The Right to Remain asylum navigation board helps people understand the UK asylum process, raises awareness of common problems people face as they navigate the process, and shares survival strategies.

The navigation board, developed by Right to Remain, Dr Vicky Canning and Calverts Cooperative, was originally a “serious board game”, with a physical real-life presence. It was launched in 2018, with copies going out to asylum support groups, community service-providers, universities and local government departments across the UK.

We have responded to the Covid-19 crisis, with people no longer meeting face-to-face and attending support groups, by developing it as an online resource.

The board game format brings people together a vehicle for discussion, mutual aid and collective recognition of the difficulties in accessing justice. People with experience of the asylum process can share their expertise, while people who are new to the system can learn from the crowdsourced knowledge of others.

Based on the Right to Remain Toolkit, the board enables participant to learn about what people going through the system and those supporting them can do to be in a better position.

How the navigation board works

In the online asylum navigation board, you can navigate through each stage of the asylum process, and read the information cards for each stage.

There are some common problems that people face when going through the navigation process. For each stage on the board, you can look at Problem cards for that stage of the process (colour coded to match the stage on the board).

We recommend you do this with a friend/friends (you could do an online meeting or just call each other while you’re both looking at the website). When you reach a problem card, discuss the problem with your friend. What actions can you suggest that might help in the situation?

Once you have finished discussing, you can click to read possible solutions to those problems on the “Action” side of the card.

Then, you can move on to the next stage of the process.

The people behind the board

Lisa Matthews (coordinator at Right to Remain) and Dr Vicky Canning (Bristol University) were the original developers of the Asylum Navigation Board. The brilliant design of the real-life board was made possible by the brilliant work of Calverts Cooperative. It incorporated the beautiful Right to Remain maze image drawn by Carrie back in 2014. You can check out their great work (images free for activists) here.

This brand new online version of the asylum navigation board has been made by possible by the incredible hard work (all web design has been done in-house) of Michael Collins, the other coordinator at Right to Remain. In these very difficult days, it has been really uplifting for Lisa, Vicky and Michael to work collaboratively on this important and exciting project.

Let us know what you think of the online board!

START NAVIGATING THE ASYLUM BOARD