Evidence library

"There is a growing body of research on small Voluntary Sector Organisations’ (VSOs) contribution to tackling complex social challenges. It focuses on how small VSOs work to address these challenges, as opposed to what the measurable impact of that work is. This article adds to that body of work by providing a new analytical account of how a small VSO works; in this case what shapes that work is the extent to which it is collaborative, responsive and collective, and voluntarily driven in nature. This article also takes the research to a new setting; that of small VSOs working to better the welfare of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (ASRs)."

"How does a small charity, mostly run by volunteers, hold a safety net together for some of the most vulnerable people in the country?

We tend to picture charities as organisations with managers, staff and clear lines of command. This article looks at a small charity that works very differently, and asks how it actually gets things done.

The charity, given the pseudonym "Poppy", supports asylum seekers and refugees in a dispersal city in the North-East of England. It runs on a single paid manager and a lot of volunteers. Vivyan spent 14 months with it, much of that through the pandemic, watching how it works day to day. Several things stood out.

The first is that everything runs on collaboration. Poppy acts as a central point, weaving together housing providers, solicitors, the council and other charities so that people who have been dropped into an unfamiliar city have somewhere to turn.

The second is that the work is driven by the people it serves. Poppy responds to whatever people need when they arrive, with a level of compassion the wider system often lacks. That's its great strength, though it comes with a real risk of overstretch.

The third is that it's genuinely collective. The board includes refugees and asylum seekers alongside long-term residents, on the view that you can't support people well if you don't understand their lives.

The fourth is that voluntary action is the whole engine. Many volunteers are asylum seekers themselves, barred from paid work but bringing skills like translation and lived experience that no one else can offer. One, "Abel", appears through the article first receiving help, then quietly giving it, distributing food across their neighbourhood during lockdown.

This model is rich in willingness but poor in resources, and the same blurred boundaries that make it work can push people towards burnout."

Summary

The findings suggest that Poppy’s work is driven by collective agency which includes both the beneficiaries of the work as well as those that deliver it. This practice is embedded in relational interactions, and the fluid, flexible nature of the work allows practices, people and the environment to recursively shape each other over time. The day-to-day work is also shaped by relationships with external stakeholder agencies. The manager and trustees work collaboratively with these agencies to enhance the welfare of ASRs. The contextual factors of local hostility, and the local repercussions of immigration policy, are seen as powerful external forces that impact on how effective Poppy can be in improving ASR welfare. These forces also limit Poppy’s public-facing activities, but help drive its people to channel time and resource into responsive and collaborative work that helps to build a safety net capable of supporting ASRs through the hardest of times.