Supporting vulnerable refugees, advocating for, and building the capacity of grass roots refugee communities is the mission of a new not-for-profit organisation.

The RCAA Foundation is a refugee driven organisation that also aims to give refugees with lived experience a voice to government and in national conversations.

The inaugural foundation chair is settlement sector veteran and the retiring CEO of settlement agency AMES Australia Cath Scarth.

An extension of the Refugee Communities Association of Australia, the bi-partisan foundation aims to work with grass roots refugee communities in Australia to build their capacity, advocacy and agency.

Ms Scarth said the foundation was about self-determination and agency for refugee communities.

“The foundation is an opportunity to build capacity within refugee communities to help them devise and deliver their own solutions to the challenges they face,” Ms Scarth said.

“We saw during the COVID pandemic the ability of refugee communities to rise above challenges and support each other.

“The foundation is also an opportunity for people who are not from refugee communities to play a part in supporting them,” Ms Scarth said.

 RCAA Foundation director Parsu Sharma Luital said the Foundation’s aim was “to incorporate the authentic, grassroots voices of refugees directly into key national discussions”.

“The foundation aims to make our community work sustainable. We want to create opportunities to source resources that support refugee communities and empower them to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

“Many people don’t understand that refugees are making positive contributions to Australia economically and socially. Part of the work of the foundation will be to change that.

“Many people also think that refugees come with problems and challenges. But they also come with solutions, skills, expertise and the opportunity to put forward and implement those solutions could materially benefit many lives,” Mr Sharma Luital said.

Fellow foundation director Elijah Buol OAM said the foundation was an extension of RCAA’s work in supporting refugee communities.

“Our mission is to support refugees and people seeking asylum and to empower them as well as to provide resources and financial support so they can achieve their goals and aspirations and fulfil their potential,” Mr Buol said.

The foundation’s constitution states its object is “to provide direct assistance to people in Australia who are disadvantaged by poverty, illness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability, destitution or helplessness so as to arouse compassion in the community, with a particular emphasis on migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and people from a culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are at financial risk or in other vulnerable circumstances”.

RCAA is the national peak body for grass roots refugee communities.