National Partnerships
Building Bridges Development Hub for Refugee Healthcare Professionals
Teachers Hub
As part of our strategic work for refugee teachers on the national task force we contributed to the establishment of the pilot 'hub' programme in London funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). We continue to be an active member of this partnership which aims to provide a coherent and integrated service to those seeking relevant training and employment in the education field.
Funding through the hub has enabled us to offer a new university accredited training programme, the Graduate Certificate in Educational Support.
Refugees into Teaching
We are partnes on the Refugee into Teaching programme with responsibility for the developement of an online assessment tool for refugee teachers called Your Path to a Career in Education. This project is led by the Refugee Council and includes NARIC, Newman College, Birmingham and the West London Partnership as the other partners.
The tool enables individuals to assess their previous experience and qualifications, access up-to-date information on routes into training and employment and to identify relevant career routes in Education. For more information on RiT click here.
Advisory Groups of Refugees and Asylum seekers
RAGU established two advisory groups of refugees and asylum seekers for the PRESTO and EASI Development Partnerships. The aim was to empower the beneficiaries to advise the partnerships at both operational and strategic levels. Advisory group members received training, attended the partnership meetings and had regular networking opportunities. The work of the Advisory Groups is detailed in the report 'Making Changes Together'.
2005 to 2007 Partnerships
From 2005 we worked nationally through two Equal (Round II) Development Partnerships, building on our experience of national working from Equal Round I. Equal, a European Social Fund initiative, tested and promoted new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in the labour market. Equal also includes action to support the vocational and social integration of asylum seekers.
Equal encouraged innovation which has gave us the freedom to develop new and exciting projects. Both the Information for Asylum Seekers website and HERAN came out of our involvement in the ASSET UK partnership, an Equal Round I Development Partnership.
As a member of the EASI (Empowering Asylum Seekers to Integrate) Development Partnership we developed an innovative orientation course aimed at asylum seeker professionals and graduates. We also focused on asylum seekers and volunteering through action research and training volunteers to keep a reflective diary of their experiences.
Our activities as part of our other Equal Development Partnership, PRESTO (Partnership for Refugee Employment through Support, Training and Online learning), included developing our networks in the health and education sectors and strengthening our links with local authorities. We piloted a small number of placements for refugees, mainly with health and education backgrounds.
We published six reports on our work including Guidelines for employers and agencies developing work placements in Schools, Local Authoroties and in the health sector.
