Pathways to employment for migrants and refugees? The case of social enterprise

This paper examines the use of social enterprise – that is, not for personal profit businesses that have a strong social purpose- to support training and employment pathways for migrants and refugees facing multiple forms of exclusion. Drawing on an evaluation of a program that supports seven social enterprises in the Australian state of Victoria, the study finds that social enterprise affords unique local opportunities for economic and social participation for the program’s participants. Nevertheless, there are limits to the impacts of programs that mediate transitions within an increasingly flexible labour market without redressing the broader social determinants of labour market segmentation.

Providing health services to migrants and refugees settling in Victoria, Australia: an analysis of the complexity, cost and policy implications for public health

The aim of the research was to identify factors related to the increased costs of providing health services to clients from a non-English speaking background (NESB), using a cross-sectional analysis of the administrative records of clients using community health services in the Northern Metropolitan region of Melbourne for the 2001/2002 financial year. The higher cost of providing services to NESB clients was influenced by four factors: increased consultation time, group attendance to an appointment, increased interpreting costs and the type of service provider. Family members and multilingual staff play a significant role in providing informal interpreting services or low-cost support for NESB consultants, and these activities should receive appropriate support. Additional funding is needed to support interpreting requirements when dealing with the health needs of NESB clients.

The impact of a parenting intervention in Australia among migrants and refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, and Burundi : results from the African migrant parenting program

African migrants and refugee families who resettle in high-income countries such as Australia face many challenges. Negotiating parenting in a new culture is one of the most pressing challenges that is faced by most African migrant and refugee parents. As a consequence of the new cultural environment reflecting values and practices that may seem inconsistent with traditional parenting from countries of origin, differing acculturation rates of parents as compared to their children may lead to difficulties and challenges. An eight-session parenting program for African migrant and refugee parents living in Melbourne was evaluated. Thirty-nine families participated in the program, which involved pre-test and post-test measures of parenting domains, using the Bavolek and Keene (1999) revised Adult–Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2). Exposure to the program was related to positive changes in parental expectations of children, attitudes towards corporal punishment, and restriction of children’s access to food. The program facilitated positive change in almost all parenting domains. In light of these findings, recommendations are made for policy and future programs.

Aspects of parenting and family functioning associated with obesity in adolescent refugees and migrants from African backgrounds living in Australia

Objective: To investigate the relationship between parenting style and family functioning, and BMI, among adolescent migrants and refugees from African countries.

Method: A total of 104 parents and their adolescent offspring completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest, and anthropometric data were collected from them.

Results: Parents reported higher maternal involvement, lower levels of paternal involvement, higher levels of positive parenting, greater use of ‘other’ (non-corporal) discipline styles, greater satisfaction and better communication than did their offspring. Parents also reported greater family cohesion and flexibility than adolescents, and saw their families as more enmeshed and more rigid. Parenting style and family functioning were not strong predictors of BMI according to either report. For adolescents, inconsistent discipline and lack of parental supervision accounted for significant variance in BMI.

Conclusions: Inconsistent discipline and lack of parental supervision may be related to adolescent BMI. Further studies with larger samples are required to confirm these relationships with the view to informing obesity prevention programs for this target population.

Implications: Prevention or intervention programs aimed at reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity need to consider parenting style in their design.

Migrants and the Hungarian Society. Dignity, Justice and Civic Integration

The aim of the research was to explore the integration, political and civic participation of "third country nationals residing in Hungary" (hereafter, immigrants or migrants). How immigrants and Hungarian society interpret political and civic activity was examined, along with how this is correlated to their material, cultural and social resources (using such concepts as identity and action potential, as well as the sense of fairness and dignity). The samples do represent Hungarian society and those people staying in Hungary with immigration or residence permits/ permanent residence (collectively labeled as immigrants). It should be stressed that the immigrants we studied are not refugee camp dwellers or foreigners employed illegally in Hungary. Though themselves faced with a lot of problems, the immigrants we interviewed are in a far more favorable position than refugees or aliens employed in the grey economy. This is an important fact to be remembered when reading about the research.

