Migrant-serving organisations (MSOs) along the border between Mexico and the USA are an important, yet underappreciated, component of the global humanitarian infrastructure, according to research in the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies.
The research has looked at how these frontline groups persist despite unrelenting challenges. Operating in a region shaped by shifting immigration policies, recurrent humanitarian emergencies, and increasing flows of displaced people, these organisations have developed a form of resilience based on day-to-day adaptability rather than formal plans.
The study assessed 40 MSOs through surveys and interviews to examine how these organisations maintain services such as healthcare, legal aid, and shelter under constant pressure. Rather than relying on long-term strategic planning or physical infrastructure, MSOs were found to survive largely thanks to their capacity for bricolage. Bricolage is a term borrowed from art where diverse materials that just happen to be available are used creatively to assemble a solution.
This improvisational approach, the research suggests, is largely driven by staff commitment, trust among partners, and participatory leadership rather than financial resources or facilities. Such a human approach allows organisations to adapt quickly in the face of crises, such as pandemics, conflicts, or sudden increases in migration.
These traits have allowed MSOs to sustain their response capabilities, but the research also shows that there is a lack of long-term strategic development. Few MSOs have mechanisms in place to systematically learn from past crises or plan for future disruptions. Many simply operate under the working assumption that crisis is not a temporary disruption, but a constant condition. As such, conventional approaches to organisational resilience, that are built around discrete shocks and have recovery phases, are inadequate.
The research could help guide policymakers and stakeholders along the Mexico-US border and elsewhere in the world. This will be increasingly important as the effects of climate change, political instability, and conflict displace even more people. The demand for grassroots humanitarian work is thus growing, a broader understanding of what organisational resilience entails is needed to allow MSOs to do their work.
Burrowes, S., Sullivan, S., Cazares, R., Hunt, J. and Hwang, G. (2025) ‘The border is always changing: a mixed-methods study of resilience among migrant serving organisations in the USA and Mexico’, Int. J. Migration and Border Studies, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp.1–28.