The Basis Project blog

Online web-build

In the last few months we've been investigating free online web-build tools to see if they might be appropriate for RCOs to use.

These tools, like Weebly, Doodlekit and edicy, are following in the footsteps of free blogging tools like Blogger and Wordpress, with user-friendly interfaces that make online publishing easier than ever before.

But is it easy enough for people with no online backgrounds? And are the tools (almost all of which are little more than a year old) still too new to be reliable? Would organisations still be better off getting professional web help and support?

We'll be continuing our research over the next month or so but if anyone fancies taking a look at some of these free tools in the meantime it would be interesting to hear what you think.

A guide to commissioning migrant and refugee community organisations

A new guide has been published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to help commissioners, migrant and refugee community organisations (MRCOs) and the bodies that support them to deliver services that meet the needs of refugees and new migrants, while simultaneously promoting the role of MRCOs.

More Responsive Public Services? A guide to commissioning migrant and refugee community organisations, by John Perry and A. Azim El-Hassan for the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (hact) can be downloaded for free from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.

It includes chapters on:

• Accommodation and related support
• Housing related support through Supporting People
• Providing integration and employment services to refugees
• Legal aid services, access to healthcare services for young people
• ESOL training and job-related training.

Many organisations have already endorsed the guide.

Arten Llazari, manager of the Wolverhampton Refugee and Migrant Centre and Chair of the Migrants’ Rights Network said: "The guide will make statutory bodies realise that many MRCOs are properly equipped to deliver services and will help MRCOs to understand how to better ‘sell’ their hard work."

Sandy Buchan, chief executive of Refugee Action said: "This guide should be read by every central and local government official, so that when they commission services they are able to draw on and include the energy and ideas of the migrant and refugee communities."

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, added: "It's an invaluable and timely guide for both MRCOs looking to develop services and bodies seeking to commission them."

Understanding public law

The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) has been in touch to let us know about their project, Empowering The Voluntary Sector, which will be of interest to many refugee community organisations.

Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, it brings together NAVCA and the Public Law Project (PLP) to support the voluntary and community sector to understand the principles and framework of public law. There's a national training programme, a free legal advice line and a quarterly newsletter.

Kevin Curley, chief executive of NAVCA says: "Small organisations often feel helpless when they are informed from on high that their funding is being withdrawn or services are being cut. This project will give them the information and support they need to challenge unjust decisions taken by public bodies. It will help them develop the confidence to engage in a robust dialogue, making litigation an option of last resort to tackle those public bodies that continue to shirk their responsibilities."