Big Issue's 100 Changemakers of 2026: Refugees, migrants and asylum seekers

There are people and organisations who look beyond the political noise to offer practical help and friendship to those seeking safety in the UK.

Every year Big Issue compiles a list of 100 organisations and people who are bringing change to their community. It’s a chance to celebrate the agenda-setting activists and grassroots groundbreakers delivering change.

Head here to see the full Big Issue 100 Changemakers list

Dr Allan Njanji

Dr Njanji is a refugee rights campaigner, filmmaker and regional campaigns manager at a national charity working to improve the lives of people seeking asylum in the UK. His work challenges hostile asylum policies and supports grassroots organising across the Midlands, while amplifying refugee voices through documentary and advocacy. A former communications lead at Nottingham Refugee Forum, Njanji helps shape public narratives around integration and dignity. He is co-founder of HEAL Collective, a research-led migration arts learning initiative, and a trustee of Nottingham Refugee Forum. Allan holds a PhD in Refugee Studies and a background in journalism.

Jess Thompson, Migrateful

Thompson is the founder and CEO of Migrateful, an award-winning charity and social enterprise supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants into work through cookery classes. Helping displaced communities across the world and the UK, she launched Migrateful in 2017. With a master’s in International Migration and Public Policy from LSE, Thompson champions “contact” interventions that challenge hostility towards migrants.

Our Second Home

Our Second Home is a youth movement supporting people with refugee backgrounds to build community, develop and flourish in the UK. Through residential trips, youth clubs, mentoring and leadership programmes, it helps hundreds of young people each year strengthen their confidence, skills and networks, supporting routes into university and careers. Founded in 2018 with a single residential trip, it has grown rapidly and now runs 12 trips, two youth clubs and three groups of refugee youth leaders. Our Second Home backs young people’s ambition, resilience and potential.

Anti Racist Cumbria

Anti Racist Cumbria (ARC) is a small but powerful charity working to amplify voices in one of England’s least diverse rural regions. ARC supports schools, community groups and local leaders to challenge racism, strengthen belonging and turn learning into action. With a growing team of anti-racist professionals, it works to shift harmful narratives and create fairer spaces for everyone. Guided by values of learning, excellence and fairness, ARC proves meaningful change is possible far beyond big cities.

Shabna Begum

Bringing clarity to some of the UK’s most hostile public debates,  Begum is chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, the country’s leading racial justice charity. After two decades teaching and leading anti-racist initiatives in London schools, she completed a PhD and joined Runnymede as a senior researcher in 2021, becoming CEO in 2024. A working-class woman of colour, Begum uses evidence, plain language and calm authority to challenge misinformation and defend racial minorities, while also showing up for local events that strengthen anti-racist organising.

Westbury Welcome

This volunteer-run community sponsorship group helps refugee families from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine settle in Bristol. Working at grassroots level, its team supports people to find housing, navigate benefits, access ESOL classes, and connect with schools, healthcare and employment. When official systems fall short, Westbury Welcome adapts, advocating through complex legal processes and staying alongside families long after their arrival. This work has also strengthened local ties, bringing neighbours, schools and community spaces together, and showing what resettlement can look like when it is built on dignity, choice and integration.

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Regularise

Regularise is a migrant workers’ rights campaign group founded by Munya Radzi, coordinating the Migrant Workers’ Rights Coalition to push back against the UK’s hostile immigration system. It highlights how frequent rule changes, rising fees and visas tied to employers leave people insecure, at risk of losing status and vulnerable to exploitation. Regularise calls for fair, accessible routes to settlement, arguing that safety and stability are not “pull factors” but basic human needs. Its work challenges scapegoating and insists migrant workers are contributors, neighbours and part of Britain’s story.

Migrants Organise

London-based Migrants Organise is a grassroots platform supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers to organise for dignity, justice and welcome in the UK. Through mentorship, training, casework support, community organising and strategic campaigning, it helps migrant communities build leadership and collective power. Founded in 1993 as the Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum, it has more than three decades of experience challenging the hostile environment, cuts to legal aid and unsafe housing. Its work spans campaigns including Patients Not Passports, housing justice for asylum seekers, and research highlighting barriers to legal aid. 

Marissa Begoni

Begonia is director of former Changemaker, The Voice of Domestic Workers (VODW), campaigning for full rights and protections for migrant domestic workers in the UK. A domestic worker and survivor of abuse herself, she has spent years pushing for workers to be treated with dignity and recognised under the law. She has been at the forefront of efforts to overturn restrictions introduced to the migrant domestic worker visa in 2012, which removed key safeguards and increased vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking. Alongside campaigning, she supports rescues of workers in crisis, helping people access safety, emergency accommodation and support.

Angela Glendenning

Glendenning, 91, is a lifelong campaigner and community volunteer in Stoke-on-Trent who continues to raise funds for causes close to her heart. For her 91st birthday, she launched a charity skydive appeal supporting Asha North Staffordshire and homelessness charity Emmaus. Although safety rules meant she could not jump on the day, her fundraiser still raised substantial donations. A former probation service leader, Glendinning has spent decades standing alongside refugees and people experiencing homelessness, and is already plotting her next challenge, from a zipwire to the World Bog Snorkelling Championship. 

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