Settlement Services Research Articles

Are the needs of racialized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer newcomers in Newfoundland and Labrador being met? Preliminary findings from a focus group discussion with Canadian stakeholders

This qualitative case study explored whether the settlement and integration needs of racialized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) newcomers were being met. A total of eight stakeholders, representing either a settlement organization or an LGBTQ‐serving organization in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, participated in an invitation‐only focus group discussion. Informed by intersectionality theory and using thematic analysis of memos and triangulated arts‐informed visual recording, two overarching themes were identified: (i) challenges encountered in providing settlement and integration services; and (ii) solutions generated to improve their delivery. Preliminary findings suggested that the settlement needs of racialized LGBTQ newcomers were not being met; services were found to be sorely lacking; and settlement and LGBTQ providers lacked training, substantial knowledge, and resources to implement needed supports and services. However, stakeholders also envisioned the possibility of improved services for this population, such as adoption of an LGBTQ‐affirmative practice. Implications and recommendations for settlement practices, programs, and future research are discussed.Key Practitioner Message: • Settlement and LGBTQ service provider organizations must address current system inequities and commit to providing settlement and integration services to racialized LGBTQ newcomers in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; • Interprofessional collaboration between settlement and LGBTQ service provider organizations can support the implementation of, and improve access to, culturally appropriate settlement services and programs for racialized LGBTQ newcomers; • Using data‐driven methodologies, racialized LGBTQ newcomers should be consulted on their settlement and integration needs, to align these needs with service delivery.

How Similar Are Modern Criminal Syndicates to Traditional Mafias?

Five organizations exemplify organized crime organizations, or “mafias”: the American and Sicilian Cosa Nostras, the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Chinese triads, and Japanese yakuza. Newer syndicates have emerged that are often called organized crime organizations but most importantly differ from the exemplars. Drug trafficking syndicates in Colombia and Mexico are large, wealthy, and extraordinarily violent but have proven fragile in the face of aggressive law enforcement, do not have fully formalized internal structures or elaborate cultures, and only occasionally attempt to exercise political power or provide dispute settlement services in the criminal world. The Primeiro Comando da Capital in Sao Paulo, originally a prisoner self-protection group, comes closer. It has a formalized internal structure and an elaborate culture that permit it partly to control drug markets and provide an alternative justice system in parts of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro’s Commando Vermelho, also originally prison-based and now extensively involved in drug trafficking, has some mafia-like characteristics. Other criminal syndicates are better thought of as “candidate criminal organizations” because they are not fully consolidated (e.g., the Neapolitan camorra), are not fully criminalized (e.g., Hells Angels), or aim mainly at political subversion and have only subsidiary involvement in profit-making crimes (e.g., the Colombian FARC).

Mobile Child Care Training: Meeting Child Care Needs of Immigrant Families

Immigrant women with young children are at a disadvantage when trying to settle into a new life in Canada. The male of the household remains the primary focus for settlement services, and he receives educational and employment opportunities. The mother in the family is often considered less important by services. Of particular concern is the lack of access to quality child care for refugee women who are desperately trying to make a life for themselves in Canada. Newcomer women with young children want to contribute to their new society but cannot, due to lack of child care services. The nonprofit Pacific Immigrant Resources Society (PIRS) in Vancouver is working to solve this challenge.

Governing collaborations: the case of a pioneering settlement services partnership in Australia

ABSTRACT Inter-organizational partnerships are known to encounter various tensions, including efficiency versus inclusiveness, internal versus external legitimacy, flexibility versus stability, and accountability versus autonomy. This study examines how a pioneering settlement services partnership in Australia, made up of 23 not-for-profit organizations, addresses these tensions. Using a case study method, it was found that the partnership adopted a hybrid governance model that combines the lead organization governance model (as mandated) and the shared governance model (as enabled by governance practices by the lead organization), which not only addressed the tensions but also established a strong sense of lateral accountability among partners.

