Nafeer (نَفِير) is a Sudanese Arabic word for collective action — a call for people to come together and contribute what they have. It is the spirit behind this Lab.

The Nafeer Community Knowledge Lab is a partnership between Shabaka and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS) at the University of Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR). Together, we are building research infrastructure that puts crisis-affected communities at the centre of knowledge production — not as subjects, but as co-researchers, analysts, and leaders.

The problem we’re addressing

Communities on the frontlines of crisis — conflict, displacement, climate breakdown — are generating vital knowledge every day. Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan, community committees in Yemen, mutual aid networks in Somalia: these are not just responses. They are innovations. But this knowledge rarely reaches academic journals, policy spaces, or the decision-makers who shape humanitarian action. When it does, it is often extracted, translated for external audiences, and returned — if at all — too late to matter.

What we do

The Lab documents community-led responses in real time, connects researchers across the Global South, supports pathways to publication, and translates community evidence into policy. Our work is multilingual by design and decolonial by commitment. We facilitate; communities lead.

Our founding focus is Sudan and the broader Red Sea corridor — from Northeast Africa to the Arabian Peninsula — through the Red Sea Researchers Network, which connects scholars and practitioners from the region.

Our long-term vision

The Lab is based in Brighton and hosted at Sussex, but it is designed to move. As conditions allow, we aim to relocate operational leadership to Sudan or another Global South location — because the infrastructure for producing knowledge should sit closest to the communities it serves.

For further details, visit SCMR’s page: Introducing the Nafeer Community Knowledge Lab: A New Partnership for Community-Led Knowledge | Sussex Centre for Migration Research Blog