The Basis Project blog

RCO e-news

Special announcements

Last chance to book Business Start up (28 September) and Social Enterprise (1 October) trainings
FREE (travel expenses and child care costs reimbursed and lunch provided)

Don’t miss these Financial Literacy Project training sessions on Business Start up and Social Enterprise for Communities in central London. The Business Start up course will include sections on business models and legal structures, planning and business finance. The Social Enterprise course will include looking at organisational models, sources of revenue and planning and setting up a social enterprise. For more information or to book a place on either course please contact Karla McLaren on 020 7346 1094 or karla.mclaren@refugeecouncil.org.uk

Survival in the current climate: Funding Alternatives for Refugee Community Organisations
14 October 2010 11am - 4pm, Reading, FREE (travel costs reimbursed to RCOs with valid receipts)

This Basis Project South East event is for refugee community organisations and other small charities. The all day event will provide the opportunity to talk to other refugee community organisations about social enterprise, contracts and commissioning. The key speaker will be the Director of Manchester Refugee Support Network; additionally some funders may attend. For more info and a booking form please contact BeatrizF@refugee-action.org.uk

The Basis Project South East – Commissioning Opportunity

The Basis project would like to commission a refugee community organisation (RCO) based in the South East to carry out a mapping exercise. This exercise should include the services that are on offer for refugees and asylum seekers across the region, whilst identifying what are the unmet needs or gaps in provision.

Refugee Action would like to offer you the opportunity to apply for this commission and is offering up to £6000 for the completed work. The report will be used to inform the continuation and/or development of new services by Refugee Action, the wider Basis Project and will be available to other refugee organisations so that they can develop services if they wish to.

The Basis Project is an England-wide service, led by Refugee Council and Refugee Action, giving one-to-one support to hundreds of refugee community organisations (RCOs) to help them manage, develop and sustain their work.

If you are interested in applying for this commission please email BeatrizF@Refugee-Action.org.uk for an application form (a short application form). The deadline for receipt of completed application forms is 12pm Thursday 16 September 2010.

If you cannot meet this deadline, please contact Beatriz Fernandez on 020 7 654 7713.

RCO e-news

Special Announcement

Read the latest issues of RCO News and RCO Women’s News

The most recent issues of our bi monthly newsletters, RCO News and RCO Women’s News, will be available online on Monday 6 September. You can read the newsletters at the web link below. In these issues find out about how refugees and asylum seekers fit into the Big Society in RCO News; and the closure of the Refugee Women’s Development Project at the Northern Refugee Centre in RCO Women’s News. Find both newsletters at www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/howwehelp/support/development/newsletters

News

Quarterly Statistical Summary shows that over two thirds of initial decisions are refusals

The Home Office has released the Quarterly Statistical Summary for Q2 (April - June) 2010. Figures show that applications for asylum were 29% lower than in Q2 2009, and an overwhelming 79% of initial decisions granted during the quarter were refusals. Only 15% were granted asylum and 9% granted Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave. To read the report in full visit http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/immiq210.pdf

Changes in permission to work for asylum seekers

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of ZO (i.e. that people who have made fresh claims are entitled to apply for permission to work after 12 months of making the claim) UKBA changed Immigration Rules so that all asylum seekers applying for permission to work after 9 September 2010 will be restricted to occupations on the national shortage list. For more information on who can apply for permission to work, and how, visit www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/Resources/Refugee%20Council/downloads/policy/permission%20to%20work%20aug%2009%20update.pdf

Refugee Council and Community Links research about informal working

RCOs are invited to complete a questionnaire on informal working in refugee communities. The findings will help the Greater London Authority implement their ‘London Enriched’ strategy. Completed questionnaires will be entered into a prize draw for your organisation. The deadline is 10 September and your answers will be confidential. To take part visit www.survey.bris.ac.uk/refugeecouncil/informaleconomy

Share your RCO’s experience

We are looking for RCOs to share their experiences to help other RCOs; around fundraising, social enterprise, commissioning, partnership/ collaborative working and building community resilience. We can offer £200 per experience paper and you can submit more than one. This is a Basis Project initiative, taken forward by Refugee Council. For more information visit http://refugeecouncil.typepad.com/basis_project_blog/2010/09/share-your-rcos-experience.html

Experience papers or documents must be submitted by 29 September 2010.

Share your RCO’s experience

The Basis Project is looking for RCOs to share their experiences to help other RCOs around fundraising, social enterprise, commissioning, partnership/ collaborative working and building community resilience.

We can offer £200 per experience paper and you can submit more than one. You can also share documents such as needs assessments, policies, and business plans etc, fee to be agreed. This is a Basis Project initiative, taken forward by Refugee Council. You can find more information here (pdf) and download an experience paper template (pdf) to give you an idea of what we're looking for.

To apply, email a brief description of the experience or document you would like to share to Helen.todd@refugeecouncil.org.uk by 20 September; experience papers must be submitted by 29 September 2010.

 

How are the government spending cuts affecting your RCO?

The Refugee Council is carrying out research on the UK government spending cuts policy as they affect refugee community organisations (RCOs).

You can respond to this online survey at: https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/refugeecouncil/rcosept2010/

If you have any questions please email Jean-Pierre Mafutala at Jeanpierre.mafutala@refugeecouncil.org.uk

Making your services more effective - free course for RCOs

The Charities Evaluation Service is running a free course for Refugee Community Organisations on 5 Oct 2010 - 6 Oct 2010

This 2-day course is for anyone from a Refugee Community Organisation in London.

Overall aim

Participants will have a clear understanding of how to use monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate, and improve, the effectiveness of their services.

Specific aims

By the end of the two-day course, participants will:

• understand key evaluation concepts and terminology
• be able to identify and clarify aims and objectives, outputs and outcomes
• be able to set indicators to help assess achievements of outputs and outcomes
• be able to identify the requirements for basic monitoring systems
• have developed their own self-evaluation frameworks
• be able to identify some simple ways to collect information

Full details are availble here (pdf)