with migration experiences to truly transform migration governance.