Our vision is a humanitarian system based on refugee participation, leadership, and self-determination.
Supporting refugees since 2007
This Is Our Story
The Chad Relief Foundation is now the Fund for Refugee Initiatives.
In 2007, Bill Felstiner, the founder of the Fund for Refugee Initiatives, heard a presentation about the refugee crisis in Chad, a country hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur, Sudan, on its eastern border and thousands more from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the south, forgotten refugees for whom there was no media attention, celebrity presence, or geopolitical significance.
Within weeks Bill and two friends in Santa Barbara, California, formed the predecessor to FRI to mobilize resources to be sent to south Chad to improve the lives and prospects of the more than 95,000 refugees from the CAR living in camps outside of Goré, Maro, and Haraze.
Five months later Bill and Catherine Swysen, the current President of FRI, traveled to south Chad, the first of eighteen trips between them, to visit the camps, review the programs of humanitarian organizations, and understand how FRI might support their efforts and the needs of the refugee community.
For twelve years, FRI was an all-volunteer operation supporting CAR refugees through partnerships with local and international non-governmental organizations. In total, FRI raised and disbursed $1.3 million in cash and donated medical supplies, financing projects in health, agriculture, food, education, recreation, and in support of women’s higher education.
In October 2019, FRI made fundamental changes in its operations with the intention of working directly on behalf of indigenous efforts in refugee communities.
In February 2020 FRI’s new Executive Director, Sara-Christine, on her seventeenth trip to Chad, met with refugee and local community members in several refugee camps in southern Chad. Educators, parents, and leaders expressed their frustration with the lack of opportunity to take charge of their own lives. People shared examples, over and over again, of initiatives in their community that “failed” or ended after just a few short months because, they said, “partners [humanitarian agencies] tell us what to do and don’t let us decide.” One woman said, “Since we have arrived, partners have helped but we are still poor. Little has changed. The little we receive doesn’t allow us to advance ourselves.” Sara-Christine has heard these same sentiments from refugees in Tanzania, eastern Chad, Cameroon, and Greece. They are guides to FRI’s new mission and strategy.
Our Mission is to recognize, enhance, and fund refugee initiatives and leadership.
The global refugee response is entrenched in a ‘top-down’ system that views and treats refugees as ‘recipients of aid’ and ‘beneficiaries’ instead of problem-solvers, contributors, and leaders.
There are over 70.8 million displaced people in the world today. Over 25 million are refugees, driven across borders by conflict and persecution. While the media focus on the minority who attempt to reach the West, in actuality the majority of refugees remain in their region of origin, often taking refuge in poor and insecure neighboring countries.
As the conflicts that drive people from their homes stretch on, the average displacement of these 25 million refugees is now seventeen years.
The vast majority of refugees are trapped in limbo—in camps and urban settings—with limited rights and freedoms, and opportunities to manage their own affairs and to achieve their own well-being.
Of the available global humanitarian funding, only 0.1% go to local and grassroots organizations.
Our Strategy
Our Values & Mindset
We believe refugee communities are capable of managing their own affairs. We avoid top-down language such as ‘beneficiaries,’ ‘recipients,’ building capacity,’ and ‘empowering,’ instead emphasizing trust, friendship, and network building.
We listen. Refugee voices shape what we do.
We build bridges. Partnership is the foundation of our work. We see each individual uniquely for who they are and what they have to contribute. Our mindset, decision-making, and action are shaped and led by diverse people, groups, and partners.
We support foundational change. We move away from the “survival” and “care and maintenance” model and mindset; we’re about building upon local resources and assets for community-led foundational change.
We challenge. We are not restricted by traditional ways of thinking and doing. We confront our biases and processes, as well as those of others.
We redefine. We learn by using an adaptive and iterative process, working side by side with partners and refugee communities. Our learning and our notions of success focus on measurable and intangible outcomes and impact.
We are in this for the long-term. We have been working with refugee communities since 2007. We know there are no quick solutions.