Capturing Practice Wisdom: Advancing the Empowerment of Women from Refugee and Migrant Backgrounds

Abstract

Internationally, the evidence about the successful design of refugee settlement programs is limited. To help address this gap, we examined staff practices within a program that aimed to advance the education, employment and empowerment of women from refugee and migrant backgrounds in communities in Northern New South Wales and South East Queensland in Australia. We engaged staff in collaborative critical reflection about their practice. Viewed through intersectionality, our findings revealed the empowering practice of staff in program design, in the ways that they worked together as a team and in their collaboration with broader supportive social networks. This practice was crucial to the program’s success and informed staff’ conceptualisation of what constituted that success. In brief, this study revealed the complex, often subtle features of professional practice that strives to be empowering in both the delivery of social service programs in this field and in the conceptualisation of program success. Future research is needed to acknowledge and support the developing practice wisdom in this field.