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Our Approach
Our Theory of Change
Our approach to creating change centres around three main areas:
Promoting individual wellbeing and rangatiratanga self-agency through social, cultural, physical, psychological and economic inclusion.
Building bridges within communities to foster social cohesion, community and economic inclusion, using principles of human-centred design principles and partnerships to co-create solutions.
Advocating for structural and systemic change at national, regional, and global levels through research, education, and advocacy initiatives.
How We Work
To be effective, the core of our work focuses on creating tūrangawaewae, a sense of place or belonging, by
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connecting former refugees with host communities (humanity)
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maintaining a focus on a brighter future (hope)
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supporting individual independence and rangatiratanga self-agency (dignity)
Building tūrangawaewae -
a sense of place and belonging
Our focus is on supporting individual wellbeing, promoting community inclusion, and driving systemic and global change. We treat everyone with respect, listen to their needs and apply the following principles to all our work:
Manaakitanga (act towards others with respect, kindness, compassion, and love)
Whanaungatanga (strengthen reciprocal mana-enhancing relationships, connectedness and to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion)
Kotahitanga (unity: sharing the earth, extending our āwhina (support) to everyone, learning from one another always with reciprocity at the centre)
Rangatiratanga (self-agency)
Who We Work With
Employment Partnerships
If you are a business owner, employer, HR/recruitment manager, and you are interested in exploring the opportunity of working more closely with us to support refugee and migrant background jobseekers, we would love to hear from you.
Collaborations
If your organisation is looking at partnering on any refugee/migrant-related work or research project, please get in touch. We would be interested in exploring any collaboration.
Community Inclusion
If your organisation or community group is interested in sponsoring a refugee through the Community Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) programme or would like to support former refugees and migrants in your community, please visit the CORS programme website: https://refugeesponsorship.org.nz or get in touch with the HOST team.
Please note: All 150 places for sponsored refugees in the extended pilot of the CORS programme have now been allocated to approved sponsoring organisations. We can take expressions of interest and keep you up-to-date on programme development.
Refugee and migrant background individuals and communities
If you are a former refugee, migrant, asylum seeker or recent arrival and you require support on any of the following, please get in touch:
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Support building connections to the wider community;
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Help finding work in Aotearoa New Zealand;
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Coaching for career development;
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Support building professional networks;
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Training and mentoring to build on your digital and technical skills;
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Capacity building for your community to have a voice and be advocates for your community's needs.
Pillars Of Our Work
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There are four key pillars that form the foundation of our work:
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Coaching
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Mentoring | Networking
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Culturally informed stakeholder engagement
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Monitoring and evaluation – Monitoring outcomes for refugees and local communities
Mentoring & Networking
We know that the lack of access to professional, social and community networks can create critical barriers for you and your community members to access meaningful employment or implement long-term career goals. These networks play a strong role in facilitating community inclusion and employment opportunities, especially when entering the workforce.
We can support you with your career planning by helping you build community networks as well as professional networks within a chosen industry or employer that helps you build industry specific knowledge and insights.
Coaching
Our coaching model recognises that communities and people require individualised support based on their situation, goals, and aspirations. A coach facilitates conversations with you – either an individual or a community - to identify and achieve your goals. Coaching is about learning, discussing, and developing strategies, and reflecting rather than teaching and telling you what to do. This model is strength-based, mana enhancing and focuses on your right to have rangatiratanga self-agency to make your own decisions.
Monitoring Outcomes
We monitor all programmes to adapt and change our delivery to best meet communities’ needs. In all our work we invite regular opportunities for feedback to ensure we deliver a quality service. We look for opportunities to collaborate with other stakeholders across all sectors to ensure a whole of society approach to refugee settlement. We work closely with industry, community, and employer partners to deliver strong social, community, civic and employment participation outcomes for individuals and communities.
Culturally Informed Practice
HOST acknowledges and honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi and commits to its principles of partnership, participation, and protection. We place a strong focus on culturally appropriate communication and practices. Current HOST team members are all from refugee and migrant backgrounds and draw on their experiences and expertise to support local engagement.
We have been working in settlement and displacement contexts for many years and are focused on addressing needs within a local, place-based context.
Our values of respect, diversity and inclusion ensure that we actively consider multiple ways of approaching intercultural communication and practices in our work.
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.