RAPAR

RAPAR supports displaced people in a variety of ways, including providing asylum seekers whose application has been rejected by UK Visas and Immigration with the means to develop campaigns against this decision.[4] This may include helping to set up petitions, encouraging advocacy letters to politicians, cultivating press and media interest, providing access to legal assistance and helping to organise protests and demonstrations.[5] More general services include facilitating links to local communities and groups and providing support relating to issues such as education and housing.[1][6]

RAPAR encourages the formation of local groups and networks and supports a number of initiatives, including:

• Walking With The Cloak, a women’s group based in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester
• Somali Community Forums for men and women
• The Beja Congress for expatriate members of the Beja people of Eastern Sudan
• The Elikya Project, a magazine relating to French–speaking Africa and its diasporas
• The Persian Society, a network for expatriate Iranians
• YoungRAPAR, a youth group.[7]

RAPAR develops research projects and learning opportunities relating to displaced people. RAPAR cites the Action Research principle first expounded by Kurt Lewin in 1946, and the Action Learning of Reginald Revans (1998) as important to its methodology and ethos. This approach centres around social research with a practical goal, and a research methodology that favours research being conducted by the research subjects. It has produced research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.