'Paving the Way' Handbook - ICMC

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Within any given municipality, consideration should be given to these factors on a local
level. Building support in municipalities to engage in resettlement is essential to establishing
flexible and effective programmes. Therefore financial compensation is an important aspect
of placement policies.
Part I - Resettlement and Refugee Integration
Resettled refugees are often placed in smaller communities away from the main economic
centres. Research by some countries 32 , has reported that placement in smaller communities
makes connecting with the new community easier and is more conducive to the building
of social networks. However, scattering refugees in isolated areas with limited community
support and employment opportunities can be problematic and lead to secondary
migration. However, placement considerations also depend on the circumstances of each
refugee. For example, a single mother with young children may prefer living in a smaller
community, if she is not immediately concerned with finding employment and her main
concern is schooling for the children. On the contrary, someone looking for university education
or skilled employment may struggle in a rural area, which can offer limited options
for either. Similarly, a person needing specialised medical treatment will need to be placed
in a city that has such services. It is also important that refugees are able to settle in one
place, and are not forced to keep moving due to poorly planned initial placement. Frequent
changes of address or of communities, makes it more difficult to integrate and promotes
so-called ‘rootless identities’.
Countries are faced often with the dilemma that where there is available low-cost housing is
exactly where there are no jobs, which is why local people have moved away. More research
into the diverse integration
“My daughter particularly suffered from
experiences of refugees
the frequent moving, which negatively
placed in different areas is
impacted on her school results. When
needed 33 to assist governments
and municipalities, in
she started education she was placed at
grammar school level, but after two other
developing a more holistic
changes she was advised to follow technical
approach in their refugee
education. Since we have obtained our own
placement taking account
house, things have stabilised and her school
of the aspirations and specific
needs of the refugees
results have improved”
Woman from Iraq, living in the Netherlands since 2006,
concerned.
Netherlands Integration Barometer, p.24
32 Jeanine Klaver and Inge van der Welle (2009), VluchtelingenWerk IntegartieBarometer 2009- Een onderzoek naar
de integratie van vluchtelingen in Nederland, Dutch Council for Refugees- Vluchtelingen Werk, Rotterdam.p27.
33 Bevelander, P., Hagström, M., Rönnqvist, S., (2009) Resettled and Included? The employment integration of
resettled refugees in Sweden, Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM), Malmö
University, Sweden, p23.