Report: the impact of refugee community organisations during Covid-19 and the role played by Scottish Refugee Council’s Participative Community Funding Process.
One year into lockdown, our new report highlights the impact of new Scots community groups who received participative funding.
Communities have had a vital role to play during the Covid-19 pandemic. Stories of mutual aid and community activism sprung up immediately as the crisis took hold which proved the resilience of communities to respond quickly and effectively. However, this reliance upon grassroots mobilisation can also be a sign of statutory neglect towards people who are minoritised.
The importance of community, and the reliance upon community support to meet essential needs, is not a new phenomenon for new Scots communities. People in the asylum system, with refugee status and other migration statuses are purposefully excluded from statutory support. Communities have always taken on the role of providing access to information and essential items, and are integral to the process of integration and discovering what it means to belong in Scotland.
Communities have been strong, resilient and adaptive in the face of the pandemic, and we are so grateful to have been able to support people in this way. Whilst our funding model has certainly not been the only source of support for communities at this time, this report provides a snapshot of the impact of some of our funding and the potential for future development.
Tuoyo, pictured, runs the Heart of Africa community café in Bridgeton. Our grant enabled him to support families with no internet access to get laptops.
Hear from community groups supported by the funding.
Friends for All Project: “The resilience and commitment of the organisation to the community was tested in this crisis. The funding has helped the organisation to learn that when the need arises, we can be resilient, adaptive, and agile.”
Renfrewshire Effort to Empower Minorities: “The funding helped us to identify and improve our resilience in supporting vulnerable families during times of need. Many of the families we supported would have fallen into deeper social problems had we not had the funding to extend support.”
The Yemeni Community in Scotland: “ Our community would have been in a continuous dire condition. We are happy that we at least managed to help them worry less about providing for themselves.”
