How we work

Data-driven, human centred change

Through meaningful collaboration with Red Cross Red Crescent colleagues, academic partners and technical experts, we explore topics of immediate relevance and critical importance to the provision of humanitarian assistance and protection to migrants in vulnerable situations. 

Our research provides the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, humanitarian partners and governments with recommendations, trends and insights to help improve migration-related humanitarian policies, practices and operations at the local, regional and global levels. Consequently, humanitarian workers can work more effectively where the humanitarian needs are. 

Primarily, our work is directly informed by people affected by migration. Only by elevating the voices and experiences of migrants – and the communities in which they live, work and transit to – we can ensure migration responses and advocacy are truly impactful. 

Local to global, global to local

The Global Migration Lab operates as a resource for the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. We provide support to teams engaged in migration research, helping them gather and analyse insights from migrants and communities as part of their operational work. 

We lead discussions, seminars and workshops about our research findings and recommendations with migration-related networks, communities of practice and working groups across the humanitarian and academic sectors. 

Our findings contribute to humanitarian advocacy undertaken by Red Cross Red Crescent teams globally, helping them influence policymakers to address the structural factors that give rise to vulnerabilities experienced by migrants in their local contexts. 

Regional Hubs

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting localisation, the Lab is creating regional hubs that can better coordinate, support and tailor research and capacity building initiatives to regional contexts and time zones. 

These regional hubs will help us ensure our research is informed by local communities and technical experts, bringing regional perspectives into global migration-related debates.

The Lab Africa Hub, hosted by Kenya Red Cross and funded by Danish Red Cross, launched in March 2024. 

By the end of 2024, we also aim to launch a hub in the Americas, in partnership with a local National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.