As a local organisation, Violet has historically not had many resources, or much attention paid towards advocacy efforts. Since we usually receive funding through project-based relationships, these budgets do not usually allow us to allocate funding for “extra” activities like advocacy. In recent years, as the funding landscape has become increasingly dire and we believe our organisation has become increasingly authoritative in our localized approach, Violet has turned more attention towards advocacy. While we have recently dedicated concerted efforts to increasing our advocacy in the UK, our global strategy and US strategy remains unclear. We believe that pushing for local voices to be heard directly by decision makers and at high-level meetings / international platforms is a crucial part of localizing and decolonizing humanitarian aid. We also believe there is much potential for advocating at a global level, given the expansive Syrian diaspora networks across the globe, as well as exploring our position in the global discussions, for example climate justice.

While Violet already has registration and established partners in the US, we do not have experience in the US advocacy and fundraising landscape. Given the potential we see for our UK advocacy efforts, we believe that expanding globally, crucially to the US, is our next step forwards.