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Four Ways to Meaningfully Center Lived Experience in Consultation with Resettlement Providers

This blog post is based on research conducted by Lillie Hinkle, formerly Associate Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), to address the importance of meaningfully including lived experience in quarterly consultations. The findings and recommendations draw on insights shared in interviews with resettlement leaders who have lived experience of forced displacement and resettlement.

 

As our communities welcome increasingly diverse newcomers, it’s more important than ever to center those newcomers’ voices and experiences. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) recently emphasized this need by explicitly requiring greater efforts by state and replacement designee (RD) leaders to engage ethnic communities and individuals with lived experience, informing service design and delivery. Building on existing inclusive practices, this requirement opens doors for people with lived experience to play a more meaningful role in shaping resettlement efforts, including through participation in quarterly consultations (QC).

 

What is at Stake Without Authentic Representation of Lived Experience?

To better understand the importance of incorporating lived experience into resettlement processes, it’s essential to examine the risks, costs, and missed opportunities that arise when newcomer perspectives are overlooked. MPI highlights that neglecting the voices of newcomers can lead to serious consequences for the effectiveness of resettlement strategies discussed during QCs. Meaningful participation of resettlement providers and community leaders with lived experience is not just beneficial but necessary for successful and inclusive resettlement approaches.

  • Diversity of perspectives is critical for creating effective and impactful resettlement policies. Neglecting newcomer voices in consultation and decision-making diminishes the efficiency and legitimacy of resettlement services. When dialogue includes a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and displacement experiences, it enriches stakeholders’ understanding of the barriers and opportunities in resettlement. However, simply having diverse voices in the room is not enough; these voices must be actively consulted and included in decision-making, to avoid reducing diversity to a mere quota. When refugee voices are genuinely integrated into discussions, it enhances the credibility of the process and helps capture integration gaps and successes more accurately.
  • Refugees are technical experts and intellectual partners, not just storytellers. Many newcomers working in resettlement have extensive technical experience and insights that can greatly enhance resettlement programs, but they are often only included in consultative spaces to share their personal stories. While storytelling is vital for community-building and understanding, it should not be the only role available to them in consultations. Limiting refugee participation to recounting forced migration experiences can lead to tokenism, and may even cause re-traumatization, as their dignity and expertise are overlooked. Instead, treating refugees as intellectual partners and engaging them in meaningful ways throughout the process honors their capacity to contribute significantly to program design and implementation, shifting away from outdated views of refugees as mere recipients of aid.
  • Trusted messengers travel further. Trust is a crucial but intangible asset in refugee resettlement. Resettlement professionals who make genuine efforts to build trust are able to encourage more candid and constructive feedback from the community. Furthermore, when leaders in resettlement with lived experience contribute to consultations in this way, they deepen their connection to and shared understanding with newcomer clients. Authentically engaging these leaders with lived experiences helps others feel more comfortable and valued, leading to more meaningful participation in consultations. Trusted community members bridge gaps during consultations by fostering open dialogue and making others feel more comfortable sharing their perspectives.

 

What are Four Ways We Can More Effectively Integrate Lived Experience into QCs?

1. Invest in refugee leadership at the local, state, and federal levels.

  • Promote refugee leadership: Address barriers to leadership roles for newcomers, ensuring that policies and organizational values reflect the experiences of those most affected by resettlement programs.
  • Remove structural barriers: When hiring for resettlement programs, critically analyze whether required qualifications—such as standardized educational or English literacy requirements—are necessary. These requirements may prevent highly qualified individuals with lived experience from accessing senior leadership opportunities.
  • Support human-centered coaching and mentorship: Building or connecting with empowering programs, like those provided by WeaveTales and Refugee Congress, can help newcomers with an interest in resettlement work develop leadership skills and policy expertise.
  • Facilitate the creation of refugee-led spaces: If your community lacks available opportunities or spaces for newcomers to lead, invest time and energy into initiatives that enable newcomers to build their own platforms, ensuring they have a prominent role in shaping policies and strategies to advocate for programs and services that serve newcomers.

 

2. Ensure opportunities for refugee participation in consultative spaces are meaningful by keeping dialogue consistent, accountable, and accommodating.

  • Maintain consistency: Engagement should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Regular check-ins and updates show that input is valued continuously, which builds trust and encourages deeper participation over time. Consistent interaction helps people see how their contributions impact decisions, increasing their willingness to engage in future discussions.
  • Provide accommodations: Ensure that refugees can participate fully by offering necessary accommodations such as interpretation services, transportation, flexible scheduling, and child care. Addressing concerns about safety and providing a culturally sensitive environment can also facilitate greater involvement and comfort in consultative processes.
  • Promote accountability: Create spaces where refugees have control over how they participate and what issues they prioritize. This approach helps move away from a patronizing model, allowing refugees to surface community issues and contribute to solutions in ways that align with their needs and perspectives.

 

3. Reflect the diaspora communities responsible for increasing resettlement capacity through alternative pathways in coordination and consultation strategies.

  • Connect with and include members of diaspora communities: Engage diaspora groups, especially those involved in private sponsorship and humanitarian parole, in consultation efforts. Their increased participation can enhance the effectiveness of resettlement strategies.
  • Coordinate with service providers: Recognize the role of those with lived experience providing services informally in the community, ensuring that their perspectives and experiences are integrated into consultation strategies. This can help to align newer resettlement efforts (like through Welcome Corps) with the needs of beneficiaries and the practical constraints of sponsors.

 

4. Collect, synthesize, and distribute feedback solicited from providers and groups with lived experience regarding refugees’ experiences and engagement.

  • Share feedback: Regularly collect and anonymize feedback from individuals with lived experience about their QC participation. Distribute this synthesized feedback to enhance transparency and improve engagement strategies.
  • Create feedback channels: Identify existing mechanisms for capturing stakeholder feedback or create new opportunities to listen to and incorporate perspectives from those with lived experience. This helps ensure that inclusivity is a core aspect of your QC processes.

 

What’s Next?

Integrating and stewarding lived experience in the vital resettlement work we do is essential, but it takes time and concerted effort. For further support in accomplishing greater newcomer inclusion in your consultations and other resettlement spaces, check out any of the following related Switchboard resources:

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  • Switchboard is a one-stop resource hub for refugee service providers in the United States. With the support of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), we offer tools and materials, learning opportunities, research, and technical assistance on resettlement-related topics. From employment, education, and health, to monitoring and evaluation, Switchboard’s focus areas reflect real-world needs.

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