About NZRAP

The role of the New Zealand Refugee Advisory Panel (NZRAP) is to provide people with lived experience of forced displacement in Aotearoa New Zealand, with an opportunity to participate in the development of refugee resettlement strategies and policies in an effective and meaningful manner. The NZRAP aims to ensure that the interests, perspectives, and knowledge of refugees inform and influence strategic direction and policies on national, regional, and international refugee issues. The NZRAP represents a collaborative space for refugee communities, groups, and organisations to represent themselves and advocate collectively.

The NZRAP does not represent the ‘refugee voice’ nor claim to represent the entire refugee community in Aotearoa. Importantly, the NZRAP is not intended to replace existing structures or modes of engagement between Immigration New Zealand and refugee communities or refugee-led organisations (RLOs). It is an alternative means to facilitate the participation of different groups in policy-making, rather than establish a new organisational body to represent refugee voices.

The NZRAP seeks to both complement and collaborate with the broader refugee ecosystem in Aotearoa and acknowledges the diverse collective of stakeholders working within this space. In particular those refugee background individuals, groups and organisations who have been working in this space for many years.

What is Meaningful Refugee Participation (MRP)?

The NZRAP presents this working definition of MRP as:

“Meaningful refugee participation occurs when refugees from diverse backgrounds and at all levels have sustained and tangible influence in all fora where decisions, policies, and responses that impact their lives are being designed, implemented, and measured in a manner that is accessible, broad, informed, safe, free, and supported. MRP requires upskilling and training refugees how to strategically advance the objectives of their participation and how to identify and address tokenistic approaches. MRP happens when refugees choose to participate or not to participate based on their expertise as well as their lived experience”