Walker Independent Research
Dr Rebecca Walker · Research & Policy Consultant

Research on migration, health and rights that reaches people who can act on it.

I lead policy-relevant research, legal and policy analysis and programme evaluation across Southern and East Africa, for governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, funders and civil society networks.

Pencil drawing of a woman carrying a bag, holding a small child's hand, walking towards tall buildings in Johannesburg
10+ yearsleading research and consultancy projects
13 countriesof fieldwork and policy analysis in Africa
PhDSocial Anthropology, University of Edinburgh
About

Rights-based research, grounded in long-term partnerships

I'm Dr Rebecca (Becs) Walker, a social anthropologist based in Cape Town. Walker Independent Research is my consultancy. I have more than a decade of experience in research on migration, health, gender, sex work, displacement and rights-based governance.

My work comes from a social justice approach and long collaboration with civil society and community-based organisations. I always aim to get findings to the people in a position to act on them, through advocacy, litigation and policy engagement.

I often work with researcher colleagues, bringing together a team with the right mix of skills, languages and local knowledge for each project.

I'm a Research Consultant with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University and a tutor on the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies at the University of London. I publish in peer-reviewed journals and write regularly for the Daily Maverick and other media.

Creative methods

Mwangaza Mama

Large textile quilt with a blue and yellow wax-print border. On black cloth are six collage panels, each with the maker's name stitched above it, and the words 'I will speak with confidence and no fear like Winnie Mandela'
The group quilt, with a panel made by each woman. Its message reads: "I will speak with confidence and no fear like Winnie Mandela."

Mwangaza Mama (2017 to 2019) was a two-year creative storytelling project with a small group of cross-border migrant women in Johannesburg.

Through textile collage and their own stories, the women explored everyday life in the city and produced knowledge about the issues that affect them. Arts-based methods like these help people speak for themselves, across language barriers.

The work became a book and a peer-reviewed article.

Read the book ↗ Read the article ↗
Textile quilt with Mwangaza Mama 2017–2019 embroidered in blue on red, around a drawing of a woman and child, with a blue and yellow wax-print border
Detail of a red collage with beads, pom-poms, felt balls and a printed fabric circle
Detail of hessian houses stitched under glittering green trees on red fabric
Detail of patterned fabric figures outlined in green stitching on red
Detail of a smiling girl in a sequinned dress beside a tree on yellow fabric with a blue satin border

Textile collages made by the women of the Mwangaza Mama project.

Services

What I do

Research

Qualitative, participatory and mixed-methods studies, from design and ethics through fieldwork, analysis and write-up.

Evaluation and impact assessment

Theory-based and end-term evaluations, impact assessments, change stories and best-practice documentation.

Policy and legal analysis

National, regional and comparative policy reviews, legal analysis and evidence for strategic litigation.

Advocacy strategy

Advocacy strategies and policy briefs that help networks and coalitions turn evidence into change.

Facilitation and capacity building

Stakeholder engagement, focus groups, workshops, training and practical guides for practitioners.

Research communication

Reports, plain-language guides, op-eds and broadcast-ready briefs for radio and television.

Areas of expertise
  • Migration, displacement and health systems
  • Health policy and access to health care, including Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
  • Gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), HIV and sex work
  • Children and young people on the move
  • Health xenophobia
  • Human trafficking
  • Arts-based and community-led research
Selected experience

Recent consultancy work

Some of these projects I led on my own, and others with researcher colleagues.

2025
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Impact of humanitarian and health funding cuts in Southern Africa

Assessed how funding cuts have affected services and the people who rely on them across the region.

2025
Southern Africa Sex Workers Alliance (SASWA)

Advocacy strategy development

Developed an advocacy strategy for SASWA members and stakeholders.

2024
UNHCR and Lawyers for Human Rights

Digital legal access tools

Designed and led a mixed-methods study on digital solutions to improve migrants' access to justice in South Africa, using surveys, arts-based research and stakeholder interviews.

2023–24
CESAR, for Genesis Analytics

End-term evaluation of the South-South Learning Network

Qualitative lead and lead report writer for a theory-based, mixed-methods evaluation of a peer learning network strengthening national HIV prevention programmes in Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Malawi, South Sudan and Uganda.

