To enable Afghan refugees to thrive in the United Kingdom.
The Challenge
In 2021, the Afghan refugee crisis reached the UK, centred on the emergency airlift and resettlement of around 17,000 refugees, many linked to Britain’s 20-year engagement in Afghanistan. Many then spent long periods in temporary hotel accommodation, facing challenges around employment, finding homes, and integrating into society. Local councils and charities struggled with a shortage of affordable housing and limited resources — sometimes meaning families were moved far from existing community ties and support networks. Complex resettlement schemes and slow processing of applications left some waiting on decisions about their future, adding stress to lives already disrupted by conflict. Even after arrival, many had to navigate language barriers, unfamiliar systems, and the emotional impact of separation from relatives still abroad.
The Bridge Institute’s Role
The Bridge Institute was invited, in partnership with Camden Council, to address these challenges by asking: how do we support the Afghan refugees who have entered the UK since August 2021 to thrive here — in the short, medium and long term? The programme — the Afghan Refugee Coalition — identified seven points of leverage to drive that change.
Our Approach
The Coalition was built around a clear set of principles:
- Systemic root causes — the streams focused on the systemic root causes of the challenge, not on individual organisations.
- The right stakeholders — in each stream, the leaders with the influence, care, resilience and courage to act were carefully identified.
- A breakthrough process — visionary, implementable solutions were shaped through the breakthrough thinking process.
- The Camden facilitators — Camden Council leaders guided the process expertly and documented the solutions effectively.
- A focus on implementation — stakeholders were regularly brought back together to nudge and progress the solutions.
- Afghan refugees at the centre — keeping refugees at the heart of the programme unlocked empathy, care and new insight, and was essential to its impact.
Impact So Far
- Employment — a dedicated recruitment process for refugees was set up by one of the UK’s largest employers, removing barriers to work.
- Skills — workshops were rolled out providing skills and integration support, including language and access to health support.
- Housing — a breakthrough across the UK Government enabled Afghan refugee families to access quality, affordable homes; £500 million was allocated for housing for refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan, providing 3,000+ homes.
“Above all, I appreciated the resources — time, brainpower, financial — that went into sparking the idea for the Coalition and then bringing it to life.” — Yasmin Millican, Groundwork
“The Afghan Refugee Coalition was the most productive coalition of its kind I have seen. The approach should be recommended for refugee-needs response in the UK.” — Emery Igiraneza, International Rescue Committee
“I valued the forum and space for key stakeholders across multiple sectors to come together — there hadn’t been a space like this to facilitate ideas and discussion.” — Siobhan Gosrani, Greater London Authority
Mission Partners
Home Office · Camden Council
