Community Participation in the Asylum Seekers and Refugees’ Paths

Abstract

Upon arrival to their country of resettlement, refugees face disrupted social networks, economic instability, mental health concerns due to pre-migration exposure to personal or vicarious violence, language barriers, changes in cultural adaptation and resettlement, frequent relocation and migration, all of which can impact health, education and employment. They also experience a number of challenges in accessing the support they require to fully integrate into their new community. Among all programmes across reception system and social services (education, housing, culture, etc.), local policies are called upon to guarantee coexistence and cohesion of all the components of the community of people living in a territory, favouring tools and paths to counter exclusion and isolation of citizenship, caused by economic, cultural and ethnic, linguistic, social, age or social context fragilities.