Integration and How We Facilitate it

Abstract

The paper examines, in a comparative way, the situation of refugees settled in Italy and the Netherlands. It examines how refugees themselves perceive their social condition in the two contrasting `models' of integration in Italy and the Netherlands and how they define integration success and develop strategies to achieve their goals. The narratives of refugees explored in this paper documents that integration, as it is perceived and desired by the refugees themselves, is both about its functional aspects and about social participation in the wider community. These aspects of integration consist of sets of overlapping processes that take place differently in various spheres of the receiving society and have various outcomes. It is argued that policy should recognize this complexity and acknowledge refugees as social actors rather than turning them into policy objects in order to facilitate integration in each of these sub-sectors.

Negotiating Refugee Empowerment(s) in Resettlement Organizations

“…Theorizing has increasingly argued that resettlement interventions must recognize refugees as social actors with differentiated needs and goals (Hynes, 2003). Refugees can and should be considered primary social actors with their own knowledges, voices and goals in resettlement (Hynes, 2003;Korac, 2003;Rajaram, 2002). However, Rogers and Singhal (2003) simultaneously argue that unempowered individuals require external communication help -often in the form of a trainer or community organizer -to become empowered.…”

“…My primary method of data collection was through in-depth semi-structured interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 2004). As Korac (2003) explains, "qualitative interviewing is an important way of learning from refugees because it permits fuller expression of their experiences in their own terms" (p. 53). My interview protocol consisted of open-ended questions designed to encourage both staff and refugee-clients to elaborate on their experiences related to empowerment in nonprofit organizations.…”

Mixed-sex in sport for development: a pragmatic and symbolic device. The case of touch rugby for forced migrants in Rome

“…4 Therefore, Italian policies on migrants and notably refugees were still non-existent or largely inadequate up until the late 1990s (Korac 2001(Korac , 2003. 5 Following a series of reception projects randomly activated at the local level, a more integrated and organic system was created in the early 2000s through a network of reception centres spread around the country, enabling the hosting of 26,432 forced migrants between 2002(Marchetti 2014.…”

Constraints and Facilitators for Successful Integration: How Bureaucratic Contacts Affects Migrants’ Pathways

“…'Successful integration' is hence conceptualized in terms of perceived success, as this is something that suits well with the grounded approach we followed. Following Korac (2003), we argue that such an approach is necessary because the majority of studies on migrant settlement tend to use a 'top-down' perspective on the concept of 'integration', which reflects in the lack of taking in account perceptions of immigrants on what integration is and how it is actually facilitated or counteracted. This is problematic, because migrant experiences are proved a significant indicator for adaptation to the new society (Montgomery, 1996).…”