What you need to know
Table of contents
What is participation?
The wider idea of participation is the action of ‘taking part’ in something, which contrasts with a more restrictive definition, namely being involved in decisions that affect one’s life.
This wider idea of participation is also relevant for refugee integration, which is the focus in this toolkit. When refugees participate (take part) in a community, school, or workplace event, it increases their chances to engage in meaningful contact with other people and, potentially, their knowledge of the community, local services, and their place of work. Participation in events and activities could therefore be seen as the first stage towards more meaningful participation in decision-making.
For the purposes of this toolkit, we need a stricter definition of participation that focuses on ability of refugees to shape their new lives and fulfil their aspirations, by being engaged and involved in decisions that affect them, from services they access to the legislation and policies that impact them in various ways. Forced migration is a deeply disempowering experience. When, in a host country, refugees access services that are provided with little or no input from them, often resulting in needs going unmet, which increases barriers to integration.
Following a review of global policy documents from 2008 to 2020, James Milner, Associate Professor at Carleton University, proposed the following definition of participation:
Meaningful refugee participation occurs when refugees from diverse backgrounds have sustained influence in all fora where decisions, policies, and responses that impact their lives are being designed, implemented, and measured in a manner that is accessible, broad, informed, safe, free, and supported
You may note that this definition includes the expression ‘meaningful refugee participation’, which begs the question of whether there are forms of participation that are not ‘meaningful’. This is a longstanding issue in debates about participation, especially refugee participation. Because participation can include many different things, some people have sought to distinguish between different levels of participation, often ranging from levels where participation is seen as symbolic or tokenistic, to ‘higher’ levels that presuppose refugees influencing the decisions that impact on their lives.