Scottish Refugee Council are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for community groups across Scotland to apply for funding to deliver a peer education project which enables refugees to build social connections with the wider community, improve cultural orientation, increase language practice and build employability pathways.
Process
We are looking for 8 community groups who will receive up to £12,750 of funding to establish a 12 month programme of structured activities and opportunities for learning in the community, social connection, language improvement and integration. Ideally, the project should follow a Peer Education Model building on the successful Sharing Lives, Sharing Languages Pilot project . However, we will consider projects which do not follow a Peer Education Model. In which case, you will have to provide details of your approach and especially how it will deliver similar outcomes to the refugee participants over the 12 months of the project. Also, if you already operate a project involving peer learning in the community which improves social connection, language improvement and integration and want to expand this, particularly in some of the ways recommended by the SLSL Pilot Report, then please consider applying for a grant.
Whatever your proposed approach is, it will need to have a structure which enables regular reporting of financial and statistical information to evaluate improved integration, language skills and social connections. The Invitation to Tender document will provide all the details you need to apply for funding for your proposed project. Please be aware that individuals funded by Scottish Refugee Council to work on your project must have the right to work in the UK and community groups must be registered for tax with HMRC.
The purpose of this communication is to give you advance warning of the opportunity, provide some basic information and make reference to the Pilot Sharing Lives, Sharing Languages Pilot report so you can start to formulate your ideas. We will also make resources available prior to the start of the Tender Process for you to get further information and discuss your outline ideas with members of the Scottish Refugee Council Community Development Team and Regional Integration Co-ordinators.
Tender Process Timeline
The following table details the some of the important dates in both the Tender Process and any successful project.
Tender ready for distribution 25th March 2019
Tender closure date (6 Weeks) 5th May 2019
Decisions made 10th May 2019
Official Project start date 13th May 2019
Project start-up phase complete 10th June 2019
Official Project end date 10th May 2020
The other important date will be Wednesday 20th March 2019. On that day, the CD Team and Regional Integration Co-ordinators will be available to provide further information and answer questions about your proposed project. If you want to make use of this opportunity please contact the appropriate person to arrange a telephone appointment on the day.
If your group is in the Glasgow City Local Authority Area.
Your Regional Integration Co-ordinator is Petrit
email address: petrit.shala@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
If your group is in: Argyll & Bute, East Dunbartonshire, Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney Islands, Perth & Kinross, Shetland Islands, Stirling, or West Dunbartonshire.
Your Regional Integration Co-ordinator is Jen
email address: Jen.Anderson@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
If your group is in: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Fife, or Moray.
Your Regional Integration Co-ordinator is Marwa
email address: Marwa.Bushnaq@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
If your group is in: East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, or Dumfries & Galloway.
Your Regional Integration Co-ordinator is Aneel;
email address: Aneel.Bhopal@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
If your group is in: City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Falkirk, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, or West Lothian
Your Regional Integration Co-ordinator is Fee;
email address: Fee.Gerlach@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
Background Information
In July 2018 Scottish Refugee Council secured funding from the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to undertake a two-year project, New Scots Integration: Rights and Communities, which aims to ensure refugees are effectively integrated into Scottish society and able to achieve their goals and have their needs met; while communities are supported and prepared to welcome refugees and involve them in community life.
The project is being delivered in two work streams. Work stream 1 concentrates on individual needs and rights, whilst Work Stream 2 works with communities particularly refugee-led communities, receiving communities and faith-based groups working with refugees and asylum seekers.
One of the deliverables from Work Stream 2 is to establish a number of peer education projects using the Sharing Lives, Sharing Languages (SLSL) pilot project as a starting point. Sharing Lives, Sharing Languages is a successfully piloted and evidence-based peer education project that provided a structured intervention and model for community groups to support refugees to build social connections with the wider community, improve cultural orientation, increase language practice and build employability pathways.
The New Scots Integration: Rights and Communities project aims to roll out this pilot with 8 community groups in 8 local areas across Scotland, expanding the timeframe and breadth of the original pilot to act as a best practice template for how communities should organise integration activity.
The SLSL pilot aimed to increase the social connections and opportunities for non-native English speakers to use their English outside the classroom. It used a peer education model and complements the current local authority English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) provision by providing opportunities for peers and their peer educators to meet local people and practise their English in a natural setting.
The project proved very successful in facilitating cross-cultural communication as it allows native English speakers and non-native English speakers to share their lives and their languages with each other. The independently produced SLSL Pilot report made the following conclusion which led Scottish Refugee Council to seek funding to continue this type of project.
“According to Peer Educators’ experiences, the Sharing Lives, Sharing Languages project already has all the necessary components to be a sustainable project. The degree of informality within the groups, the creative structure behind the programme, the engagement of people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and the emphasis on peer support are all valuable assets that will enable the programme to thrive in a wide range of communities. The many achievements of this pilot project demonstrate its strengths and future potential.“
A deliverable of the Scottish Refugee Council New Scots Integration: Rights and Communities project funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)