Settlement Service Literacy and the Relationship Between Service Utilisation and Wellbeing Among Newly Arrived Migrants: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review Protocol

Background: Settlement service literacy refers to the ability of migrants to access, understand and critically navigate settlement services. In Australia, increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants require settlement services to assist their transition. However, there are barriers to migrant’s ability to utilise settlement services which are related to their level of settlement service literacy. This review aims to shed light on how settlement service literacy influences new migrant’s utilisation of settlement services, and the consequences that it has for health, well-being and sense of belonging.
 Methods: The review will follow the guidelines laid out by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Literature searches will be undertaken in CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, SocIndex, ProQuest Social Science Database, and Google Scholar. Grey literature and relevant government bodies, non-government organisations, service providers and research institutes will also be searched. Studies included will report primary data (qualitative and quantitative) on new migrant’s (under five years) ability to utilise settlement services in high income countries. Studies that meet the inclusion criteria will be imported to Covidence, two researchers will screen the studies in a two part process (title and introduction scan; and full text) for relevance. Data extracted will include general publication information (author, country, year, and publication), type of study, participants, type of settlement service, measured outcomes, and the study aims, methods and results. Finally, data will be synthesised using a narrative approach.
 Discussion: The review will provide insight into the relationship between settlement service literacy and service utilisation and wellbeing for new migrants. The review will also provide data to inform settlement service policy to better cater for the needs of migrants.
 Systematic review registration:This protocol has been submitted to international prospective register of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PROSPERO) and is currently under review.

Regulatory changes for redesigned securities markets with distributed ledger technology

AbstractDistributed ledger technology (DLT) is regarded as a revolutionary solution that offers immutability, transparency, trust, and efficiency while ‘transcending law and regulation’. One of the potential applications of DLT is in the securities market. Share registration, settlement, regulatory compliance, information disclosure, payment systems, and market service requirements can be redesigned with the use of DLT. This paper will examine the impact that such changes will have on legal theories and governance, while also discussing the effects on enforcement techniques. In addition, general blockchain-legal issues will be critically analyzed in the context of securities markets.

Технология эквайринга и проблемы его регулирования в России

This paper examines the evolution of merchant acquiring in Russia. Initially, the term was purely professional and meant the involvement of “service points” in accepting cards. Today it denotes the whole range of business for the creation and development of the infrastructure of non-cash settlement and cash services in trade and service enterprises using payment cards. Technological innovation has spurred the development of acquiring tools. However, today, when the number of non-cash transactions is steadily growing and has almost reached the number of transactions using cash, the issue of acquiring fees is still a burning issue between retail and banks. The authors consider the positions of the two parties to the dispute, and also draw conclusions about the possible consequences if the requirements of retail or banks are satisfied.

Canadian Immigrant Youth and the Education-Employment Nexus

Canada’s population of immigrant youth between the ages of 15 and 35 is approaching 3 million and growing rapidly. Youth are critical to Canada’s goal of recruiting immigrants to expand the economy, but there is insufficient information about their school and work experiences and inadequate support to ensure their successful integration into the workforce. This literature review investigates the connection between education and work for Canadian immigrant youth. It documents obstacles in the form of underfunded settlement services, lack of diversity in the school curriculum, inadequate English-language instruction at all levels of schooling, racially and ethnically biased streaming of students into the lowest educational track in high school, rejection of foreign school transcripts and work credentials, employers’ prejudice and discrimination, and workplace exploitation. The number and magnitude of these systemic impediments create significant obstacles for immigrant youth. A major cause of these issues is insufficient funding for immigrant services under neoliberal economic policies. The outcomes for immigrant youth include failure to finish secondary and postsecondary education, a long-term cycle of employment in low-skill, low-wage jobs, and socioeconomic hardship such as poverty and homelessness. The authors call for greater attention to this critical population and make nine recommendations that would contribute to solutions in each major issue area impacting the education of Canadian immigrant youth and their entry into the workforce.

