{"id":4160,"date":"2020-03-27T07:16:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T07:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justiceandpeace.nl\/?post_type=story&p=4160"},"modified":"2022-12-13T15:50:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T15:50:42","slug":"craig","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/justiceandpeace.nl\/en\/stories\/craig\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written by: Kimberley Ho
\n<\/em>Edited by: Olivia Ayes<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2015, Craig<\/a> was on the Croatian-Serbian border, watching tens of thousands of people walking in the cold\u2014the sky rainy, the ground muddy. He was doing field research in the Western Balkans, focusing on international politics of Europe\u2019s external migration controls. At the height of the crisis, Craig was in the middle of it, gaining in-depth understanding of forced migration<\/p>\n

At the time, European leaders were currying favour by claiming to get tougher on immigration, but back home in Craig\u2019s native Canada, Justin Trudeau won the federal elections by saying the opposite: the country\u2019s private sponsorship model relied on an increase of refugee resettlement numbers. \u201cWhat I noticed was the stark difference between Europe and Canada, who made this pledge to accept refugees. But, there wasn\u2019t really a plan for their integration,\u201d he shares.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n \n

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With a team at the University of Toronto, Craig Damian Smith developed an algorithm that will now be used to match \u201cWelcome Groups\u201d of five Dutch friends to newcomers in Justice and Peace\u2019s new pilot project Samen Hier.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Private and government sponsorships<\/h3>\n

Whilst Canada is known for successfully integrating privately-sponsored refugees, about half of the refugees who arrived were actually government-assisted. Selected based on criteria of vulnerability rather than family or community ties, the latter have much lower rates of integration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a privately-sponsored refugee, you arrive in Canada to a ready-made group of people who are responsible for your settlement and the first part of your integration. You arrive having at least 5 individuals dedicated to supporting you. If you arrive as a government-sponsored refugee, you go to an intake centre where a settlement agency is responsible for you. It can take a couple months for you to find housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media reports noted how the settlement sector\u2019s capacity was overburdened: people were stuck in hotels for months at a time without much help. Vulnerable without a support system, these refugees received even less help after having settled in a community. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive difference, and it really plays out in the integration outcomes in the two different categories of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\"\"\n\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Channelling public energy<\/h3>\n

Craig intervened to address this discrepancy. \u201cThe settlement sector was not only overburdened by the increasing numbers of refugees, but also overwhelmed by requests from the public to volunteer and be part of it,\u201d he notes. \u201cThere are very high barriers to privately sponsoring somebody. You have to raise money, deal with legal challenges, and accept full responsibility for these people. On top of that, it takes a really long time for it to happen. You can collect all your money together, sign all your documentation, have an apartment ready, and still wait over a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first time that the settlement sector became news and part of people\u2019s common vocabulary. \u201cBefore that, it was kind of a specialist issue. But the sector was also criticised because they didn\u2019t have the capacity to train all these volunteers and lacked meaningful systems to channel that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Establishing a solution<\/h3>\n

So when he returned to Toronto, Craig pulled together people he knew in the community. \u201cWe started the Together Project with the goal to create a venue to channel that will<\/em>, to give people that opportunity and connect them meaningfully with others. The project emulated the private sponsorship model but with low barriers to entry in terms of legal and financial requirements. It also gave us the room to give volunteers more training and support than private sponsors normally get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Together

