REPAIR LEGACY
While the REPAIR project sought to increase the numbers of people National Society partners supported to access family reunification during its implementation period, beyond this, the project also aimed to build partners’ long-term capacity to work in family reunification.
Through internal and external awareness raising, trainings, relationship building, enabling investment in new staff and positions, experience sharing, research, and the development of new ways of working that have increased the participation of families seeking reunification in partners’ work, the REPAIR project has left a strong legacy that will support partners’ work in family reunification into the years ahead.
French Red Cross
The REPAIR project has been a huge opportunity for us as a team to develop how we work and how we approach our support to families seeking reunification. It’s enabled us to design a post-arrival scheme that answers families' needs and, with the support of our volunteer network all over France, helps maintain our link with families after arrival as they adapt and settle into their new lives.
It’s helped us to re-think how we work and develop by enabling more consultation and engagement with families seeking reunification, as well as with people from diaspora organisations and communities.
Very concretely, its enabled us to secure two permanent legal positions able to provide quality, long-term support, which has led to a 250% increase in the number of families we’ve been able to help.
And it’s also helped us train our Restoring Family Links volunteer network to better support people with family reunification needs and direct them to where they can access help with the process.
All of these things are not just wins for the duration of the project, they have strengthened French Red Cross’ work in family reunification for years to come.”
Austrian Red Cross
“There is no doubt, the long-term relationships, co-operation, and in some cases formal partnerships, we’ve developed with diaspora community organisations through the REPAIR project will contribute to us being better able to support families in their reunification journeys into the future.
Through these relationships, we’ve been able to work with trusted diaspora representatives to establish communication channels and feedback mechanisms to ensure we’re listening to what people need, and also able to share information people can trust.
The creation of new information materials about family reunification, in different formats that can be quickly and easily updated and shared, mean family members in Austria, and those abroad, can access the same information and better understand the process.
At the same time, we’ve been able to develop our own support to volunteers working in family reunification, and also established new cooperations to ensure families are better able to access the help they need after arriving in Austria. All of this means improvements in families’ experiences of reunification are not just for the REPAIR project, but very much for the long term.”
British Red Cross
“Tailoring REPAIR activities to the context we see in the UK, through the project we’ve been able to form new partnerships with legal providers to increase families’ access to legal advice.
These collaborations and that increased capacity are things that will continue beyond the lifetime of the project and have a huge impact on families’ ability to successfully access family reunification. We’ve collaborated together with refugee communities and diaspora-led organisations to provide training to their members to help ensure families have quicker access to accurate information about family reunification, and we’ve helped establish family reunification awareness groups within colleges and universities to further share information about the process.
Internally, REPAIR has given us the opportunity to build alliances and grow awareness and support for family reunification across departments in the British Red Cross, as well as globally through profiling the importance of family reunification in the Movement-wide Family Links network. And externally we have been able to consolidate the sharing of expertise in the wider sector and build collaboration with key stakeholders through trainings and events bringing together practitioners, the voluntary sector, and authorities – not least the Welsh government which has recently extended our role supporting recently-arrived families beyond the term of the REPAIR project.”
Slovenian Red Cross
Through the REPAIR Project we’ve been able to strengthen partnerships and collaboration with relevant governmental, non-governmental and international actors who play key roles in family reunification.
As part of the project, we helped establish the National Family Reunification Stakeholders’ Network, enabling members to provide more efficient support, tailored to families’ specific needs, but also facilitating the capacity development of stakeholders engaged in the family reunification process, including through the provision of Red Cross information sessions and psychosocial support trainings.
Slovenian Red Cross has also published a manual on family reunification in Slovenia for the orientation of stakeholders providing assistance during family reunification, and a “roadmap” leaflet providing guidance to families on the family reunification process and which organisations offer support.
Both of these have been made available in seven languages, and distributed to, and through, the Stakeholders’ Network.
The Network continues to seek new opportunities to guide, facilitate and support families on their road to reunification and life in Slovenia - together.