The literature review covers national strategies, policies, and plans to assist migrant settlement generally. The review includes specific references and provision for information services in Australia and Canada, some aspects of experience in Ireland, and some findings from an overview of the ‘2-1-1 service’, a federally and state-funded telephone information and referral service found across the United States.
The review does not specifically address the special needs of refugees.
The review does not discuss information that might be provided to members of the host community to assist their knowledge and understanding of migrants. This is an area for future research, since the consensus is that host environments are an important part of ensuring successful outcomes for migrants.
The review focuses on information and the information needs of migrants in the published international literature of countries with immigration jurisdictions that have similar features to the immigration jurisdiction of New Zealand. The scope of the review is restricted to human information behaviour and information behaviour related to migrants and migrant settlement. The review does not include theories of information and does not explore the literature on information and communications technology.
Purpose
This literature review is a survey of international good practice in the delivery of information services to migrants in New Zealand. The review can be used as a resource to guide service delivery and to enable government-funded services to be bench-marked and monitored.
Since the evaluation literature is dynamic, understandings of good practice in the provision of information services evolve over time. Therefore, future guidelines or practical assessment tools will need to change accordingly.
Key Results
This literature review has found consistent findings in the published research that an information service for migrants should be designed, developed, and operated to meet the specific needs of an identified group of migrants in a particular time and place. The information service should provide that group of migrants with ‘information grounds’ ie, make information available in places where people meet or conduct activities in the course of daily life in such ways that people are confident that their needs will be addressed.
Specifically, 12 key good practices in delivering information services to migrants were identified. These practices are grouped in three categories: planning the information service, running the information service, and the information content.
Planning an information service
Good practice when planning an information service is that:
- the service is based on a detailed needs analysis for specific groups
- migrants are involved in all levels of the design and planning of the service
- a variety of services besides information services can be offered to clients, directly or through referrals
- the service has consistent and adequate funding.
Running an information service
Good practice when running an information service is that:
- the service is accessible to the specific groups to be targeted as needing the service
- the service has staff members that are culturally competent in regard to targeted client groups and trained in the provision of information services
- services are offered in a manner that is culturally appropriate to the identified target groups
- the service offers direct access or personalised referrals to mainstream or government agencies that provide further services to clients.
The information
Good practice in relation to the information is that:
- information is provided that is relevant to the identified information needs of the targeted client base
- processes and procedures are in place to ensure services are based on accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information
- services and information are provided in the client’s language wherever possible and appropriate
- information is delivered through channels and media appropriate to the information grounds and the information needs of the targeted client base.