New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project (2020-22)
This project is led by the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Refugee Council and the UNESCO Chair at the University of Glasgow, and will promote employability, education, health and social and cultural connections for refugees.
It is part of the New Scots refugee integration strategy (2018-22) which aims to ensure refugees live in safe and welcoming communities that enable them to rebuild their lives from the day they arrive in Scotland.
Work to support the integration of refugees by a wide range of partners led to the development of the first ‘New Scots’ refugee integration strategy, led by the Scottish Government, COSLA and Scottish Refugee Council, which ran from 2014-17.
The strategy sets out an approach to support the vision of a welcoming Scotland where refugees are able to rebuild their lives and integrate into society from the day they arrive. To achieve this, the strategy works to ensure Scotland follows a rights based approach to integration that reflects both the formal international obligations the UK has and the long-standing commitment of successive Scottish Governments to address the needs of refugees and asylum seekers on the basis of principles of decency, humanity and fairness.
The projects and tools developed under the strategy to date have enabled refugees in Scotland to understand their rights, responsibilities and entitlements and access well-coordinated services to allow them to pursue full and independent lives. This project will significantly expand and evaluate the impact and reach of the ‘New Scots’ Strategy, further promoting the effective integration of refugees across Scotland.
Work to help refugees settle in Scotland will benefit from £2.8 million of funding. The project will look to spread the funding across already established/funded integration tools and initiatives as well as investing in new tools to address unmet needs.
The New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project will offer small, medium or large grants to organisations to either widen existing work, or start new initiatives which assist those who have had to flee their own country to escape war and terror. More information is available at the Scottish Government website.
Applications are invited from organisations working to support the integration of refugees across Scotland, as long as they meet the priorities of the New Scots strategy and its themes, either by expanding existing good practice or developing new and innovative ways to help refugees and asylum seekers.
Project dates: 1st October 2020 - 31st December 2022
Lead organisation: The Scottish Government
Award value: £4.5 million
Funder: This project is part funded by the European Commission’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Making management of migration flows more efficient across the European Union.
UofG Co-I: Prof Alison Phipps
Our Team
Dr Daniel Fisher
Research Associate
Dan Fisher is a Geographer with an interest in borders, asylum law and refugee integration. He is currently working on a project titled "Scotland's 'New Scots' Strategy: Towards an international exemplar of best practice in refugee integration", which has been funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).
Prior to joining the University of Glasgow, Dan was employed at the James Hutton Institute, where he conducted research on the challenges of implementing sustainable (and socially inclusive) Green Infrastructure in the United Kingdom. He has also worked at the University of Exeter, where he researched asylum appeal proceedings in Europe as part of the ASYFAIR project (led by Professor Nick Gill).
Dan completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. His thesis critically engaged assemblage theory as a means of prising open the everyday workings (and failings) of border control. Ethnographic data from field sites in Spain, Morrocco and the UK were used to trace performances of border control and tactics of resistance.
Ms Nicola McRobbie
Project Administrator
Nicola is the project officer for the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project*. Nicola is a research project manager with a background in biomedical research, and the management of EU funded programmes for research, and research training.
Before joining the UNESCO RILA team at University of Glasgow, she worked as a project manager for University of Strathclyde and previously the University of Edinburgh.
*Project Ref: UK2020PR0109 is supported by the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) Programme 2014-2020.
Objectives
- To increase the scope and impact of refugee integration tools across Scotland
- To promote and encourage innovation in refugee integration projects and tools across Scotland
- To promote better integration of refugees into Scotland’s communities
- To enhance/strengthen community capacity to welcome and integrate refugees
- To promote beneficial impact of refugees in Scotland
- To develop learning and understanding of the effectiveness of Scottish refugee integration projects and the overall New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy.
- To develop and promote the New Scots strategy as an exemplar of international good practice.
- To develop requirements of future integration work in Scotland beyond the programme.
Workstreams
The project is organised into three distinct workstreams:
Workstream 1
Evaluation of impact of tried and tested tools, their adoption of ‘New Scots’ principles and benefits of upscaling to develop a structured programme of funded best practice integration projects with greater reach.
Workstream 2
Assess and identify projects and tools to fully progress challenging actions set out in the strategy and meet gaps, test new areas, widen ‘New Scots’ delivery partners and support the implementation of new rights created under the strategy through a funding programme.
Workstream 3
- Develop an evaluation framework for funded projects to gather data against the ‘New Scots’ theory of change, co-ordinate and produce a project evaluation report.
- Commission and undertake research projects to:
- Test and critically review the theory of change;
- Assess the overall impact of the ‘New Scots’ strategy and impact tools developed within its orbit;
- Document, curate and research the workings of the project.
- Develop and promote an exemplar of the ‘New Scots’ strategy which can be referred to as international good practice.
- Develop requirements of future integration work in Scotland.
Project news
New report out! (06/12/2022)
‘The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: A report on the local and international dimensions of integrating refugees in Scotland’ is a report written by Professor Alison Phipps, Dr Esa Aldegheri and Dr Dan Fisher. Based on the academic research conducted by the University of Glasgow on the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project (NSRIDP), the report provides a comprehensive presentation of the academic research undertaken over a two-year period (2020 – 2022). It is one of a number of NSRIDP outputs that are intended to inform the development of the third iteration of the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy
The report contains 70 recommendations. This underscores the abundance and importance of the findings from the research. It also demonstrates the seriousness with which participants in the research viewed matters of whole society integration and key structural and practical ways in which improvements can be made, within the devolved context of Scotland.
The report shows that there is much to celebrate in the strength, enthusiasm and commitment to the work of welcoming people who have sought to rebuild their lives in Scotland, but the barriers are also real, and the challenges presented require mitigation. Some of the recommendations are short term and focus on ensuring that good practices can continue to grow and expand. Some are for the longer term and address issues which are affecting much of the population of Scotland, but where those who have arrived as New Scots are particularly at risk. Some of the recommendations also pertain to how we think about, describe and practice the work of integrating over time.
Refugee projects awarded £2.8 million to help new Scots settle
ORGANISATIONS and community groups working to support refugees in Scotland will share £2.8 million through a new grant scheme.
In total, 56 projects will receive funding to deliver initiatives designed to help New Scots settle in their adopted communities by promoting employability, education, health and social and cultural connections. More information at the Scottish Government website.
Contacts
Co-Investigator: Prof Alison Phipps
Research Associate: Dr Dan Fisher
Project Administrator: Ms Nicola McRobbie