HARDA and UNSW

The Horn of Africa refugee settlement survey.

HARDA is a partner organisation with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in this survey.

The specific aims of the project are:

•  To develop indicators and benchmarks for successful refugee settlement across the key areas of education, health, social integration and social cohesion from the perspectives of refugees, service providers and policy makers; and
• To identify the role that settlement services, mainstream services, the voluntary and community sector and refugee communities play in facilitating successful settlement, including examples of best practice, gaps and ineffective service provision.

The application of sophisticated social research and development methodology will enable researchers to determine more precisely and in more detail than conventional focus groups or questionnaires what the refugees themselves rank as their needs and priorities. This will be based on the personal experiences of hundreds of refugees who will be contacted, both in structured community consultations and in many one-on-one interviews in urban, regional and rural Australia.  The final report will be a valuable document in planning services and meeting needs on a targeted, cost effective basis.

The first stage, a pilot project involving the background research, ethics committee approval and interviews with Horn of Africa refugees in suburban Sydney, was conducted during March through May 2008. The draft report was completed for HARDA’s comment by early June and presented to a meeting of NGOs in Geneva, under the aegis of the UNHCR, in July.

Stage one of the survey was funded by the generosity of the Sisters of Charity Foundation and the Lidcombe Catholic Club, through the Edmund Rice Foundation. In kind support was provided by The Centre for Refugee Research (University of New South Wales), Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), the Refugee Council of Australia and the Auburn Council.

Stage two; involving further consultations in the Sydney basin and in regional New South Wales in 2008-2009, will be funded by a grants from STARTTS and the Parramatta Leagues Club.

This project has been undertaken in conjuction with:

• UNSW
• The Centre for Refugee Research
• Auburn Council
• Refugee Coucil of Australia
• Sisters of Charity
• STARTTS