Schooling and refugees : engaging with the complex trajectories of globalisation

This paper examines the complexities associated with educating a mobile and politically marginalised population, refugee students, in the state of Queensland, Australia. Historically, schools have been national institutions concerned with social reproduction and citizenship formation with a focus on spatially fixed populations. While education authorities in much of the developed world now acknowledge the need to prepare students for a more interconnected world of work and opportunity, they have largely failed to provide systemic support for one category of children on the move - refugees. We begin this paper with a discussion of forced migration and its links with ‘globalisation’. We then present our research findings about the educational challenges confronting individual refugee youth and schools in Queensland. This is followed with a summary of good practice in refugee education. The paper concludes with a discussion of how nation-states might play a more active role in facilitating transitions to citizenship for refugee youth.

Fostering wellbeing of immigrants and refugees? Evaluating the outcomes of work integration social enterprise

Work integration social enterprises (WISE) seek to create employment and pathways to employment for those highly disadvantaged in the labour market. This chapter examines the effects of WISE on the wellbeing of immigrants and refugees experiencing multiple barriers to economic and social participation. Drawing on an evaluation of a programme that supports seven such enterprises in the Australian state of Victoria, the effects of involvement for individual participants and their communities are examined. The study finds that this social enterprise model affords unique local opportunities for economic and social participation for groups experiencing significant barriers to meaningful employment. These opportunities have a positive impact on individual and community-level wellbeing. However, the financial costs of the model are high relative to other employment programmes, which is consistent with international findings on intermediate labour market programmes. The productivity costs of WISE are also disproportionately high compared to private sector competitors in some industries. This raises considerable dilemmas for social enterprise operators seeking to produce social value and achieve business sustainability while bearing high productivity costs to fulfil their mission. Further, the evaluation illuminates an ongoing need to address the systemic and structural drivers of health and labour market inequalities that characterize socio-economic participation for immigrants and refugees.

Constructions of asylum seekers and refugees in Australian political discourse

Immigration to Australia has long been the focus of negative political interest. In recent times, the proposal of exclusionary policies such as the Malaysia Deal in 2011 has fuelled further debate. In these debates, Federal politicians often describe asylum seekers and refugees as ‘illegal’, ‘queue jumpers’, and ‘boat people’. This paper investigates how the political discourse constructs asylum seekers and refugees during debates surrounding the Malaysia Deal in the Federal Parliament of Australia in 2011. Hansard Parliamentary debates were analysed to identify the underlying themes and constructions that permeate political discourse about asylum seekers and refugees. This paper argues that a dichotomous characterisation of legitimacy pervades their construction with this group constructed either as legitimate humanitarian refugees or as illegitimate ‘boat arrivals’. These constructions result in the misrepresentation of asylum seekers as illegitimate, undermining their right to protection under Australia’s laws and international obligations. This construction also represents a shift in federal political discourse from constructing asylum seekers as a border or security threat, towards an increasing preoccupation with this categorisation of people as legitimate, or illegitimate.

Developing an acculturation and resilience scale for use with culturally and linguistically diverse populations

Australian multicultural society consists of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrants, refugees and international students from different parts of the world. Despite hardships, these individuals show resilience and adapt successfully. However, there is a dearth of scales measuring these positive developments and personal strengths. The study describes the development and evaluation of a scale measuring resilience and acculturation of CALD people. Items were generated for the Acculturation and Resilience Scale (AARS).The AARS and other acculturation and psychological distress scales were administered to 225 CALD community members. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in a 27-item AARS with three subscales: Acculturation, Resilience, and Spirituality. The three-factor structure was subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 515 international students. The factor structure stability was upheld by the second sample. The psychometric properties were investigated using the two samples and demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and divergent validity. The scale addresses a major gap in the literature and can be used to measure the positive acculturation and resilience of the newly arrived and relocated individuals. Further research is warranted to examine the scale’s psychometric properties with migrants and refugees from a range of ethnic communities.

Migrants' use of the Internet in re-settlement

The project is a qualitative and ethnographic study investigating how the internet is used by migrants from cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups. It examines how internet use assists the re- settlement process in Brisbane, Australia. The project aims to support strategies and initiatives in the successful re-settlement of migrants from CALD groups into urban localities. It has 2 main foci: • To find out how and what type of online information and services are used by migrants and what are the barriers to accessing the information. Information and resources about transport, housing, health, social services, education and other information is essential for successful re-settlement. • In what ways is the internet is used as a social medium, to communicate with friends and family in homeland countries and connect with people in local regions, in ways that might help to combat social isolation.