‘Our Voices Aren’t in Lockdown’—Refugee Young People, Challenges, and Innovation During COVID-19

Abstract

Using data drawn from consultations and interviews with young people from young people of refugee background in Melbourne, Australia, we examine how young people negotiate their lives in the context of settlement, specifically during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We listened to stories about the challenges they faced, and the initiative and actions they took during the lockdown of nine towers in public housing estates of inner Melbourne during June and July of 2020. In this research, we have found that, despite many pre-existing disadvantages, young people of refugee background have responded to the crisis through public health promotion, volunteering, and innovation. The pandemic has highlighted the role that young people play in supporting their families and communities in the settlement/integration process and the added responsibilities young people have assumed in the context of COVID-19. In negotiating these, young people have drawn upon embodied and communal ways of coping. This paper starts with an exploration of refugee young people's narratives about their lives and experiences during the pandemic. We adopt intersectionality as a method and analytical tool to interpret these experiences and the roles in which young people have enacted during this time-as navigators, carers, providers, and innovators. We end by evaluating the policy gaps these reflect and highlight.

Mapping young people’s social justice concerns: An exploration of voice and action

“…The 2020 Mission Australia Youth Survey also featured the COVID-19 pandemic as the second most important issue in Australia (39%), alongside equity and discrimination (40%) and mental health (31%). This survey also found that from 2019 to 2020 equity and discrimination as an issue of national importance had increased by 15%, evidence that confirms other research showing that the pandemic has widened inequality, with particular countries and groups bearing the brunt (Couch et al, 2021;van Barneveld et al, 2020). While this data provides us with an important understanding of young people and their attitudes towards social issues, it does not give a nuanced and in-depth look into what or how these issues are linked or how they manifest in young people's lives, particularly for those aged 19 to 25.…”

Psychological, social and financial impacts of COVID-19 on culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Sydney, Australia

“… 41 Qualitative studies have highlighted a large number of community-driven initiatives and actions that have emerged as a response to COVID-19, as well as embodied and communal ways of coping. 42 Using a strengths-based perspective, we must acknowledge the multiple capacities and resources of our culturally and linguistically diverse communities and provide properly resourced opportunities to work directly with them to address unique challenges that they face, as identified in this study. Our findings reinforce the need to prioritise support for community members living with comorbidities who are likely to bear a disproportionate impact.…”

“Our World Is Shaking Because of Corona”: Intersecting Crises and Disrupted Life Transitions among Young People in Ethiopia and Jordan Pre- and Post-COVID-19

“…In both Ethiopia and Jordan, adolescents' trajectories are clearly shaped by mobility, both in terms of the restrictions imposed upon them as a result of gender norms and/or legal status and in that being 'mobile' offers opportunities to transcend these restrictions. Research with young people on the move has documented the intensification of precarity that the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced for those who are already made vulnerable by existing systems that govern mobility (Barn et al 2021;Couch et al 2021). In sub-Saharan Africa, research with young migrants engaged in shoe-shining work in Ghana found that youth who lack other opportunities rely on being able to move to access informal work and that the pandemic has had significant negative effects on this livelihood strategy (Dzirasah 2021).…”

“…Whilst You et al (2020) underlined that migrant families are less likely to be included in economic recovery plans, which typically exclude informal sectors in which mobile populations are more likely to be working, their analysis did not attend to the experiences of adolescents who work, who in Ethiopia and Jordan are particularly likely to work informally. Driven by the inadequacy of policy responses, research has also found that, particularly in the early days of the pandemic, young migrants and refugees have been active in assisting and responding to the crisis within their communities (Hamad et al 2020;Couch et al 2021).…”