2023–24
AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)

Regional scan on access to SRHR and HIV services for transgender people

Key informant interviews and policy analysis across Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

2022–24
Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa

Vulnerabilities of young people on the move in SADC

Qualitative research in Zambian border towns on protection gaps affecting young people on the move.

2023
Health Justice Initiative

Audit of a decade of health xenophobia in South Africa

Reviewed ten years of evidence on xenophobic exclusion from health care, published as Countering Health Xenophobia in South Africa.

2023
Save the Children ESARO · RIATT-ESA · UNICEF

Child migrant protection and HIV policy

Policy assessments of Southern African Development Community (SADC) child protection frameworks, regional HIV and migration policy for young people, and best practice for children on the move in Zambia and South Africa.

2021–22
IOM · Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Right to health and human trafficking

A regional review of migration and health law and policy in Southern Africa, and a risk assessment of organised crime in South Africa with a focus on human trafficking.

Clients

Who I have worked with

UNHCRUN Refugee Agency
UNICEF
IOMInternational Organization for Migration
MSFMédecins Sans Frontières
Save the ChildrenSouth Africa, Sweden and ESARO
GI-TOCGlobal Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Genesis Analytics
ARASAAIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa
RIATT-ESA
Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa
Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town
APCOFAfrican Policing Civilian Oversight Forum
Lawyers for Human Rights
Health Justice Initiative
Sonke Gender Justice
Centre for Child LawUniversity of Pretoria
SASWASouthern Africa Sex Workers Alliance
Brot für die Welt
Publications

Selected writing

  • 2026
    Xenophobia is a public health emergency: Organised exclusion and the failure of Universal Health Coverage in South Africa. Nyasulu, English … & Walker. The Lancet Regional Health – Africa. Read ↗
  • 2025
    Closing the gap in the wrong direction: Migration, health policy, and the exclusion of asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants from healthcare in South Africa. Walker & Vearey. BMC Public Health. Read ↗
  • 2025
    Upholding the right to health in contexts of displacement: A whole-of-route policy analysis in South Africa, Kenya, Somalia and the DRC. Walker, Vearey, Bile & Lolimo. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Read ↗
  • 2024
    Punishment over protection: A reflection on distress migrants, health, and a state of (un)care in South Africa. Walker & Vearey. Health and Human Rights. Read ↗
  • 2024
    Mental healthcare among displaced Congolese: Policy and stakeholders' analysis. Mutombo, Lobukulu & Walker. Frontiers in Human Dynamics. Read ↗
  • 2023
    "When a bad thing happens… you are better only when you are home": Alienation and mental health challenges experienced by Congolese and Somali migrants in Johannesburg. Walker, Lakika, Makandwa & Boeyink. Frontiers in Human Dynamics. Read ↗
  • 2020
    A creative storytelling project with women migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa. Walker & Oliveira. Studies in Social Justice. Read ↗
  • 2019
    Sex work, migration and human trafficking in South Africa: From polarized arguments to potential partnerships. Walker, Yingwana & Echart. Anti-Trafficking Review. Read ↗
  • 2013
    Enduring Violence: Everyday Life and Conflict in Eastern Sri Lanka. Walker. Manchester University Press (monograph).

Full list of articles and book chapters on ORCID ↗. Opinion writing in the Daily Maverick, News24, City Press, Business Day and The Conversation.

Background

Academic appointments and affiliations

Appointments

  • Research Consultant, ACMS, Wits University2023 to present
  • Tutor, MA Refugee Protection and Forced Migration StudiesRefugee Law Initiative, University of London
  • Senior Researcher, ACMS, Wits University2018 to 2023
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, ACMS and Wellcome Trust2014 to 2018
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Indian Studies in Africa, Wits2010 to 2014

Affiliations

  • Steering Committee MemberCollective Voices for Health Access
  • MemberAsijiki Coalition for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work
  • MemberWestern Cape Coalition Against Xenophobia
  • Supervisor and examinerHonours, Masters and PhD, Wits University
  • Peer reviewerInternational academic journals
Contact

Talk to me about your project

For research, evaluations, policy work, training or media requests, send a short note about what you need and your timeline.

Email
walker.independent.research@gmail.com
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Online
ORCID LinkedIn