“At that time, I couldn’t understand very well” An exploratory study of volunteering as a pathway to integration for asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland

Abstract

Introduction: The year 2023 saw the highest number of people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom (UK) for two decades (Home Office, 2023a). Therefore, examining experiences of asylum seekers and refugees integrating into communities has become increasingly relevant. The UK government holds a particularly restrictive approach to immigration and asylum, including not allowing asylum seekers to take up employment. As such, the Home Office (2023c) encourages people who seek asylum to volunteer whilst their claim is being considered. This dissertation is concerned with the role of volunteering as a potential pathway towards the process of integration for asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow.

Methods: This dissertation adopts a qualitative study approach, based on secondary analysis of 14 interviews with refugees. Thematic analysis was guided by a conceptual framework, Indicators of Integration Framework (Ndofor-Tah et al., 2019), to understand the experiences of volunteering for asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow and to what extent does volunteering aid or discourage integration.

Findings: Based on the analysis of the interviews, factors both supporting and hindering refugee integration emerged, providing a nuanced picture of the role of volunteering towards integration. The positive pathways from volunteering to integration were: connections to people and organisations, multi-cultural learning, indirect progress towards employment and the fact that volunteering provided a purpose. The limiting pathways from volunteering to integration were: limited evidence of volunteering leading to direct employment and that it was yet another system to navigate.

Conclusion: The findings of this study point to the fact that in many cases, volunteering has proved to be a valuable resource for newcomers who are from a background very different to the environment in which they find themselves. It was also noted that volunteering has the capacity to be dynamic and person specific therefore, activating different pathways to integration over the time continuum from first arrival into the country.