Our Collaborations

Collaborations and Partnerships

HOST works closely with stakeholders across many different sectors. The team participates in network meetings, engages with sector partners, employers, and others to elevate former refugee and migrant voices.

HOST contributes to Government consultations, sector forums and takes other opportunities to draw attention to systemic barriers and offer strategies for change, influence debate and ensure refugee and migrant background communities are included in decision-making.

Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga event in Tāmaki Makaurau

We also work closely with employers and industry to break down barriers to employment and deliver many of our programmes collaboratively. For Meet the Talent we partnered with Victoria University in Wellington, Te Pūkenga, Voice of Aroha, SEEK New Zealand, Xero and the Ministry for Primary Industries to name a few.

The extended pilot of the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme is developed and implemented in co-design with Immigration New Zealand | MBIE (Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment).

We are also collaborating with Savvy Up on a leadership programme for young women from refugee backgrounds, which was successfully launched in 2022.

HOST is a a member and on the steering group for several networks and alliances, such as:

The Refugee Alliance

Steering Group Member

https://www.refugeealliance.org.nz/

Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga

Co-Chair of the MFRAS (Migrants, Former Refugees and Asylum Seekers) Group

https://www.teohu.community/

Wellington Region Ethnic Communities Employment Sector Network

Steering Committee

Wellington Region Former Refugees Stakeholders Network

Co-Facilitator of the network alongside ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum

As part of the Wellington Region Former Refugees Stakeholders Network, we are also supporting ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum in recruiting a refugee-led Steering Group to ensure meaningful refugee participation. This project is funded by Immigration New Zealand.

To learn more about the networks and alliances mentioned above, feel free to contact our Chief Executive, Birgit Grafarend-Watungwa (she/her).

If you're interested in collaborating, you can also get in touch with her.

Check out the team's latest reflection on our collaborations:

Contact

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Working with tangata whenua

Last year, Te Ātiawa/Taranaki ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, mana whenua for Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington, officially welcomed HOST in a haka pōwhiri ceremony at Waiwhetū Marae.

Our wider whānau, friends and community members, representing over 20 ethnicities, joined the HOST team at this special occasion, for many the first time on a Marae or at a pōwhiri (welcome ceremony).

This marks a significant step in our efforts to building relationships between newly arriving refugees and tangata whenua as kaitiaki (guardians) of the land.

We are continuing to help build relationships between mana whenua and sponsor groups in the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme across several different locations to welcome sponsored refugees and provide guidance on te reo and tikanga Māori while sponsored refugees go on a learning journey of te ao Māori.

Working Together Globally

Global Gathering for Sponsorship in Portugal, 2023

As HOST is part of an international organisation, we work closely with our colleagues in Malaysia and Thailand.

As the umbrella organisation for the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme in Aotearoa New Zealand, we are also connected to our colleagues in other countries' Community Refugee Sponsorship programmes across the globe.

We have been fortunate to be represented at the Global Gathering for Sponsorship over the past two years.

HOST is also a member of the Working Group for the Communication and Mobilisation Skills Share

Network, lead by the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative.

We also participate in other global forums such as the CRCP (Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways) Working Group on Resettlement, and more recently, the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees (APNOR).

Site visit during CRCP Working Group meeting in Sydney, 2024

2023 New Zealand General Election

In collaboration with the Electoral Commission and ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum, HOST produced a series of videos promoting the election in various languages in the lead up to the 2023 New Zealand General Election.

The project's main objective was for participants to encourage community members to register to vote by sharing their election experiences.

The complete collection of New Zealand General Election 2023 videos is available on YouTube.

Work Savvy Programme

HOST and Savvy Up teamed up to pilot the Work Savvy programme for young women and girls from refugee backgrounds to help them explore and develop their leaderships skills.

The programme provided the framework for learning leadership skills needed to succeed in the workplace and provided help to becoming people leaders in their own communities to grow and develop others.

The programme was run over four months, in the latter part of 2022.

The programme consisted of:

Introductory and wrap up in person events in Wellington to connect, build relationships and peer support and provide ongoing input and feedback into the programme.
Live Workshops Engaging and interactive virtual workshops with thought leaders and experts in their fields.
Peer Coaching and Action-Learning Forums: Opportunity for participants to reflect and share learnings virtually with others in a learning community.
Monthly e-Courses: Engaging, bite-sized microlearning that participants could access from their mobile devices; includes on-the-job tasks and reflection.
Community of Practice: Peer support and discussions via online platform on key learnings.

Participants came from a range of ethnic backgrounds. Some had just graduated from university; most were already in employment, and some were looking for work or better work opportunities.

Outcomes:

Increased self-belief and confidence to becoming or being a leader
New connections and peer support
New and shared learnings
Time management skills - families, jobs, and other commitments meant the participants had to manage their time carefully

Reflection by Participant

“There were so many things I needed to work on when I started the course, [which] I have now started to use in my workplace. I am more confident I have a clearer idea about what I want to do next. Time commitment was a big thing, having kids and working in the community.

[Another participant/a jobseeker] and I had different opinions. She felt that the way it [the course] was presented was more directed at people at in the workplace. I said to her ‘[When I was] a jobseeker, I wish I had this knowledge before I got into the workplace’.”

We are currently exploring further programmes

alongside the Savvy Up team. Watch this space!

Our Supporters and Partners

Ehara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini

My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective.

HOST International Aotearoa works closely with sector partners, Government departments, ethnic communities, and wider communities across Aotearoa and globally.

We could not do this work alone and are grateful to all our partners and supporters.