Online Roundtable August 2025
On August 8th, 2025, around 25 participants from NGOs, research institutions, international organizations, and community-based initiatives came together for a new edition of the Generation Restoration roundtable. The guiding question this time:
«What does it take to turn regenerative practices in refugee camps and settlements into scalable standards supported by policy and institutions?»
While previous sessions focused on “alignment,” this roundtable took the conversation one step further – toward institutionalization. The goal was to contribute to two working documents:
Training and capacity-building models in collaboration with NGOs and IOs
Policy engagement and cooperation with governmental actors
From Scaling to Standardization
This roundtable marked another step in the process of standardizing regenerative approaches in displacement contexts – a core part of Generation Restoration’s strategy to unlock social and financial capital for long-term transformation.
Scaling has been a recurring theme in previous sessions. Two working groups had previously explored key learnings on seed sovereignty and impact assessment. The last roundtable focused on the first stage of standardization: alignment. Participants identified shared challenges in coordinating resources and strategies, and emphasized the importance of engaging funders early on.
The current roundtable built on these insights – with a focus on institutional pathways and long-term system change.
Key findings
Challenges
Grassroots organizations are often excluded from shaping program design
Standardization efforts tend to be top-down, lacking co-creation
Trainings and materials are often not context-sensitive or accessible to GROs
Barriers
Power imbalances in partnerships with NGOs/IOs
High bureaucratic barriers to registration with authorities
Informal payments and lack of access to key contacts
Limited access to resources and certification mechanisms
Opportunities
Emerging partnership programs by the Office of the Prime Minister (Uganda)
Consortium models with joint monitoring and shared learning
Growing recognition of GROs as implementation partners and knowledge holders
Potential for collaborative impact tracking through digital tools
What’s next?
The results from this roundtable will feed into two living documents that will be further developed over the coming months – aiming to shape a practical, grassroots-led framework for standardizing regenerative solutions in displacement settings.
📅 The next roundtable will take place on November 14th, 2025.
Join the movement
Coordinating these efforts is the motivation and reasoning behind the establishment of Generation Restoration e.V.
Important Links to follow-up:
- Save the Date: Online Roundtable on November 14th, 2025, 9am EAT (Registration here)
- Join WhatsApp Group of the Roundtable
- Join Linkedin Group of Generation Restoration
- Share your projects with us (send them to vorstand@gen-r.de)
- Subscribe to our Newsletter
- Distribute the information among your personal and professional network