Training & Technical Assistance for Bhutanese and Burmese Communities

The Training & Technical Assistance for Bhutanese and Burmese Communities project is a three-year project supported by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that seeks to build capacity of the Bhutanese and Burmese communities so that they can better organize and address the resettlement and long term integration needs of their community members.

SEARAC works in partnership with The Intergenerational Center (IGC) at Temple University, MOSAICA: The Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism, and the Karen American Communities Foundation (KACF) during the first year of this project.

The project includes three components:

1. Building community relationships and gaining greater understanding of community needs.

In partnership with the Intergenerational Center at Temple University, preliminary needs assessments of the Bhutanese and Burmese communities have been conducted to prepare for focus groups of these communities. The focus groups will be conducted in four to five sites in June, July and August 2010.

The preliminary findings and information gathered from the focus groups will be compiled in a report at year end to provide both the target communities and refugee service providers, supporters, and funders needs and assets data to help develop relevant programs and support for these communities.

2. Building capacity of community members to organize and help refugees toward self-sufficiency.

Following each focus group, SEARAC works with MOSAICA to conduct workshops on approaches and strategies refugee communities can adopt to support their community needs. We will follow up with workshop participants throughout the three-year project to help them access local training and support to further their development, and to learn by the end of the project, approaches they have chosen to support and represent their community members.

Also in this first year, a total of four groups or organizations (2 Bhutanese and 2 Burmese) will be selected through a competitive process to receive customized technical support over a period of 12 months. The technical support includes helping selected groups/organizations to define and refine organizational mission and objectives, establish leadership and operational infrastructure, develop meaningful and accountable service program designs, and build strategic community partnerships and networks for sustainability and growth. The training and support provided will be conducted via telephone, email, teleconference and web-based workshops, and site visits.

3. Increasing local service and resource collaborations among social service providers, resettlement agencies, ethnic CBOs, and Bhutanese & Burmese leaders.

As we collect data, we are also developing network lists of individuals and organizations whose interests and work are relevant for the Bhutanese and Burmese communities to access. In years two and three, we will be holding onsite and web-based workshops and meetings that provide technical trainings and network building with refugee service and mainstream agencies.