Close sites icon close
Search form

Search for the country site.

Country profile

Country website

UNHCR-NGO Toolkit for Practical Cooperation on Resettlement: A Repository for Exchanging Ideas on Resettlement Partnerships

Handbooks, manuals and toolkits

UNHCR-NGO Toolkit for Practical Cooperation on Resettlement: A Repository for Exchanging Ideas on Resettlement Partnerships

June 2015

UNHCR-NGO Toolkit

The toolkit is intended to help UNHCR and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) strengthen partnership and cooperation on resettlement. It provides practical guidance for the UN refugee agency and NGOs to cooperate on operational activities, information sharing, planning and advocacy. It is also provides examples of such partnerships in action, both past and present, to generate best practices and build on earlier efforts. The toolkit is not a "how to" manual and does not attempt to provide step-by-step guidance, but rather aims to collect and share useful tools.

UNHCR and NGOs recognize the importance of strengthening partnerships to identify refugees in need of solutions, including resettlement, and they acknowledge the need for balanced protection delivery among regions and within countries, including urban, camp and other operational contexts. Such partnerships are necessary to bridge protection gaps, including capacity and resource challenges.

UNHCR field offices, interested NGOs and governments are encouraged to use and contribute to the resources in the toolkit. We encourage joint exploration and development of activities, projects or programs to enhance the protection and assistance to refugees and other people in need of protection and to seek solutions.

The toolkit is a living repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships. It was developed by UNHCR in collaboration with HIAS, RefugePoint (formerly Mapendo International) and others in 2011 and revised in 2015. We welcome additional materials and field examples to make the toolkit useful to various resettlement operational contexts. In this respect, all NGOs and UNHCR staff are encouraged to submit additional materials (templates, tools, field examples and commentaries on any of the tools) to the toolkit administrator at [email protected] specifying applicable sections in the toolkit. Other recommendations and suggestions are welcome.


A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2015.

Operational Activities

Participatory Assessments Identification and Referral of Refugees in Need of Resettlement

Information Sharing, Planning and Advocacy