Utilizing photovoice for social justice advocacy among refugees

Issues: Empowering refugees in Utah to advocate to state agencies and local chambers of commerce for employment opportunities to be extended to refugee communities.

Description: Refugee community leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah, met with Brigham Young University MPH students and were instructed on the basic tenets of photovoice. The refugee leaders were then provided a digital camera with which to document their need for better employment opportunities. After the photos were taken, the refugee leaders met again with the advocacy team (MPH students), and the leaders described the general themes of the photos. Following this meeting, the advocacy team added captions to the photos which were based on comments from the refugee community leaders. After preliminary testing among decision makers and analysis of the photovoice product, the advocacy team went back to the refugee leaders and asked them have the refugees themselves provide the captions for the photos. The photos were then presented to state health and employment agencies, as well as local chambers of commerce.

Lessons Learned: Photovoice is a powerful tool for advocating change, but it is most powerful when the entire process is managed by the population at-risk and the health professionals function as guides in the process.

Recommendations: Continued contact with stakeholders and utilizing additional advocacy tools to effect change for refugee populations in Utah.