SRV’s and a
model for
resolving
strategic,
national and
local
settlement
issues
Ahmed Tani
Chairperson
(Canterbury Refugee
Council).
Overview of SRV
• Strengthening Refugee Voices (SRV) initiative is a
formal platform for refugee background
communities to be informed of, and have their
views communicated on the key issues and
challenges associated with refugee resettlement
in New Zealand.
• SRV includes members of different refugee
background communities.
Who We Are
 We
are a dynamic network of people who
are committed to engage with government
and non government agencies working in
the resettlement area on strategic, national
and local resettlement issues.
 The
initiative is made up of: Auckland
Refugee Community Coalition, Waikato
Refugee Forum, ChangeMakers Refugee
Forum, and Canterbury Refugee Council.
Our Achievements
 SRV
has provided communities both new and old
with a meaningful and collective way of “having a
say”.
 SRV
is a key channel through which communities
are informed about policy changes.
 SRV
meetings enable agencies to hear directly
from communities.

SRV is based on a two-way system:

Communities feed information to their SRV
representatives, who feed it to the refugee group to
pass on to NGOs and the government.

The refugee groups feed information from NGOs and
the government to SRV representatives, who pass it to
their communities. Also, we get information from the
grassroots to pass to the government departments.

The reach of SRV goes beyond formal community
membership. SRVs are drawing in individuals/small
groups from within communities that may not be
formally organised.

SRV fosters wider relationships. For example, the
Family Reunite Trust.

SRV consultation directly informs the content of the
annual National Refugee Resettlement Forum (NRRF).
Types of
Raised
Settlement
Issues
 Housing
 Employment
 Language and Cultural barriers
 Health, particularly the elderly and women
The Future SRV model
 SRV
needs to fit with New Zealand Refugee
Resettlement Strategy (NZRRS).
 Engage
with service delivery agencies and sustain
effective links.
 Strengthen
relationships
between
SRV
management teams and their community leaders.
 Strategies
Issues which have multiple agency
significance (e.g. ESOL).
 National
Issues which have single agency and
many different impacts (e.g. Housing).
 Local
Issues which have single agency / localised
impact.
Case Study: Canterbury Refugee
Council’s handling of settlement
issues
 Canterbury
Refugee Council has in the past
resolved and discussed many settlement issues
both with agencies and with refugee communities
in areas like elderly, youth and education.
 For
example, Health Professional Forum, Refugee
Elderly Persons forum and so forth.
 Recent
project done by the Canterbury Refugee
Council is Summerz end held on 5th April, 2014.
The programme was an attempt to connect
youths
from
mainstream
and
diverse
backgrounds.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ_NunJfBwo