Case Studies

In 2023, Porticus launched its Immigration Detention (ID) program, which brings together civil society organizations from Africa, Asia and Europe to address the immediate needs of people affected by immigration detention and promote just alternatives.

Recognizing the need for grounded and inclusive program design, Porticus commissioned a participatory learning and design process. This process brought together insights from both implementation partners and people directly impacted by immigration detention. Among the six key recommendations that emerged, two directly addressed the importance of lived experience:

1. Co-create space to learn with partners by designing systemic change goals, grants, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems collaboratively.

2. Find meaningful ways to incorporate the voices of those with lived experience into all aspects of the program.

In 2024, Porticus appointed Nurai Global as a Learning Partner to support the co-creation of the MEL system for the ID Program. Nurai was tasked with exploring how recommendations from the 2023 consultations related to lived experience and participation could be meaningfully integrated. This included identifying opportunities for people with lived experience of immigration detention to engage in MEL processes not as subjects of evaluation, but as contributors, collaborators, and co-creators of knowledge.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a humanitarian organization working in new and protracted crises in  40 countries globally. One of its six areas of specialities is providing legal protection or legal aid interventions through Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA). The program enables displaced individuals to claim their rights and access durable solutions in accordance with international humanitarian protection standards and principles.

NRC sought to improve the monitoring of outcomes from their ICLA program—both digitally (via its KOBLI platform) and non-digitally. Specifically, they required tools to measure knowledge improvement and understanding of legal rights among diverse and often mobile clients while addressing issues like anonymity, recall challenges, and variations in the effectiveness of delivery methods.

The European Institute of Peace (EIP) is an independent organization dedicated to advancing sustainable peace through mediation, dialogue, and conflict resolution. It leads the Conflict, Justice, and Rehabilitation (CJR) program, which aims to strengthen justice and rehabilitation efforts in conflict-affected contexts by supporting locally driven solutions. The program operates in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Ethiopia, focusing on transitional justice, reintegration and inclusive governance.

EIP sought to assess the effectiveness of its CJR program, specifically its responsiveness to shifting political dynamics and contribution to sustainable justice and reintegration efforts.