IINE Workshops

The Center on Forced Displacement and International Institute of New England (IINE) initiated a collaboration to support IINE staff to learn more about the international refugee regime. IINE is the largest resettlement organization in the New England area and has grown rapidly in the past years, but like many similar organizations, they have faced high burnout rates and staff turnover as case workers report stress and frustration with their role in the US resettlement system. Our hypothesis was that staff would benefit from the learning and discussion opportunities that CFD could provide in a workshop setting with a wide-ranging curriculum. We held six exploratory workshops in May and June 2024 on topics ranging from race and gender in refugee resettlement to secondary trauma and stress.

We will be revising our curriculum for a second cohort with the goal of publishing training materials and teaching tools as well as papers about the needs of resettlement organizations, best practices in training staff, and the collaborative project more generally.