Redesigning collaborative governance for refugee settlement services

ABSTRACTProcesses of collaborative governance, also known as network structures or joined-up approaches, have been embraced increasingly by policy makers responding to complex and intractable problems. In 2015, a collaborative governance approach was applied in New South Wales to facilitate settlement of 12,000 additional refugees from Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of the Coordinator General for Refugee Resettlement, Peter Shergold. This article examines the success of the initiative, using criteria drawn from collaborative governance and meta-governance literature and evidence from interviews with people working in the refugee sector who were involved in the project. The article concludes that initiative has improved the experience of newly arrived refugees, and identifies some reasons for success, including the existence of a facilitative or collaborative leader. It argues that greater emphasis in collaborative theory be placed on individual capacity, given such a leader’s ability to influence both interpersonal and structural determinants of policy success.

Assessing Social Sustainability and its Determinants: The Case of a Rural District in The West of Iran

Purpose: Conceptualization and evaluation of the level of social sustainability have a special status in sustainable development literature. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of social sustainability and the determinants affecting it in the Harasam Rural District in Western Iran. Methods: Based on the theoretical background and literature, 12 quantitative and 28 qualitative indices were examined in the framework of five components. The population consisted of 1983 households of the mentioned rural district and the sample included 340 people. The research tool was household and village questionnaires. The validity of the tool was confirmed by an expert panel and the reliability by Cronbach's alpha test (α = 0.84). Fuzzy Topsis was used to measure the social sustainability of the villages and path analysis to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that 100% of the villages of the rural district were in unsustainable or semi-sustainable states. Among the internal components, social justice and quality of life, respectively, had the greatest effect on social sustainability. Examining the external factors showed that the centrality of the settlement service and proximity to urban areas had a positive effect on the social sustainability of the investigated villages. Furthermore, out-immigration had the highest negative effect on the social sustainability of the villages. Conclusion: This research re-emphasizes the importance of intra-generational justice based on social and spatial justice. Merely in the shadow of reducing social and regional inequalities and equitable distribution of development opportunities, the social sustainability of rural communities can be materialized.

Faith and Settlement Partnerships: Perspectives of Community Stakeholders

This article explores partnerships between faith groups and government-funded immigrant settlement services. It does so by reporting on perspectives of community stakeholders through a survey across four communities in Ontario, Canada. Survey results demonstrate that the existence, benefits, and challenges of faith and settlement partnerships are recognized by settlement workers, faith leaders, and other stakeholders. Yet the results also indicate that more could be done to strengthen partnerships so that they lead to better settlement outcomes. The article discusses five key actions for strengthening partnerships: sharing stories, exploring differences, enabling a cultural shift, conducting advocacy, and formalizing partnerships.

The association of migration experiences on the self-rated health status among adult humanitarian refugees to Australia: an analysis of a longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundRefugees are potentially at an increased risk for health problems due to their past and current migration experiences. How migration factors shape refugee health is not well understood. We examined the association between migration factors and the self-rated general health of adult humanitarian refugees living in Australia.MethodsWe analyzed the first three waves of data from the ‘Building A New Life In Australia’ longitudinal survey of 2399 humanitarian refugees resettled in Australia. The study outcome was self-rated health measured by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. Predictors were migration process and resettlement factors. We used generalized linear mixed models to investigate the relationship between predictor and outcome variables.ResultsPoor general health persisted among this refugee population at high levels throughout the three-year follow-up. At baseline, 35.7% (95% CI: 33.8–37.7%) of the study population reported poorer general health. Female gender, increasing age and post-migration financial stressors were positively associated with poorer general health. Having a university degree and absence of chronic health conditions were seemingly protective against declining general health (OR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.65–1.81 and OR: 0.15, 95% CI: 0.09–1.04, respectively).ConclusionOur results show that there is persisting high prevalence of poorer general health among adult refugees across the initial years of resettlement in Australia. This finding suggests unmet health needs which may be compounded by the challenges of resettlement in a new society, highlighting the need for increased clinical awareness of this sustained health burden to help inform and prepare refugee health care and settlement service providers.

