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The Way We Work
Who do we work with?
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Individuals and communities from refugee, migrant and asylum seeker backgrounds.
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Host communities, mana whenua, other organisations, and government departments to facilitate integration and raise awareness of the barriers to successful settlement for former refugees and migrants.
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Employers, businesses, and industry to break down barriers to employment, and to create better work and career opportunities for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers.
Who can access our services?
What are our goals?
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To increase people’s self-reliance, hope and coping skills and reduce their vulnerabilities.
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To enhance local and sustainable community contributions for refugee background communities.
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To reduce any barriers, such as structural, practice, ideological and political factors, causing disadvantage for refugee and migrant background communities.
Global context
of our work
There are more than 103 million displaced people in the world, 32.5 million of those refugees, and approximately 110,000 resettlement places annually – fewer than 8% of those in need for resettlement.
More than half of the world's displaced people live in cities rather than camps and 85% of them reside in developing countries, where resources are already stretched.
1 in 77 people are forced to flee. 80% are women and children.
From: UNHCR - Refugee Statistics
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to resettling 1,500 refugees through the government-led Refugee Quota programme as well as complementary pathways such as the Refugee Family Support category (600 places per year) and currently the extended pilot of the Community Refugee Sponsorship category (150 places over three years).
What is our 'why'?
We strive to provide better opportunities for economic and social participation for former refugees and migrants in Aotearoa New Zealand, and overall help create a sense of place and belonging – tūrangawaewae in te reo Māori.
How do we work?
Overall, our work is underpinned by our core values of diversity, integrity, compassion, innovation, and respect as well as our principles of humanity, hope and dignity.
To be effective, the core of our work focuses on creating tūrangawaewae, a sense of place or belonging, by
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connecting former refugees with host communities (humanity)
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maintaining a focus on a brighter future (hope)
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supporting individual independence (dignity)
Our focus is on supporting individual wellbeing, promoting community cohesion, and driving global change. We treat everyone with respect, listen to their needs and apply the following principles to all our work:
Manaakitanga (act towards others with respect, kindness, compassion, and love)
Whanaungatanga (strengthen reciprocal mana-enhancing relationships, connectedness and to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion)
Kotahitanga (unity: sharing the earth, extending our āwhina (support) to everyone, learning from one another always with reciprocity at the centre)
Tino rangatiratanga (self-agency)
Four pillars of our work
There are four key pillars that form the foundation of our work:
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Coaching
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Mentoring | Networking
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Culturally informed stakeholder engagement
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Monitoring and evaluation – Monitoring outcomes for refugees and local communities
Coaching
Our coaching model recognises that communities and people require individualised support based on their situation, goals, and aspirations. A coach facilitates conversations with you – either an individual or a community - to identify and achieve your goals. Coaching is about learning, discussing, and developing strategies, and reflecting rather than teaching and telling you what to do. This model is strength-based, mana enhancing and focuses on your right to make your own decisions, an individual’s right to tino rangatiratanga self-agency.
How do we do it?
For example, in our Employment and Career Assistance Projects, we focus on employment self-agency which puts a focus on you/the jobseeker to work with you on developing a plan, identifying the resources you need and working on strategies to maintain motivation and persistence – working alongside you on your employment and careers journey. To learn more, visit our Services page.
Mentoring | Networking
We know that the lack of access to professional and social networks can create critical barriers for you to access employment or implement long-term career goals. These networks play a strong role in facilitating employment opportunities, especially when entering the workforce. We can support you in your career planning by helping you build professional networks within a chosen industry or employer that helps you build industry specific knowledge and insights.
How do we do it?
For example, through coaching and mentoring, we can support jobseekers to build their network, including attendance at networking or training events, finding connections on LinkedIn, and exploring secondary connections within their social networks. HOST also works with industry groups and employers to hold networking events such as Meet the Talent which facilitate these connections. HOST has also done some work with employers to raise awareness about access and equity issues for former refugees and to open work experience opportunities. To learn more about these services and how they might help you in your job and careers planning, find out more here.HOST acknowledges and honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi and commits to its principles of partnership, participation, and protection. HOST places a strong focus on culturally appropriate communication and practices. Current HOST team members in Aotearoa are all from refugee and migrant backgrounds and draw on their experiences and expertise to support local engagement. We have been working in settlement and displacement contexts for many years and are focused on addressing needs within a local, place-based context. Our values of respect and diversity ensure that we actively consider multiple ways of knowing and doing in our work.
How do we do it?
For example, we can provide intercultural competency and communication training and have worked with employers in the past who wanted to ensure better inclusion of ethnic community background staff. The HOST team is also on a journey of deepening their learning about te reo, tikanga and te ao Māori, and is incorporating this learning into their work, while also reaching out to tangata whenua for stronger engagement and relationships.
Culturally informed stakeholder engagement
Monitoring outcomes
We monitor all programmes to adapt and change our delivery to best meet communities’ needs. In all our work we invite regular opportunities for feedback to ensure we deliver a quality service. We look for opportunities to collaborate with other stakeholders across all sectors to ensure a whole of society approach to refugee settlement. We work closely with industry, community, and employer partners to deliver strong employment participation outcomes for these communities.
How do we do it?
For example, as the umbrella organisation for the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme, we collaborate with and coach community groups and organisations across Aotearoa to welcome sponsored refugees into their region and work with the wider community and mana whenua on ensuring successful settlement outcomes.Our work is underpinned by our core values of innovation, compassion, diversity, integrity and respect as well as our principles of humanity, hope and dignity.