The Embrace Project

THE EMBRACE PROJECT (Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers)

Project Aims

The project aims to engage with refugees and asylum seekers in Salford through sharing local culture and heritage, developing appropriate internal and external partnerships, learning programmes, and on-site resources.

The project also seeks to assist in the integration of refugees and asylum seekers with the host community and go some way towards ‘myth busting’ about the new communities arriving in the city by celebrating the diversity and skills that new people bring to Salford. In 2006, there were over 450 reported incidents of hate crime in the city. The project aims to create greater understanding, awareness and appreciation of Salford’s newest residents.

Funding

The project is currently funded by the DCMA (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and the Barings Foundation. The former grant expires at the end of March 2008 and the latter at the end of October 2007.

Staffing

The EMBRACE project is currently staffed by a Project Officer (4 days a week from April 2007) and part time Volunteer Manager. Both these posts are fixed term contracts and external funding dependent.

Partners

Salford is part of a consortium of partners who deliver the Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers project across the UK. This consortium has been in existence, as has the EMBRACE project in Salford, since 2003.

Partners in this consortium are: National Museums Liverpool, Leicester Museums Service, and Tyne and Wear Museums Service.

Key partners the EMBRACE project works with in Salford include: Refugee Action, CVS (Council for Voluntary Service), numerous local colleges and ESOL (English as a Second Language) providers, Neighbourhood Management Teams, Community Development Teams, Community Arts North West, New Deal for Communities, numerous voluntary and community groups (such as The Kurdish Association), numerous refugee artists, and Salford City Council’s Diversity Officers.

Statistics

At the end of November 2006, the total number of refugees and asylum seekers living in Salford was 1127. Of this figure, 890 were being supported in dispersal accommodation, 21 were unaccompanied minors and 111 were refugees.

Salford has the second highest number of NASS (National Asylum Support Service) supported asylum seekers in the Greater Manchester authorities (after Manchester)

1.5% of the UK asylum seeking population (excluding refugees) lives in Salford

In terms of providing accommodation and subsistence, Salford is ranked as the tenth highest borough in the country (Glasgow is the first)

Key issues

§ Exploiting the imaginative theme of Heritage to develop ways to work with refugees and asylum seekers – developing language skills, maintaining cultural memory and learning new ones, and adding music, painting and drama from all over the world to the cultural mix of Salford.

§ Taking a thorough and planned approach at the start of the project to ensure that, through extensive consultation, elements of the project reflect community need

§ Gradually widening the range of partner organisations providing services and resources for and access to refugees and asylum seekers

§ Monitoring progress and outcomes with the huge range of cultures, ages, levels of language ability involved, a significant section of whom are transient or temporary residents.

Outcomes

• 2445 places on EMBRACE project activities were taken up by refugees and asylum seekers between April 2006 and March 2007
• Volunteer Programme

Since January 2006, over 20 volunteers all from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds have participated in the museum’s volunteer programme. Volunteers are either self-referred or are contacted via our partners in Refugee Action. The programme has become a permanent element of the EMBRACE project. Some volunteers have been with us for 9 months or more. All use the programme as a springboard to learn new skills, gain confidence and as a stepping-stone towards employment and training. Some are now engaged in doing Active Citizenship courses in the city.

• ESOL Resources

Salford Heritage Services formally launched its new ESOL resources in December 2006. Resources consist of a pack which can be used as pre and post learning to ESOL sessions delivered at both Salford Museum and Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall.

• Activities and Events

The EMBRACE project currently leads on events such as Refugee Week and, in conjunction with the Learning Team, Black History Month

• Exhibitions

The project has a visible input into a number of exhibitions at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. In 2006, the project led on the exhibition entitled ‘What Would You Do If…’ (open to the public for 8 months) which invited audiences to explore the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers in the UK today, and aimed to promote greater understanding of their skills and situations.

Challenges

The main challenge to this project from 2007-8 is the need to secure funding to continue and develop its great work. Ideally, we would like the project to be absorbed into core budgets. Continued advocacy work is essential to facilitate this. In the meantime, we will be working closely with our consortium partners to seek and procure funding, and approach other grant giving bodies for smaller amounts of money for more distinct elements of project work.