Fostering immigrant settlement and housing in small cities: Voices of settlement practitioners and service providers in British Columbia, Canada

International migration is a feature of contemporary society. Because the impacts of international migration and immigration are experienced locally, there is a need to better understand how settlement and integration activities can be tailored to the local context. While many immigrants have settled in metropolitan areas, there is need to better understand how immigrants settle in small cities outside large urban areas. A study was undertaken in Kelowna and Kamloops, two small cities in the interior of British Columbia (BC), Canada, to learn about immigrants’ settlement and housing experiences from the perspective of settlement practitioners and service providers. Unaffordable housing, limited employment opportunities, and language barriers were found to be the most significant challenges. Implications and recommendations for immigrant-receiving countries and small city contexts are discussed.

The Local Governance of Migration

Over the past 20 years, Canadian immigration and integration policies have seen a considerable degree of decentralization and empowerment of the subnational level driven by the goal to align immigration policies more effectively with the needs and objectives of different communities. While the nation-state still has the prerogative as regards the recruitment progress, provinces and, often in a more informal capacity, cities have taken on a more pronounced role in attracting and settling newcomers. This article examines how, in the Canadian context, cities have been proactive in utilizing immigration as a tool to address local labour needs, to develop strategies for becoming “welcoming communities”, and to provide a sense of urban citizenship. Cities have responded to the challenge by building public-private partnerships in which settlement organizations, service providers, and employers play a prominent role. The most effective initiatives are those that increase the city’s ability to draw on multi-stakeholder networks and to enable policy coordination in Canada’s system of multilevel governance.

The Bureaucratic and Political Work of Immigration Classifications: an Analysis of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and Access to Settlement Services in Canada

While migrant workers play an important role in maintaining the Canadian work force, unlike permanent residents and Canadian citizens, they are permitted to work in Canada only for short durations, with limitations placed on who they can work for, where they can live, and what services they have available to support them. The uneven allocation of rights to immigrants and migrants is enabled by a multifaceted immigration bureaucracy and the application of what I term immigration classifications. This analysis applies the lens of classification theory to examine the multilayered work that classifications do in the management of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and access to settlement services. It finds that, built into immigration classifications is a prioritization of economic considerations of what make immigrants desirable for long-term settlement in Canada. These considerations further shape understandings of the role the state should take in supporting immigrants and migrants. This economic-focused perspective is prioritized at the expense of considerations of the human rights and settlement needs of migrant workers, leaving them systematically marginalized and vulnerable to abuse.

Challenging Neo-Colonialism and Essentialism

The settlement services sector in Toronto, Canada has faced difficulties in responding to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) immigrant youth in ways that respect their specific experiences. One way agencies have taken up this challenge in Toronto has been to develop LGBTQ-specific settlement services. Housed within a diverse range of organisations, these services are intended to engage and support LGBTQ immigrant youth. In this article, we report on evaluation research conducted with LGBTQ immigrant young people from Griffin Centre’s reachOUT Newcomer Network where we asked about their experiences accessing settlement services in Toronto. Our findings suggest that LGBTQ immigrant youth are deeply influenced by intersecting identities linked to racialization, sexuality, gender identity, education, employment, and immigration status. Participants expressed overwhelming interest in accessing support, but remain disconnected from settlement services. A reconceptualization of LGBTQ settlement services within a framework of hybridity that challenges essentialism and neo-colonialism would improve service delivery. This shift would allow for more integrated settlement services that acknowledge LGBTQ newcomer youth and their experiences of (un)belonging.

