COUNTY CARLOW was asked to take into their community, 16 Rohingya families (78 persons) from Burma/Myanmar who have been living in camps in Bangladesh under the protection of the UNHCR, as part of the UNHCR Resettlement Programme.
Nationally the process is being managed by the Office of the Minister for Integration of the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform.
An Interagency Committee, through Carlow County Development Board structures, was brought together to support the process locally in County Carlow.
Bicycle Safety Training
.jpg)
Rohingya Women's Group
The programme is going into its final year (with the aid of European Refugee funding and match funding by the local agencies) The Families are now in Carlow for nearly 3 years and have settled in well. Programmes ranged from language supports, youth groups, men and women groups, art classes, cycle lessons, setting up a cricket club etc all with the aim of helping the families to settle in Carlow and make connections with the wider community.
Notwithstanding this, challenges are still present and the families still require intensive support which aims to build their capacity to achieve a transition from settling in to full involvement and participation in the community. This is the focus of the work that agencies on the Resettlement committee are engaging in with the families. This is aided by a main stream strategy which was put together toward the latter half of 2011 in order to have a smooth exit strategy when the programme ends in June 2013 where families are appropriately supported and prepared for this.
Comments