Asylum Seeker Engagement and Support

This project was developed and delivered in partnership by Bournville College and the Community Integration Partnership (CIP), between January and March 2006.

The aim of the project was to make contact with a range of agencies, organisations and individuals in order to establish new links, and further develop existing ones, to ensure an effective cohesive network of statutory and community / voluntary providers.  The links included hostels where emergency accommodation is provided for asylum seekers.

Newly arrived asylum seekers were the focus of the activity and this included:

• Encouraging participation in activities that would provide a first level of awareness raising.
• Building links between people and peers in addition to organisations and agencies.
• Initial sessions focusing on key activities to raise awareness and enable the target group to function more effectively within the local and wider community.
•  Assist in the development of Citizenship related skills.

A further key activity within this project was to develop the skills, language and ability to enable participants to provide peer support.

Mentoring activity was central to the success of the development and to the embedding / mainstreaming of good practice identified within the project.

This is the final project report outlining the activity within the project, the innovative practice, outputs, case studies and issues related to mainstreaming the developments.

The findings from a research paper prepared during the project period (ESOL Provision for Asylum Seekers in Emergency Accommodation, Garner, March 2006, unpublished) will be referred to and key messages included in this report.

Please download the full report for more detailed information.