The conference will focus on facilitating conversations, sharing knowledge, and increasing awareness of the lived experiences of new and emerging communities, migrants, and multicultural communities and highlighting their contributions to Australia. Under the theme “Empowering Refugees and Multicultural Communities Together” the conference will explore how refugee communities move beyond initial settlement to multicultural leadership, ensuring their voices actively influence policies, services, and decision-making at all levels. The long- term goal is to establish a framework fostering a self-reliant, progressive, and culturally inclusive approach, strengthening refugee leadership through policy, advocacy, support, capacity building, and working with all stakeholders.

The conference will focus on building the leadership capacity of refugees by capturing and sharing their expertise, skills, and knowledge. Discussions will shift away from a victim narrative to a strengths-based approach, emphasizing initiative and solutions in refugee leadership, participation and integration. Sessions will include:

• Bringing together representatives from all states and territories to discuss common challenges, opportunities, and best practices, while developing a collaborative working model for the future.
• Examining state-specific approaches and their role in strengthening RCAA’s national advocacy voice.
• Exploring opportunities for collaboration between refugee communities and the wider Australian society.
• Strengthening partnerships between RCAA’s state chapters, which currently exist in South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria, with expansion into other states and territories under discussion.
• Exchanging best practices among refugee-led organisations and small community groups while identifying bottom-up approaches to strengthen their capacity and long-term sustainability.