Social cohesion and wellbeing of Syrian refugees under temporary protection: A review over non-governmental organizations

The migrant policies that are adopted by countries generally takes a place between assimilation and multiculturalism approaches. Different policies that are based on these two approaches are being shaped by the governments of the host countries. It is criticized that the programs that are created are not successful enough to create a social cohesion. A social cohesion model that is based on recognition theory is seen as an answer to the criticisms and it is seen as an efficient model to develop a just and an ethical social cohesion. The evaluation of migrants' well-being is acknowladged as an important part of understanding which factors are important for migrants' success at social cohesion and how to measure the success of this situation. It is demonstrated in the studies, which try to show the positive effects of well-being in the increase of the level of social cohesion, that the migrants are not at the same level of the host countries' citizens when comparing their well-being levels. The necessity to uncover the reasons of this situation is pointed out in the literature. Studies, which are based on recognition theory, show that there is a positive correlation between positive recognition attitudes and the level of well being of the migrants. This study aims to find the meanings of recognition attitudes of the social cohesion activities that are carried out by the non-governmental organizations which work with Syrians who are under the temporary protection. Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA) has been used in this qualitative study and 27 semi structured interviews were carried out with participants who were contacted by using snowball sampling technique. Main theme of this study is described as " The need of communication starting from the individual experiences through the societal structure". The sub themes are grouped as "obstacles in recognition that are caused by the social structure", "positive recognition experiences", "obstacles in recognition in the scope of non-governmental organizations" and "hope for a positive recognition approach". In the end of this study, it is suggested that in order to generate positive recognition approaches in social cohesion activities, there should be interaction possibilities between both actors and participants that are both horizontal and vertical. The widespread adoption of positive recognition approaches may increase the success of migrants' social cohesion and their social well-being levels.