Empowering Refugee Communities: A Qualitative Analysis of a Grassroots Capacity-Building Model
Community integration is a key refugee resettlement policy objective. On the path to integration, refugees disproportionately suffer poverty, poor health, and acculturative stress. To empower and build capacity among refugee communities from the bottom-up, a University-community partnership was developed to address refugee needs utilizing community-building, social pedagogy, and technical assistance strategies. This model emphasized diverse grassroots refugee organizations designing and delivering culturally competent orientations to new arrivals. A promotora model developed indigenous leaders to deliver the cultural orientations to community members. The purpose of this study is to assess the experiences of the community with cultural orientations intended to promote integration as well as the ability of the model to educate refugees in the areas child welfare, personal and home hygiene, transportation and safety, and consumer education.
Methods
Qualitative data were gathered from Somali, Bhutanese, Burmese, and Congolese refugee communities. The sample included community leaders (n=5), indigenous cultural orientation trainers (n=31), and community members (n=35) who participated in pre- and post-test focus groups and key informant interviews. Data comprised the participants’ views of their community’s strengths and challenges, nature of cultural orientations delivered, their knowledge and skills related to cultural orientation topics, and their experiences with the orientations and promotora model. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results
Data indicated substantial capacity building in the partnering grassroots refugee organizations through their design and delivery of the cultural orientations; they conducted 468 cultural orientations, educating 1,424 refugee community members. Data analysis revealed that cultural orientation participants gained increased understanding of culturally appropriate child discipline methods, improved methods of dental hygiene, safe food storage practices, and improved home cleaning methods. Data also reflected that participants gained increased knowledge, skills, and confidence related to nutrition, grocery shopping, banking practices, and local traffic laws. For example, participants described the information as “very helpful and relevant, especially for new arrivals”, which “improved [our] living conditions”. Participants reported individual benefits such as enhanced confidence in facing challenges and improved decision-making. Participants further communicated increased receptivity and openness within their communities, noting specifically a positive sense of social change resulting from the cultural orientations. For example, participants expressed becoming “better acquainted with [our] community” and their “willingness and commitment to share with others in [our] community” and “to pass it on”.
Conclusions
Findings suggest the applicability of this model across diverse and resource-poor refugee communities to promote community integration and adaptation. Working with grassroots refugee organizations was an effective community practice strategy. The University-community partnership and promotora model built the capacity of refugee communities by strengthening refugee organizations and developing indigenous leaders. The focus on experiential learning through culturally competent orientations demonstrates utility of empowerment approaches to refugee resettlement, rather than traditional service delivery models. Social workers can apply this model in community practice interventions that build the capacity of grassroots communities, address refugees’ unique and often overlooked cultural competence needs, and to further the community integration of recently arrived refugees.