In October, the UN refugee agency has been holding a series of meetings with refugees and asylum seekers in some 40 countries throughout the world. This is part of the Gender Age and Diversity (GAD) roll-out, a new global exercise designed to improve understanding of the concerns of refugees themselves. On six continents, teams made up of the same triumvirate of actors – UNHCR, NGO and government representatives – met with refugee and asylum seeker groups of both genders, and different ages and ethnic backgrounds, to hear what they had to say about their lives.