Transforming Settlement Work

Today, the concept of anti-oppression is prevalent in social work education, research, policy, and practice. However, it is a relatively new concept in the settlement sector, and little is known about its application in settlement work. In this article, two social workers provide their critical analysis and reflections of anti-oppression work with newcomer youth in schools. Drawing on the literature and their experiences, the authors contend that the current approach to settlement work with newcomer youth is rooted in colonialism and racism, and they propose an anti-oppression approach as a new way for settlement workers to work with newcomer youth.
 KEYWORDS: newcomer youth, school settlement workers, anti-oppression, settlement services, anti-oppressive practice

Pengukuran Capability Level Kualitas Layanan E-Government Kabupaten Pamekasan Menggunakan Framework COBIT 5.0

This study aims to conduct an audit and evaluation of the Pamekasan District e-Government Dispute Settlement services on EDM and APO Domains. The method used is the COBIT Framework.5, a framework for measuring information system governance maturity issued by ISACA in 2012. The audit was conducted at the Pamekasan District Dispendukcapil Office and took samples of e-Government Services in 4 Districts and 12 Districts considered quite representative to be audited.The results showed that overall the results of the audit capability level of ICT services at Pamekasan district Dispendukcapil were at level 3 (Establish) with capability level index values in establish and 2.O (established) EDM domains. Field findings show that business processes in ICT management of e-government services at the sub-district, village levels show that they are at level 0 (incomplete), which means that there is almost no process of governance of ICT services at that level. Suggestions and recommendations that can be made are more authority is needed at the sub-district and village level by adding competent human resources in the ICT field to provide better e-Government services.

“How Do We Put Him in the System?”: Client Construction at a Sport-Based Migrant Settlement Service in Melbourne, Australia

The empirical focus of this article is a sport-based settlement service targeting newly arrived migrants in Melbourne, Australia. This five-month study examines staff members’ everyday work routines with a focus on their participation in meetings and the production of documents. Embedded in the Australian immigration policy context, this article shows how staff members aim to empower clients while simultaneously falling back into stigmatising refugee/client identification through administrative practices. The results indicate that staffs’ everyday client constructions reinforce the othering and categorisation of ethnic minorities and support a reductionist deficit model of presenting clients. This may limit the opportunities for migrants to identify with and participate in wider Australian society and thus has the opposite effect of what governments and the sector aim to accomplish.

Impacts of social integration and loneliness on mental health of humanitarian migrants in Australia: evidence from a longitudinal study

Objective:To examine the impacts of social integration and loneliness on the mental health of humanitarian migrants (HMs) in Australia over time. Methods:A total of 1,723 HMs who held permanent visas from the first to third waves (2013–2016) of a longitudinal study in Australia (Building a New Life in Australia) were included in the study. Dependent variables included poor general health, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe mental illness (SMI). Predictors were social integration stressors and loneliness. We used generalised linear mixed models to assess impacts of the changing status of social integration and loneliness on dependent variables over time. Results:HMs with increased social integration stressors reported poor general health (aOR:1.56, 95%CI:1.19–2.03); PTSD (aOR:1.67; 95%CI: 1.32–2.13); and SMI (aOR: 1.46; 95%CI: 1.15–1.86) over time when compared to those without stressors. Increased loneliness during resettlement was also associated with poor general health (aOR: 1.56; 95%CI:1.28–1.91); PTSD (aOR: 1.57; 95%CI: 1.28–1.93) and SMI (aOR: 1.59; 95%CI: 1.31–1.94). HMs who reported overcoming loneliness (aOR:1.50, 95%CI: 1.24–1.83 for SMI and aOR:1.51; 95%CI: 1.22–1.86 for PTSD) and persistent loneliness (aOR:1.99; 95%CI: 1.51–2.61 for SMI) reported poorer mental health over time than those who did not report loneliness. Implications for public health:Culturally competent settlement services addressing social integration stressors and loneliness are required to improve the mental health of humanitarian migrants.