Lacking Accountability and Effectiveness Measures: Exploring the Implementation of Mentoring Programs for Refugee Youth

Fiza Mairaj ()
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Fiza Mairaj: College of Education, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: A high proportion of refugees coming into the U.S. are under the age of 18, and many continue to struggle to attain basic educational qualifications which may lead to viable economic opportunity. Recently, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) began issuing youth mentoring (YM) grants to support the integration of refugee youth. This paper explores the decision-making processes of resettlement organizations in a vertically complex network of organizations which implemented the YM programs for refugee youth in one large city of Texas. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with program implementers, findings suggest that resettlement agencies remain powerless in making key programmatic decisions, including implementation of the programs and designing accountability and effectiveness measures, which can truly evaluate the program quality. Other findings suggest that across the network of organizations involved in implementation of the YM programs, compliance with federal regulation is prioritized over accountability. The lack of program effectiveness and accountability measures have implications for one of the most vulnerable population, refugee youth. The main recommendation for policy and practice argues for the lead public agency’s increased involvement in defining key outcomes for the program recipients in a vertically complex network.

Keywords: refugees; accountability; youth mentoring; vertical complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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