We Are Not Powerless

The refugees at the centre of this story provide the human antidote to the cold bureaucracy of Australia’s ten-year-old offshore detention policy. Recent news reports have shown that hundreds of millions of dollars were given to corrupt contractors in the name of ‘offshore detention’. In stark contrast, We Are Not Powerless tells the story of a small group of refugees who used $200 to create a refugee-led education movement which now supports the education of over 2000 refugees. At the same time they provided a platform for disaffected Australians to connect on a human level with the refugees our government has excluded.

Ten years ago the 14,000 refugees in Indonesia were considered insignificant in the face of 25 million refugees globally and were excluded from the conversation. Today they are leaders and their voice is central to discussions at the Global Refugee Forum, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and at academic and policy forums and conferences. They have inspired other refugee-led initiatives around the world and “refugee-led” approaches are increasingly adopted by academics, institutions, agencies, charities and NGOs.

New approaches to refugee policy are developing, and refugees are being seen as potentially capable and contributing members of society. We Are Not Powerless will be watched by international organisations including the United Nations, the World Bank, UNHCR, International Office of Migration and hundreds of refugee advocacy groups around the world and aims to help accelerate this process.

Systemic change and greater positive outcomes with refugee policy internationally.

We have been intimately engaged with the community or over the years. Co-director Muzafar Ali was living as a refugee when he co-founded the first refugee-led school in Indonesia.

We aim to increase refugee inclusion across all areas of refugee policy.