Kuol Malou presents ANVA
We did not build ANVA because our communities lacked ideas. We built it because too…
Black News 
We did not build ANVA because our communities lacked ideas. We built it because too many of our ideas, stories, warnings and solutions were taken seriously in conversation, then lost in practice.
That is the truth.
For too long, migrant and refugee communities have been asked to speak, explain, translate, educate and participate. We have sat in consultations. We have joined research. We have helped shape programs. We have told the truth about what families, young people and communities are carrying.
And still, too often, the pattern stays the same.
Our knowledge is extracted. Our pain is documented. Our labour is unpaid. Our trust is borrowed. And the system moves on as if listening was the same thing as change.
It is not.
ANVA exists because we are done confusing participation with power.
As a migrant and refugee peer collective, we know the gap is not only policy. It is not only funding. It is not only service delivery. The real gap is infrastructure.
Infrastructure that helps community knowledge shape decisions. Infrastructure that protects stories from being used without return. Infrastructure that turns lived experience into evidence, strategy, economic pathways and accountable action. Infrastructure that sees public health, justice, housing, education, entrepreneurship, employment and belonging as connected, because that is how people actually live.
ANVA stands for Acta Non Verba Agency.
Deeds, not words.
We are building a peer-led agency grounded in community participatory research, public health, systems thinking, evaluation sovereignty, collective impact and economic development.
Our pursuit is clear.
We want migrant and refugee communities to move from being consulted to being resourced. From being represented to holding authority. From being invited into the room to helping shape the room itself. From being named in problems to building solutions, pathways and ownership.
Our proposal is simple, but not small.
Build the missing bridge between community knowledge and institutional action. Build peer-powered evaluation and research that communities can trust. Build systems that return value, not just extract insight.
Build real pathways to entrepreneurship, enterprise, public health equity and long-term community progression.
This is ANVA.
Built by people who know the cost of being heard but not acted on. Built for people who are tired of reports without return. Built for peers, researchers, founders, practitioners and institutions who know the old model is no longer enough.
If that sounds like you, follow us. We are not here to decorate the conversation. We are here to redesign it.
Kuol Malou
Founder, Third Space Narrative | Narrative and systems strategy for organisations working in CALD, refugee and multicultural communities
