Our impact in 2024

January is when when we talk about our impact! Dive into the stats to learn about what we achieved in 2024.
Impact 2024

As we reflect on our impact in 2024, we are proud to see that Micro Rainbow’s holistic approach to integrating LGBTQI individuals continues to be life changing.

973 LGBTQI people fleeing persecution accessed Micro Rainbow’s support in 2024, including intensive one-to-one support from the outreach team.  

SUPPORTED 973 LGBTQI people fleeing persecution with intensive one-to-one casework

We will explain our impact according to our Theory of Change and through the three pillars of our holistic approach.

Housing

At Micro Rainbow, providing safe housing for LGBTQI asylum seekers is central to our mission. Through the safe housing programme, we aim to combat homelessness and reduce the violence that LGBTQI migrants often face in housing situations.

We achieve this by directly offering housing and collaborating with hosting schemes when we reach full capacity. In 2024, we proudly expanded our efforts by opening four additional safe houses, increasing our housing capacity by 20% to provide 35,770 bed nights annually. This expansion allows us to support even more vulnerable LGBTQI asylum seekers with inclusive, safe, and welcoming housing.

SAFE HOUSES We opened four more safe houses in 2024
SAFE BED NIGHTS 35,770 Our capacity increased by 20% in 2024
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SAFE HOUSES We opened four more safe houses in 2024
SAFE BED NIGHTS 35,770 Our capacity increased by 20% in 2024
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Social inclusion

While providing safe housing for LGBTQI asylum seekers is essential, it is only one part of their integration journey. Through our Social Inclusion programme, Micro Rainbow promotes social justice and fosters a sense of belonging, confidence, and self-esteem among LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees. These goals are especially challenging—yet even more critical—in a hostile environment where LGBTQI migrants often face rejection and are unfairly scapegoated.

Over the course of 2024, Micro Rainbow offered  , artistic events and activities. Incorporating a wide range of activities, our community of LGBTQI refugees and asylum seekers took part in cooking classes, visits to museums and city farms, theatre trips and the consistently popular body and movement programme.  

This programme builds a different type of home, the one that a community creates, which is essential to our sense of belonging and integration.

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IMPROVEMENTS As a result of engaging with Micro Rainbow's Social Inclusion programme: 84% felt an increased sense of belonging 84% felt increased self-esteem 78%

Moving on

The Moving On programme offers tailored support to refugees in improving their employability skills, accessing education and permanent housing. The long-term goal of this programme is economic empowerment of LGBTQI refugees leading to people taking back control of their lives.

The Moving On programme held 27 workshops throughout 2024, which were delivered in partnership with seven different corporates. These workshops were attended by 337 beneficiaries. 144 people were granted refugee status in 2024, and all received one-to-one support to help their transition from being an asylum seeker to a refugee. 144 people also received mentoring and employability advice.

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IMPROVEMENTS: As a result of engaging with Micro Rainbow's Moving On programme: 78% felt an increased sense of independence

In September 2024, Micro Rainbow published Held Back: Poverty of LGBTQI Refugees in the UK. This report was released 10 years after Micro Rainbow’s pioneering 2013 report: Poverty, sexual orientation and refugees in the UK. 2024’s report examined the contemporary situation for LGBTQI refugees after more than a decade of the hostile environment policy.

The report delves into work and employment in detail, with one of the key findings being that the majority of LGBTQI refugees in the UK struggle to access dignified and appropriate work once they receive their refugee status. Only 36% of report respondents were in employment. Housing, and homelessness, is another issue, with 41% of respondents having experienced homeless while asylum seekers, and 39% people experiencing it once they received their status.

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Report cover page

Held Back: Poverty of LGBTQI Refugees

Download and read the 2024 report

Did you know?

COUNTRIES The top 3 countries that people we support hail from are: -Bangladesh - Iraq - Pakistan
LANGUAGES Apart from English, our top three working languages are: - Arabic - Bengali - Spanish
DEMOGRAPHICS 21% of the UK refugee population are women. In 2024, 27% of our beneficiaries identified as women
AGE In 2024, 53% of our beneficiaries were under 30 years old

Increased capacity, more demand

2024 has been another time of expansion for Micro Rainbow. After expanding our social inclusion programme into Wales in 2023, Micro Rainbow continued to offer the body and movement programme to LGBTQI people fleeing persecution throughout 2024 in London, Cardiff and Birmingham. We also toured our celebratory exhibition about the programme – Dance Your Freedom – holding events in Cardiff, Birmingham and London.

As well as acquiring four more safe houses, we welcomed five new team members in 2024 and just moved to a much bigger office! This increased capacity was essential in allowing Micro Rainbow to offer a broader range of support in 2024, including increased advocacy support.

Looking ahead

There are many challenges ahead of us as a not-for-profit organisation, for our colleagues and for the people we serve. Some of these challenges are about the economy, some about the social attitudes of our community towards LGBTQI people and migrants and some are about the rhetorics we hear from some politicians who spread divisions as opposed to unity.

However, in true Micro Rainbow style, we have decided to focus on what we can control and do to make this world a better place. As a result, we set ourselves an ambitious goal (which is also one of our dreams 😊):  eradicating homelessness of LGBTQI people fleeing persecution by 2030. This means that in 2025, we want to double our capacity and the number of houses we operate.

This is exciting but also a little daunting! You can be part of our dream and make it less challenging too by becoming an ally today.

However you have supported us in 2024 or choose to support our work in 2025, we want to say a massive thank you. Your support and our work are instrumental in changing many LGBTQI people’s lives. Our joint contribution to humanity is testament that social change is action and is possible.

Related

Dance your freedom

Dance Your Freedom

This Pride Month, visit the the Dance Your Freedom exhibition which celebrates LGBTQI refugees and asylum seekers in our community.