Photo of the Together Project<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea was simple: help people get housing and settled in their communities. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people moving into communities, but not a lot of venues for everyday people to meet their neighbours. The project focuses on community events to break down the social isolation that a lot of resettled people face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project focuses on community events to break down the social isolation that a lot of resettled people face.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He draws his motivation for bringing people together and increasing engagement from personal experience. \u201cI know a lot of people who have experienced displacement. A lot of my friends who arrived in Canada as refugees when they were young shared a similar story: \u2018I wish we had some Canadians to help us out when we first got here. That would have made a lot of difference\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dangerous politics<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not just personal, it\u2019s political, too. At a time when xenophobic, anti-immigrant, right-wing populist sentiments around the world seem to be on the rise, Craig shares how Canada has been resilient to that type of politics. \u201cEven now, we have an election coming up, and the conservative party is trying to create this line about the dangers of asylum seekers\u2014and they\u2019re being laughed at. It\u2019s so silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because a large percentage of Canadians has direct experience with refugees, as friends, family members, or in their community, Craig finds it\u2019s something you don\u2019t really see in Europe. \u201cThe understanding of what integration is in Europe is predominantly what we in Canada would call assimilation. It\u2019s not that we change together over time, but that you become Dutch. You become German. You become part of a fixed-identity category. In such a context it\u2019s just too easy for a xenophobic narrative to work. It\u2019s a type of politics that is dangerous for refugees, society, global governance, and world order in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn such a context it\u2019s just too easy for a xenophobic narrative to work. It\u2019s a type of politics that is dangerous for refugees, society, global governance, and world order in general.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Data-driven approach<\/h3>\n

Simply bringing people together wasn\u2019t enough. Craig notes how everything we know and say about Canada\u2019s long history of successful refugee integration, and the differences between privately-sponsored and government-assisted refugees, is very anecdotal without much scientific evidence to explain those differences. One thing we do know, however, is that much of the success can be attributed to the established social networks that refugees arrive into.<\/p>\n

So together with a team of colleagues at the University of Toronto, Craig developed an algorithm that will now be used to match \u201cWelcome Groups\u201d to newcomers in Justice and Peace\u2019s new pilot project Samen Hier<\/strong>, emphasising a data-driven approach that is much-needed in the European context where governments are faced with a challenge to ensure integration of refugees into their societies.<\/p>\n

\"Welkom

Photo: One of the groups of Samen Hier The Hague.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe know there are groups of newcomers that are in need of social networks, and that there are groups of people in communities willing to lend a hand,\u201d Craig shares. In the pilot, all members of a Welcome Group will be asked to answer a number of questions about their background and expectations, and the newcomers will do the same. \u201cThis programme and the algorithm will give us a venue to translate that into the best match possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the pilot, integration results like language skills and labour market participation will be measured, along with the refugees\u2019 feelings about Dutch society and their self-sufficiency. \u201cIn the true sense of the word, this is a pilot: we\u2019ll learn from it. We (scientists) know a lot about the importance of social networks, but so far we haven\u2019t been able to isolate causal relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

He elaborates further, mentioning how little is known about the effect of specific characteristics such as social networks, or about the different outcomes such as language acquisition, labour market participation, or even health. \u201cIn Samen Hier, we\u2019ll collect a broad range of data from participating refugees and follow up with them during the pilot, so that we\u2019ll be able to gather insights for integration results.\u201d In the long term, the algorithm will determine what does and does not work for integration.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Samen Hier is currently in four Dutch cities: Almere, Haarlem, The Hague, and Rotterdam.<\/p><\/div>\n

Changing the narrative<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe algorithm helps us do two things: it lets us try to make the best possible matches without human bias, and it gives us\u2014and I can get academic about it\u2014a set of independent variables from which we can benchmark success and with which we can understand differences in outcomes. It\u2019s empirical validation of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, the algorithm shouldn\u2019t be seen as a driving force. Whilst it does provide an evidence-based approach on changing and fixing the refugee crisis, Craig notes, \u201cEverything starts with community and individuals.\u201d He continues, \u201cTo those who are considering taking part in a Welcome Group: you\u2019re not signing up with some Canadian academic\u2019s algorithm. You\u2019re signing up with an established, progressive NGO that can support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Improving the integration of newcomers is not just about volunteering, it\u2019s about engagement: social networks and community engagement are powerful tools. It\u2019s not easy for newcomers to come into contact with locals, yet contact with ordinary people is what they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really want to learn about others and meet them in person so that they\u2019re not just some faceless other.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI think people want a chance. People really want to learn about others and meet them in person so that they\u2019re not just some faceless Other. If you give them the opportunity to do that, create a venue for them, help them be the best volunteers they can be, then people are going to make friends. Over time that story can help change the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Samen Hier<\/a> or Craig Damian Smith<\/a> by following the links.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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