Wellbeing considerations in New Zealand's refugee law
Dr. Bernard Sama, Chair of the Asylum Seeker Support Trust Board in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, recently presented his PhD thesis on the...
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Our Kaupapa
Our Work
Our kaupapa/purpose is for an inclusive world where people on the move and host communities work together to create better lives for all. We believe that this is best achieved by fostering a common sense of humanity, dignity, and a shared hope for a better future.
Our mission is to improve the wellbeing of refugee and migrant background communities and displaced people on their journey towards something better by creating a future where communities, governments and businesses all work together to find sustainable solutions to human displacement. We do this by facilitating individual wellbeing, community inclusion and systems change with a focus on innovation in refugee and migrant protection.
Our approach is human-centred, based on models of co-design and partnership and committed to the individual’s right to rangatiratanga self-agency.
We honour and uphold the principles of protection, partnership, and participation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
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).
Our Goal
HOST International exists to make life better for people on the move as they seek a new home or settle in a new community.
We believe that for this to occur communities need to be inclusive and support the conditions for individuals to achieve quality of life that is free from harm and discrimination.
We strive to provide better opportunities for social, community, civic and economic 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.
Overall, 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.
Our services focus on achieving the following goals:
1. To increase people’s self-reliance, hope and coping skills by being able to make informed decisions, ensuring empowerment and rangatiratanga self-agency.
2. To enhance local and sustainable community contributions for refugee background communities.
3. To reduce any barriers, such as structural, practice, ideological and political factors, causing disadvantage for refugee and migrant background communities.
Find out about the way we work here:
What People Say
I recommend it to anyone who loves learning at any stage. Never too late. We may think we should go always in the same direction. Sometimes, when we open our minds to explore new experiences we find programmes, like Host International. It changed my life.”
Participant, Work Savvy Programme
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