SSI’s work in 2017-18 focused on five core areas:
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We supported newcomers.
SSI became one of only five service providers delivering the Humanitarian Settlement Program, winning both the Sydney resettlement region and the NSW Regional area. We provided initial settlement support to more than 4,200 refugees. During 2017-18, SSI and its partners also held more than 30,000 individual client sessions with refugees and migrants who are further along in their settlement journeys, through the NSW Settlement Partnership (NSP).
The SSI team also supported more than 3,900 people seeking asylum living in the Australian community.
We helped people to achieve economic independence.
This area continued to grow in leaps and bounds, with SSI establishing new programs for people with disability and parents of young children seeking employment. We now deliver 15 employment and small business start-up programs. During the year, we supported more than 5,500 people across these programs, including more than 1,100 people who were supported to secure employment — over 700 of whom came from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
We empowered young people.
Employment, education and English are the key focuses of SSI youth program in recognition of the unique barriers young people face in these areas. During 2017-18, 190 young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds participated in 74 activities coordinated by the Youth Collective (YC) — an initiative of SSI and its member organisations that aims to improve service delivery outcomes for multicultural youth in NSW.
We used innovation to close gaps.
Informed by our field expertise and the voices of the communities we work with, SSI identifies gaps in available services and creates innovative, integrated solutions. In 2017-18, for example, we launched The Experience Centre to address a growing requirement for white-collar workplace experience opportunities within newly arrived refugee communities. Within two months of launching, 71 participants have undertaken training and short-term work placements at the centre, with 12 going on to secure employment as a direct result.
We stretched internationally.
The goal of strengthening partnerships and policy drove the 2017-18 work of SSI’s International Protection team.
SSI focused on international engagement with global refugee body UNHCR and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA). In June 2018, SSI’s HSP Manager Yamamah Agha took on the challenging role of Rapporteur for the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs.