Rayne Fellowships for refugees announced
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund welcomes the announcement that five Rayne Fellows have been selected to take part in The Rayne Foundation's fellowship scheme for refugees.
Refugees face many barriers to entering into the UK mainstream. They lack access to networks, find it hard to engage in civil society, experience difficulties in securing paid employment and face prejudice and a lack of understanding of their needs. The Fellowship scheme aims to equip talented refugees to contribute to their community and to promote understanding between refugee communities and wider society. Fellows will have the opportunity to put a ‘Big Idea' - a project of their own design to help make a difference to the lives of other refugees in their communities - into practice.
In March 2009, the Fund awarded a three year grant of £100,000 to The Rayne Foundation towards the scheme. The scheme will be delivered by Praxis Community Projects, a London-based organisation which helps refugees to find their feet in the UK.
Applications were received from across England, Scotland and Wales and 16 candidates were short-listed to attend a Candidates Forum in December, where they were asked to demonstrate the potential of their ‘Big Idea'.
Of the five Fellows selected, the Fund will be supporting two: Salma Ali and Aderito Francisco.
22-year-old Salma Ali is a refugee from Somalia, now living and studying in Cardiff. Her ‘Big Idea' is to encourage the integration of young Somalis into mainstream society in Cardiff through an innovative, grassroots programme designed to raise self-esteem and educational attainment.
23-year-old London football coach, Aderito Francisco, is originally from Angola. His ‘Big Idea' is to set up a football academy that promotes diversity and tolerance among young Londoners.
Salma and Aderito will have access to whatever they need to make their Big Idea a reality, whether that is education or training, work experience opportunities or access to a wide network of contacts. They will also be allocated a ‘Champion' to act as a mentor and a Personal Support Worker, based at Praxis.
‘We are delighted to be supporting Salma and Aderito through their Fellowships,' said David Farnsworth, Head of the Refugee and Asylum Seekers Initiative at the Fund. ‘We work with many organisations that support young people within refugee communities, and we are particularly focused on supporting those seeking to change the attitudes of society towards refugees.'
Click here for more information about The Rayne Foundation.
Click here for more information about Praxis Community Projects and for a link to their Facebook page where you can find out more about the new Fellows.
01/02/2010
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