Other Programs

At the core of all our work is the idea of everyday citizens should be invited and empowered to lead in welcoming and supporting the integration of refugee newcomers, in order to expand and improve opportunities for refugees.  

In addition to the CRISP, we’ve been involved in testing and developing a range of other approaches that build on this central idea. 

Refugee Student Settlement Pathway

CRSA is currently working with Refugee Education Australia, Skill Path Australia and the tertiary education sector to mobilise, train and support campus sponsor groups as part of a small initial pilot of a Refugee Student Settlement Pathway (RSSP), which CRSA has helped to co-design. 

If you are a tertiary sector representative or what to become involved in a campus supporter group, please contact info@refugeesponsorship.org.au and we can point you in the right direction. 

The students for this pilot program have already been selected so unfortunately, we are not able to receive applications from prospective students.

Work + Welcome: Support for skilled refugee migrants

Work + Welcome is an exciting collaboration between CRSA and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) that brings together employer-sponsored pathways with the community sponsorship model of settlement support.  

The launch of Work + Welcome formalises and expands CRSA’s work with TBB to train and support community sponsor groups to provide holistic settlement and integration support to those arriving through the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot. Under this pilot, TBB matches skilled refugees with companies and businesses in need of their skills. Through this, employers gain valuable talent and displaced people have a chance to rebuild their careers and lives. 

Through Work + Welcome, CRSA and TBB are working to: 

  • Secure sustainable outcomes for both refugees and Australian employers 
  • Document and strengthen work that’s already making a difference 
  • Support the growth and permanence of labour mobility pathways 
  • Demonstrate the power and flexibility of community sponsorship

Resources on Work + Welcome

  • Slides from the launch event – these contain an overview of Work + Welcome, including information on eligibility criteria for candidates and employers, and processes involved.  
  • Read a case study on how Animal Logic teamed up with a group of local volunteers to provide wrap-around support to two newly arrived employees, both women from Afghanistan, and their families (page 4). 
  • For more general information on the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot, visit the TBB Australia page.

Information for employers:  

    Group Mentorship Program (2020-2023)

    Launched in June 2020, the Group Mentorship Program (GMP) connected refugees who had already arrived in Australia, but needed additional support, with a trained group of local volunteers.  

    The GMP was developed as a proof of concept to show government and policy makers that a Canadian style ‘community sponsorship’ program could succeed in Australia.  When we designed and launched a small-scale test program during the pandemic in 2020, we never anticipated how helpful this model would be, when Australia accepted more than 4,000 Afghan evacuees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Through the GMP were able to mobilise significant additional integration support for evacuees using this hybrid caseworker/community supporter group model.  

    Mentor groups provided 6-12 months of support, connection and friendship to mentees building the foundations for their new life in Australia. CRSA approved, trained and supported mentor groups and connected them with a refugee household in their area who had been referred into the GMP. Most of these refugees had some level of support through a government-funded caseworker but benefitted enormously from the additional support of a ‘group of five’ from within the local community. 

    With the introduction of the new, federal government-backed Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) in 2022, the GMP had achieved its initial purpose and CRSA ceased accepting new applications. New groups were instead encouraged to participate in the CRISP.  

    Learnings from the GMP have been incorporated into CRSA’s work as it rolls out the CRISP.  

    More information about the GMP can be found here.

    “It’s really just being there as a friend and support, it’s quite an easy thing for me to do, I speak the language and I know the culture but it means so much to them because they don’t. I was their first mate here so I was able to help them.”

     

    Rebecca – Group Mentor