Community Engagement for Refugees: Building inclusive communities for refugees
Whether it’s due to dire economic circumstances, war, or political persecution, every year many people are forced to leave their homes in hopes of finding a better life abroad.
Depending on what their education levels are, some asylum seekers have a good command of the local language of their host country, while others struggle even after spending twenty plus years in their target country.
Have you ever hitched a cab in a major metropolitan city such as New York or Los Angeles, and your driver was a first-generation immigrant foreigner?
Do you find it odd when they speak English with a thick Persian or Indian accent even though you’ve learned through small talk that they’ve been patrolling the streets of their city in their taxis for decades?
Sometimes, poor integration into the host country’s society can be blamed on the immigrants not bothering to learn a language, or simply not being linguistically talented.
At other times, however, the problem can be that the local authorities are not investing enough effort into integrating newly-arrived refugees into the local culture and society.
In this article, we’re going to talk about community engagement for refugees and how local governments can help newly-arriving foreigners to settle into their new life more easily.
How to ensure refugees integrate in the target country
From the 1950s to today, an in-depth 2022 study suggests that the rough estimate is that there are over 100 million internally displaced and international refugees worldwide. While arriving in a new country always means some teething problems initially, there are quite a few things that a local government can do to make this settling process less stressful.
Of course, the brunt of adjusting will have to be taken on by the refugees themselves, as the willingness to learn, adapt, and overcome adversity is the crucial starter pack bundle for making it in a new country.
When it comes to the local authorities, however, there are some steps that can be undertaken to help facilitate the assimilation process and make it as painless as possible.
Here are some of the most important actions that should be undertaken immediately.
Provide integration services ‘right off the boat’
Once a group of refugees lands on the shores of your country, the first matter to figure out is whether they’re staying for a longer period or not. It doesn’t make much sense investing in language classes and determining whether the diploma they received from their home country counts in yours.
That said, if you know that a refugee is going to be staying for a longer period, you might as well start early when it comes to integrating them into the society.
Right off the bat, what you can do is set up language courses. Representing possibly the biggest struggle for immigrants, the language barrier is often a tough one to overcome, so starting from day 1 can be of massive benefit.
Other actions you can undertake immediately also include civic integration courses, as well as skill assessments. Setting up questionnaires or hiring interviewers can be a great way to discover if one or more of your newly-arrived refugees know how to play the guitar, perform open-heart surgeries, or prepare killer paellas.
Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
Prevent segregation through dispersion
Chinatowns where no one speaks English, abandoned buildings with Dominican gangs, crime-ridden areas where there’s just one race and they’re all immigrants with no housing, the list of disaffected refugees living in crummy urban settings goes on.
Not all foreigner-heavy neighborhoods are necessarily poor or have a problem with criminality, but allowing refugees to stick together in large numbers and self-segregate is a shabby long-term immigration strategy.
As an immigrant, the task of learning the local language and assimilating into the local culture can appear daunting. For this reason, fresh off-the-boat refugees tend to flock together. The familiarity of their family and the presence of their countrymen on foreign soil can undoubtedly make the assimilation process more negotiable.
While it may seem cruel at first, intentionally separating large groups of immigrants that all come from the same country can help them assimilate faster and fit in better with their local community.
Just imagine how this would work in the case of the Big Apple – you can send one group of refugees to SoHo and the other to Williamsburg so they can open their own bicycle repair shop and discuss veganism with the locals. The third group can go to Hell’s Kitchen, the fourth can open up a dumpling stand with a red awning in Chinatown, and so on.
Adopting the strategy of spreading refugees throughout all parts of the city can make securing asylum and refugee protection in New York a much more fruitful endeavor.
Check refugee backgrounds and treat them accordingly
A highly skillful IT expert from Sweden emigrating to the US probably won’t need much in terms of support.
A goat herder from Afghanistan who doesn’t speak a lick of English, on the other hand, will probably need language lessons for starters, and then also an extensive help when it comes to accommodations, finding a job etc.
The education level of the refugees plays a major role here.
The higher the education, the more likely they will be to have at least some rudimentary grasp of English, and finding a job for them will be easier. Immigrants with limited education and who don’t speak English as well, or at all need to be treated with more care and given extended support.
Pay special attention to unaccompanied minors
One of the most sensitive refugee groups are unaccompanied minors.
While it is generally rare for minors to land in a foreign country with no one looking after them, it can happen – especially if they were running away from war, and left in a hurry with other fellow countrymen.
Typically, minors that fall into this category are past compulsory school age from 14-17, so simply enrolling them in a local school is not an option.
If these teenagers have little to no formal education, which is often the case, the best course of action would be to organize special programmes for them. Most crucially, they need to receive support from professional social workers, mental health counselors, career counselors, English language teachers, as well as social integration support.
Help asylum seekers likely to stay find work
Asylum seekers that come into a new country are largely in need of help and often cannot efficiently carry their own weight initially. This is what makes them easy targets for employers who want to undercut their wages, avoid taxes, or otherwise abuse them as under-minimum-wage cheap labor.
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
To prevent this, many local authorities prohibit newly-arrived refugees from working. Also, language barriers and other accompanying issues make it difficult for some of these refugees to find jobs right off the bat.
While protecting asylum seekers against abuse is definitely commendable, local authorities should also aim to introduce the ones likely to stay to work assignments sooner rather than later. You can start them off with volunteering or giving them part-time jobs until they’ve integrated enough and earned enough experience to go for a higher-paying full-time position.
Check their foreign qualifications
Sometimes refugees come equipped with all sorts of skills that can potentially be useful for your local economy.
Figuring out what refugees can be useful for the local economy can mean swatting two flies at once – you both help local business owners find educated workers and you help the refugees as well.
One of the problems that presents itself in this context would be foreign certifications and diplomas that are not always recognized in your country. Another issue can be that the refugee does not have any paperwork to prove their qualifications upon arrival.
For such instances, it is useful to set up special skills and education evaluation centers, where professionals in various fields can assess the asylum seekers’ abilities.
Help refugees deal with health & mental health issues
Many immigrants land on the shores of your country from remote, war-torn areas of the world. Others come running away from poverty, or political prosecution.
Ensuring the refugees who you welcome as asylum seekers go through health checkups upon arrival is of utmost importance.
Remember those old movies that depict Sicilians and Chinese workers crossing the pond to be greeted by physicians first and only then accepted into various immigration centers? This practice makes plenty of sense as diseases can spread quickly through unattended refugee areas.
Also, no less important is paying special attention to the refugees’ mental health states. To make refugees capable of working, integrating in the community, and building a new life in a new country, ensuring they are up to the great task before them mentally is a must.
Support local communities and humanitarian organizations
To help refugees more efficiently, the local communities also need to be helped by the government.
Setting up language-learning programmes, health-related facilities, and skills assessment stations are all crucial endeavors that cost a lot of money. Supporting the local government both financially and in terms of training and education is essential when it comes to making a refugee integration strategy work in the long run.
Giving grants to local employers and working closely with charities and volunteer organizations can be a great way to support the locals and give them an extra reason to engage more closely with the newly arrived refugees.
Conclusion
All in all, whether they’re running away from the threat of death and destruction because their country’s at war, or they’re simply looking for a new life abroad – being a refugee is a difficult experience.
Ensuring that all newly-arrived people are carefully vetted and medically checked is an important first move. Overcoming the language barrier, helping them get education and employment should be on the radar as the next step. Last but not least, assisting the refugees to fully settle with the local community is an all-important goal that takes years to accomplish, but that is essential for a successful integration.
