You're in a safe place: community-centred programs supporting the resettlement of Sudanese people from refugee backgrounds

You're in a safe place: community-centred programs supporting the resettlement of Sudanese people from refugee backgrounds

The number of refugees from Sudan grew significantly in many Australian regions over the period 2000-10 through both primary and secondary resettlement. This included the major Queensland regional city of Toowoomba.
The Sudanese population of Toowoomba faced many challenges, including in relation to education, employment, housing, chronic health issues and social tensions. Members of this group typically came from backgrounds of extreme disadvantage and trauma, centring on the wide-ranging impact of Sudan's protracted civil war, and had subsequent highly challenging refugee experiences.
The challenges for regional cities under these circumstances were considerable, particularly as the level of pre-planning and government assistance provided was limited. In essence, communities were largely left to their own devices to address issues as they arose and to fill the gaps in service requirements. Charitable community organisatioons played a major role in this activity, and an increasingly significant role was played by the local regional university.
This chapter provides a retrospective case example of how community-centred approaches were used to face the challenges of refugee resettlement - a working example of 'community for community' (C4C). This chapter explores the crucial links between educational development and the enhancement of social capital for this newly arrived settler group and the role that community-focused regional universities can play in community capacity building.

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