African Muslim Refugees and Local Government

Project Member(s): Morris, A.

Funding or Partner Organisation: University of South Australia

Start year: 2014

Summary: It is evident that local government has the potential to play a central role in facilitating the settling in process of African Muslim refugees. However, there has been no major study that has examined what services local governments are providing and how the African Muslim population perceives these services and the role of local government. The study will have two stages: Stage 1: In this stage we will investigate in what ways councils have responded to the arrival of African Muslims and what programs they have put in place. The research will require looking at council websites, interviewing council personnel and key African Muslim representatives and refugee advocates in different communities. Stage 2: This stage will involve in-depth interviews with African Muslim residents to assess how they perceive local government initiatives and what they feel needs to be done. A crucial focus will be to investigate what services are provided, how these services are perceived and what they feel the gaps are.

FOR Codes: Social Policy, Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Migrant Development and Welfare, Australian Government and Politics, Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis, Social and Cultural Geography, Human geography, Migrant and refugee settlement services, Multicultural services

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.