Settling In Palmerston North and Feilding - Human Rights Commission

Refugee Services trains and provides teams of volunteers to work with new refugees for the first 6–12 months of their time in PalmerstonNorth. Refugee Services also plays a coordinating and advocacy role for refugees in Palmerston North and supports community building. Manyrefugees are initially reliant on their own communities for information, advice and support and the capacity of these communities to offer thatsupport is now growing. For some refugee communities, meeting their spiritual needs in a small New Zealand city can prove very challenging.Priority issues for former refugees 20 often include:• Language and communications barriers and a lack of interpreter services• Barriers to employment and training due to language issues, disrupted education, lack of confidence and employer discrimination• Complex health issues requiring a collaborative approach, wrap-around services and specialist attention• Building capability and leadership within their communities• Developing cohesive pathways and opportunities to participate and contribute meaningfully to their new communities.Recent DevelopmentsOver the last couple of years, and with the support of Refugee Services, the Multicultural Centre and others, each of the different former refugeecommunities in Palmerston North has been working hard to settle into Palmerston North, to establish and strengthen their own communitynetworks and to contribute to local activities and cultural events. More recently, these groups have come together to establish a ‘Forum ofFormer Refugees’. This is a significant development enabling the different groups to pool their resources and expertise, share their stories andexperiences and exchange information and ‘tips’ about their new home. Some of the recent activity undertaken by the Forum has been:• Sending representatives to attend and contribute to a National Conference of Refugees• Meeting with Te Papa staff to discuss and contribute to a future Youth Refugee project• Organising and participating in a very successful event in Palmerston North to celebrate World Refugee Day.2.5 Common Ground - Community Outcomes and newcomeraspirationsBoth the Palmerston North City Council and the Manawatu District Council facilitate consultation processes within their respective communitiesto find out what things are most important to people and to develop community outcomes around these. These outcomes belong to thecommunity and they are for everyone – organisations, groups and individuals to work towards. It is interesting to highlight these communityoutcomes within the context of this report, as there is a high level of intersection and alignment between these wider community priorities andthe issues raised by refugees and migrants. Accordingly it will be important to link any ongoing Settling In work with existing or new initiativesthat support the achievement of the Community Outcomes.Palmerston North Community OutcomesThe community outcomes for Palmerston North are that:• People have lots of fun things to do• People feel safe• Businesses grow here and people have lots of job opportunities• People can move easily around Palmerston North• Palmerston North’s physical infrastructure is reliable• Palmerston North is attractive, clean and green• The community is supportive and people and organisations worktogether• People are well-housed and healthy• People have lots of learning opportunities.Manawatu District Community OutcomesIndian/Sri Lankan Focus Group at FeildingCommunity Outcomes for Manawatu district:• A vital community that is cohesive and characterised by community involvement.This includes:– Strong leadership: leadership that is accountable and visionary,taking a long-term view– Caring communities: taking care of the more vulnerable members of the community through a range of services– Employment opportunities: attracting high-qualityprofessionals and trades people to the district– Youth participation: youth involvement in decision making;employment opportunities for youth; and a greater variety of leisure resources.SETTLING IN PALMERSTON NORTH AND FEILDING• A community that has access to effective services.This includes:20Identified by Refugee Services and others working with former refugees19