MEETING THE NEEDS AND CHALLENGES OF MIGRANTS AND FORMER REFUGEES IN THE NELSON AND TASMAN REGIONS

In pursuing their purpose of supporting migrants, former refugees, and people from minority ethnicities with their settlement processes, the Nelson Multicultural Council contracted the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at Victoria University of Wellington to conduct a series of workshops with migrants and former refugees in the Nelson and Tasman regions. The objectives of the workshops were to identify the needs and challenges faced by newcomers and to probe potential solutions about how their needs could best be met. To these ends 11 workshops were conducted in Nelson, Tahunanui, Stoke, Motueka and Golden Bay between 12 August and 30 November, 2017. One hundred and twenty (46 males and 74 females, aged 14-79 years) migrants and former refugees participated in the workshops. The participants came from diverse backgrounds, most commonly from Asia (43%) and Europe (20%), followed by South and Central America (14%) and the Pacific (11%) with smaller numbers from Africa, the Middle East, North America and Australia. The largest national groups were Bhutanese (n = 14), Colombians (n = 12), Indians (n = 9), Germans (n = 8) and Samoans (n=8). Participants had resided in New Zealand from less than a year to 43 years with the overall average length of residence being 7.5 years. Twenty-seven percent of the participants were students, 60% were employed, and 21% of the participants self-identified as being from a refugee background. The participants engaged in three major activities in the workshops. First, they identified key needs and challenges in response to the questions: What are the major challenges faced by migrants and former refugees in your region? What is required to settle successfully and make New Zealand your home? Second, needs and challenges were subjected to SWOT analyses, where participants assessed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with meeting their prioritised needs. Finally, on the basis of the SWOT analyses, participants generated recommendations about how best to move forward in addressing the needs and challenges for migrants and former refugees in the Nelson and Tasman regions.