Questions and answers

The GRN is a digital platform designed to make the skills, qualifications, experience, and aspirations of refugees visible to service providers globally. It acts as a platform to connect refugees to the specific support they need to achieve self-reliance.

Anyone can self-register regardless of their location. This includes people at risk of fleeing their home country, those currently in displacement camps, or those already resettled in destination countries who need ongoing career or community support. The self-registration model allows the system to scale quickly during mass displacement events.

No. The GRN is visa-agnostic and open to refugees regardless of their visa status, whether they are on humanitarian visas, skilled work pathways, or have no clear pathway yet.

The GRN directly supports the UNHCR's mission to shift refugees from aid dependency to self-sufficiency. It aligns with the goal of reducing the number of refugees in protracted situations by 50% over the next 10 years by making refugee talent visible to those who can provide employment and education.

Open Pathway Collective (OPC) is the non-profit software organisation that maintains the software. The Global Refugee Network (GRN) is a digital platform designed to make refugees visible and accessible to service providers globally. It connects refugees with service providers unconstrained by individual specific pathways. Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) is a specialised partner focused on skilled labour migration visas.

No. The GRN is not a service provider. It is a digital infrastructure that helps existing organisations work more efficiently. It provides refugees with access to relevant services in their journey, and service providers better access to candidate data so they can find and support the people who need them most without duplicating efforts.

The GRN is overseen as a public good by the GRN Stakeholder Committee. This committee determines the Governing Principles that ensure the platform remains neutral, ethical, and focused on the interests of displaced people.

No. The GRN Stakeholder Committee ensures the platform remains neutral, ethical, and focused on the interests of displaced people. The OPC Board governs Open Pathway Collective the charity which develops and maintains the GRN and other technology projects.

The refugees own their data. This is a fundamental principle where individuals have the right to update, change, or delete their profile at any time.

The GRN uses a consent-first model. While permitted organisations can search anonymised data, they cannot see a full profile without sending a request for access. The individual refugee is the only person who can approve or deny this request, creating a secure electronic audit trail.

The GRN allows settlement agencies to see candidate data before arrival. This allows teams to coordinate housing and jobs in advance. Moving a refugee from welfare to employment just a few months earlier creates significant savings for the public and faster independence for the individual.

GRN is designed to support the entire journey, recognising that challenges do not end upon landing. Even after settlement, refugees can use the platform to access specialised services. By keeping data up to date, refugees remain visible to services that may help them connect, start businesses, and move from initial entry-level jobs into careers that match their true potential.

Cameron Foundation open-sourced the TC software in 2020 to ensure the technology could serve as a shared foundation for the entire humanitarian sector, accelerating impact for all skilled displaced people. GRN is based on the Talent Catalog software. By using a shared, open-source codebase, the costs of high-end software maintenance and security are shared across the network. This prevents small non-profits from falling into tech debt and ensures that more funding goes toward direct refugee support rather than expensive private software.