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Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area

Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) providing services to refugees and asylum seekers are hard-pressed to effectively address the many challenges that these individuals face. Many struggling Black South Africans perceive these migrants as competing for scarce resources or as being able to achieve better...

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Main Author: Reiss, Chloé
Other Authors: O'Brien, Constance
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Social Development 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Reiss, Chloé
author2 O'Brien, Constance
author_browse O'Brien, Constance
Reiss, Chloé
author_facet O'Brien, Constance
Reiss, Chloé
author_sort Reiss, Chloé
collection Thesis
description Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) providing services to refugees and asylum seekers are hard-pressed to effectively address the many challenges that these individuals face. Many struggling Black South Africans perceive these migrants as competing for scarce resources or as being able to achieve better livelihoods than they have in their own country. This study examines the challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town metropolitan area. A qualitative research design was adopted and a total of twenty-one respondents from twelve NPOs were purposively targeted. Thus a non-probability sampling strategy was used. Data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews using a semi-structured schedule. The findings reveal that the legacy of the past and perpetuating socio-economic inequalities hinder the integration of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa. Xenophobia remains a major concern and the approach of government toward migration appears contradictory. Documentation, administration and corruption at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (CTRRO), abuse and discrimination, are major challenges for refugees and asylum seekers. NPOs assisting them remain constrained by lack of funding and government cooperation. Further awareness initiatives, community mobilisation and social cohesion programmes are required. These findings inspired some recommendations for further research as well as for NPOs, which include lobbying for the establishment of a Central Migrant Help Desk; enhancing access to psychological services; developing more social cohesion programmes and further facilitating access to basic social services. Other recommendations encourage NPOs to develop a policy document to present to parliament tackling the issues of backlogs, renewal of documents, regulations in the workforce, documentation awareness, improvement of professional training of stakeholders; and advocating for progressive and coherent policy-decision making.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20611 Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area Reiss, Chloé O'Brien, Constance Social Development Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) providing services to refugees and asylum seekers are hard-pressed to effectively address the many challenges that these individuals face. Many struggling Black South Africans perceive these migrants as competing for scarce resources or as being able to achieve better livelihoods than they have in their own country. This study examines the challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town metropolitan area. A qualitative research design was adopted and a total of twenty-one respondents from twelve NPOs were purposively targeted. Thus a non-probability sampling strategy was used. Data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews using a semi-structured schedule. The findings reveal that the legacy of the past and perpetuating socio-economic inequalities hinder the integration of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa. Xenophobia remains a major concern and the approach of government toward migration appears contradictory. Documentation, administration and corruption at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (CTRRO), abuse and discrimination, are major challenges for refugees and asylum seekers. NPOs assisting them remain constrained by lack of funding and government cooperation. Further awareness initiatives, community mobilisation and social cohesion programmes are required. These findings inspired some recommendations for further research as well as for NPOs, which include lobbying for the establishment of a Central Migrant Help Desk; enhancing access to psychological services; developing more social cohesion programmes and further facilitating access to basic social services. Other recommendations encourage NPOs to develop a policy document to present to parliament tackling the issues of backlogs, renewal of documents, regulations in the workforce, documentation awareness, improvement of professional training of stakeholders; and advocating for progressive and coherent policy-decision making. 2016-07-22T13:15:57Z 2016-07-22T13:15:57Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20611 eng application/pdf Department of Social Development Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Social Development
Reiss, Chloé
Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
title_full Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
title_fullStr Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
title_full_unstemmed Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
title_short Challenges faced by NPOs providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
title_sort challenges faced by npos providing services to refugees and asylum seekers in the cape town metropolitan area
topic Social Development
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20611
work_keys_str_mv AT reisschloe challengesfacedbynposprovidingservicestorefugeesandasylumseekersinthecapetownmetropolitanarea