Making history with Dr Burhani

Imagine finding yourself as a highly educated, experienced and recognised doctor unable to practice your profession, simply because you were a refugee. For Dr Nadera Burhani this unfathomable position is exactly where she found herself after applying for asylum in Australia.

Dr Burhani is a practicing doctor and a public health professional, she arrived in Australia with an incredibly distinguished resume having held the title of Deputy Minister for Health Care Provision of Afghanistan. Like so many talented and qualified professionals seeking asylum in Australia, she faced a situation where working had changed from an ambitious career to a state of survival.

 ‘I suffered finding a job. Oh my God, I suffered. I applied to 100 jobs, and I was refused, rejected. And this is why I thought that I should start from somewhere – to do something for the problem that refugees are suffering. To raise their voices.’

Originally from Afghanistan, Dr Burhani first came to Australia to study a Master of Public Policy and Public Management at Melbourne University on a scholarship. When she finished her studies, the situation at home had become dire, a change of new government and disruption from the military caused instability and uncertainty. Afraid to go back, she made the choice to apply to stay in Australia.

Like so many others in the same position, one of the most frustrating barriers to employment is the lack of Australian experience and employer references. For Dr Burhani, this hurdle was slowly overcome through joining the ASRC as a Volunteer Health Promotion Officer, and joining as a client in the ASRC Mentoring Program.

“It was another opportunity for me to build my career and get some Australian experience. At the same time I got a position as volunteer with a good title and become a member of the ASRC.”

It was in this mentoring program where Dr Burhani had the opportunity to make history and become one of the first refugees to conduct and publish research on the refugee experience.

“The program initiative invites a leader from an organisation to a one hour meeting to teach us how they work, and to involve us in community development in Australia. Most of the members were educated in Australia plus in their country with huge life experience.”

When the Mentoring team invited the refugee program of Melbourne University to come and present research they planned to conduct on refugees, Dr Burhani took matters into her own hands.

“I said ‘why do you always take us as a sample size? Give us opportunity to be a researcher. They said ‘can you?’ and I said yes, why not, we can do the research for our self, especially in the subject that we are struggling for’.

Informed by her own experiences, as well as vast research and wide-scope literature reviews, Dr Burhani has since co-authored (with Jawid Sayed) a policy briefing paper titled: Facilitating better employment opportunities for refugee background migrants and people seeking asylum in Australia published by Melbourne University’s Social Equity Institute.

‘The main aims of the review is produce recommendations and find the gaps for policy makers – because it should change policies.’

The paper outlines key barriers that refugees and people seeking asylum face when trying to secure work in Australia. Dr Burhani emphasises the importance of work for refugees and people seeking asylum, not only for economic security but also for the feeling of inclusion and the sense that they are contributing citizens in their new country.

‘They need support. Being settled in a new country is not an easy task, they need time, allow them to contribute and allow them to integrate.’

Some of Dr Burhani’s key recommendations are to ensure that the visa determination process is fair and timely; support early English language acquisition; develop a national refugee employment strategy; improve accreditation services and providing access to education; support regional settlement; strengthen our settlement service sectors and support entrepreneurism among refugees and people seeking asylum.

For Dr Burhani, these elements are all embodied through the work of the ASRC who she has credited with special thanks within her paper. Fighting hard for her success; Dr Burhani has defied odds and worked tirelessly. She was awarded the 2018 award of leadership from Melbourne University, among 70,000 alumni.

For the ASRC seeing the success, agency and empowerment that Dr Burhani has continue to forge and share is overwhelmingly rewarding, and would not be possible without the continuing support of the whole ASRC community.

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