HC Partners with Refugee Researchers in Jordan and Lebanon

Over the past two years, the Humanitarian Collaborative has partnered with refugee researchers in Jordan and Lebanon on an evaluation of mental health and psychosocial support programs for refugees through Amna’s Community Partners Program. For a project focused on refugee communities, it has been particularly important to work with researchers who bring lived refugee experience, local knowledge, and trusted relationships with participants. Their contributions have strengthened the evaluation by helping shape research questions, strengthening interviews and discussions, building trust with participants, and interpreting findings with cultural and contextual sensitivity.

A few of the researchers who contributed to this work reflected on what they learned and why lived experience matters in humanitarian research. Mubarak Ricky described the evaluation as “not just about collecting data,” but about listening to people’s stories, understanding their challenges, and recognizing their resilience. Faisal Jarmi emphasized that researchers from local communities, including refugees, bring “a level of depth and sensitivity that is hard to achieve otherwise.” Saadiah Abdullah reflected on the power of seeing children use photography to express themselves and be listened to without judgment. Together, their reflections show how working with refugee researchers helped make the evaluation more ethical, relational, and responsive to the communities it sought to understand.