Resilience and the Immigrant Settlement Sector: A Consideration of the Place of Accountability and Performance Management

Resilience is about the ability to rebound and adapt to change, disruption, adversity and/or stress. It is concerned with the return to a state of stability or even prosperity or greater functionality. For immigrants and their families, resilience relates to their ability to settle, adapt and prosper in their new country with the aid of the settlement service system. The resilience of the immigrant settlement sector and the newcomers they serve is dependent on a number of factors. Among these, in terms of resilience, is an underappreciated component centered on accountability and performance measurement by funders. Funder accountability and performance measurement systems are not neutral tools. They have for example, been connected to excessive organizational operational structures and reporting burdens that shift nonprofits’ accountability focus away from newcomer clients and immigrant communities toward an excessive emphasis on addressing funder accountability ‘needs’.