Assessing Refugee Assistance Organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Due to their specific historical contexts and unique social-political milieux, the United States and the United Kingdom have developed distinctive refugee assistance and assessment models. After an overview of each host society's approach to refugee aid and appraisal, this article finds that widely used assessment strategies are inadequate for determining whether the work of refugee assistance organizations actually benefits refugees. The strengths and weaknesses of each nation's assessment model are analyzed. In the interests of taking them out of the arena of public policy makers' and funders' games as well as system and organizational administrators' personal agendas, suggestions are also offered for making future appraisals of refugee aid providers more comprehensive, valid, and beneficial.