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West Of Scotland Regional Equality Council

Employability & Welfare
West Of Scotland Regional Equality Council

Refugee Employability & Training Support – RETS

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Lead Organisation:
West Of Scotland Regional Equality Council
Theme:
Award Amount:
£57.294.00

Our Refugee Employability and Training Support (RETS) project will pick up from previous work and engage with Refugees and people seeking Asylum, of all backgrounds, to provide opportunities to improve skills and confidence with regards to entering the job market.

This will be done through the delivery of internal capacity building training and ongoing support helping people into employment.

RETS will also increase awareness of Modern Apprenticeships, improve employability pathways through training and bridge current gaps between employers and prospective employees through awareness raising and the facilitation of connections.

New Scots reached
128

Key Information

Although not a formal partnership project we worked, strategically, with a range of existing partners to support the development of target beneficiaries through the provision of training, upskilling and engagement with advisory services.

The primary outcome of RETS was to ensure that beneficiaries gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence to respond to appropriate employment opportunities within a supportive and inclusive environment.

Key Information

Partnership
  • The project achieved partnership working with 5 jobcentres, Queens cross housing association, Jobs and Business Glasgow, Govan community centre, Police Scotland Muslim Association, and Skills development Scotland.
Geographical reach

West of Scotland, Glasgow, Renfrewshire

Dates

May 2023  -Nov 2023

Target Groups

New Scots

Project Type

Spreading Good Practice

Situation

RETS will be community led by individuals who are multilingual and have lived experience of the hardships faced by new migrants.

Activities will support participants to tackle barriers such as a lack of English proficiency, access to employability opportunities, minimal IT skills and low confidence.

Involvement of New Scots in project

Previous consultation with Refugees and people seeking Asylum has indicated that there is a major need for WSREC, and others, to help improve employability pathways – with an increasingly hostile environment towards these groups and the rising cost of living, there is an even more vital need for this support.

Impact

RETS was community led by individuals who are multilingual and have lived experience of the hardships faced by new migrants.

Activities supported participants to tackle barriers such as a lack of English proficiency, access to employability opportunities, minimal IT skills and low confidence.

Awareness of opportunities was raised to individuals with direct support provided to further individuals through the delivery of the following activities for Refugees and people seeking Asylum, from all backgrounds, living in the Glasgow and Renfrewshire areas: Raise awareness of employment opportunities to individuals through social media, signposting and outreach work.

Engage with ESOL providers to provide ESOL courses coupled with 3 x 2 weeks courses of in-house basic employability vocabulary course for individuals. 6x IT/Digital workshops on MS office package and basic use of digital devices to reduce social isolation and enhance connection within digital world for individuals.

Delivery of SQA Employability Award 1 x 8 weeks course for individuals. As an SQA approved Accreditation Centre, we have the mechanisms and tools in place to deliver Employability awards at Levels 3 and 4.

Deliver 4 Modern Apprenticeships awareness sessions to individuals within targeted members and supporting them to access opportunities.

Engage with Employers to bridge the gap between new migrants and employment opportunities. Arranging volunteering placements and internship within professional bodies.

Deal with inquiries on advice and information on employment, welfare, debt, housing, and other areas of wider service provision.

Provide soft skills training to individuals (one to one or sessions) on creating CV’s, filling Application Forms, Interview Skills, Job search and Confidence building.

Challenges encountered

  • Language barriers Limited access to ITA funding courses Long queue for ESOL courses in the colleges Employability support demand is generally high and we have limited capacity as a 3rd sector organisation

Solutions

Language Barriers – working with a range of interpreters to diversify language support as much as possible.

Also, we secured the support of volunteers with relevant language support to help assist with delivery – for example, we brought on Kurdish speaking volunteers to meet a gap in our service support.

Limited Access to ITA – Ongoing conversation with the likes of SDS, to see how this can be expanded or particular cases can be supported.

Long Queue for ESOL – looking at what alternative provision is available (for example, community and online support) – this has helped to bridge another gap which can often be delayed by waiting for formal ESOL acceptance, through colleges etc.

Employability Support – working in partnership with similar organisations/key stakeholders to see how we can support one another.

Also working in partnership with other colleagues, within WSREC, to see how they can support.

The positive aspects of taking on a new approach (innovative)/How the project has expanded on existing examples of good practice (good practice)

  • The project has overachieved on raising awareness to 5673 individuals on employment opportunities though social media.
  • In-house basic employability vocabulary course was very successful within new migrants and has delivered 4 courses to 22 individuals and overachieved the target.
  • The project achieved partnership working with 5 jobcentres, Queens cross housing association, Jobs and Business Glasgow, Govan community centre, Police Scotland Muslim Association, and Skills development Scotland.
  • Through partnership working with Skills Development Scotland, our project is engaged with 4 employers for bridging the gap between new migrants and employment opportunities. Project delivered 2 successful awareness sessions to young migrants.
  • The project supported 4 Volunteers’ placements in different areas of roles within WSREC.
  • The project delivered SQA Employability Award Level 4 to 05 individuals successfully and supported them for further education.

Reflections

The project services delivered successfully; the project delivered services as planned. To widen the project services, our project managed to work in partnership within Govan, Patrick, Springburn, Glasgow city central job centres, Queens Cross Housing Association, Jobs, and Business Glasgow, Skills Development Scotland  to provide Employability, advocacy and English language support to refugees and new migrants.

  • Our project has raised awareness of 5673 individuals on employment opportunities through, social media posts and weekly WSREC Newsletters.
  • Ongoing advice and information surgeries benefited 113 individuals by raising awareness on housing, welfare, debt and employability.
  • 22 individuals have attended in-house basic employability vocabulary course and 48 participants have been referred to ESOL provider for further ESOL support.
  • 05 individuals attended 8-week course in SQA Employability Award with accreditation at level 3 and 4.
  • Our project has delivered 2 Modern Apprenticeships awareness session and 10 young individuals raised awareness on modern apprenticeships opportunities.
  • Over the course of the project has been engaged within 4 employers to bridge the gap between new migrants and for employment opportunities.
  • 97 individuals have gained knowledge on CV development, interview skills, job search and creating cover letter.
  • 04 individuals up skilling through volunteering placements.

Further Information

Keywords

Community, Employability, Equality, ESOL, New Scots

Contact

Contact:
Aneel Bhopal

Address:
201 Shuna St, Glasgow G20 9EY

Telephone:
0141 337 6626

Email:
info@wsrec.co.uk

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