A project to help people who face barriers to gaining employment is supporting refugees in the Kendal area to develop skills and settle in the UK.
The Building Better Opportunities Getting Cumbria to Work project supports people in the Barrow and South Lakes area aged 18 and above, who are either unemployed or economically inactive and are furthest removed from the labour market.
It is working with five people – four men and a woman – from Syria, Sudan and Iraq, who arrived in the Kendal area about a year ago under the Government’s resettlement programme.
Rob Ford, a project key worker with Right2Work, one of the project’s partners, said: “We are supporting them towards trying to get into eventual employment.”
He said language skills were the biggest barrier for the Arabic-speaking participants to gaining employment and being able to socialise and access cultural and leisure activities in this country.
He has been meeting the four men in the group.
“It is just to get to know them and to give them an opportunity to speak, listen and practice their English language skills outside a structured classroom environment,” said Rob.
“As well as supporting them with their language skills, we are trying to help them feel comfortable in this area and to establish a new life,” said Rob.
Assisting with interpretation had been Ramy Hassan, the manager and one of the directors of Carlisle-based UK Opportunities Centre Limited.
The project is also working in close partnership with South Lakes Community Learning and Skills, part of Cumbria County Council.
It has already been providing English for Speakers of Other Languages courses for refugees in the area and has been asked by the project to run basic, practical maths courses for members of the Kendal group, which will start on July 8 at Right2Work’s boardroom at Station House in the town.
Helen Edmonds, the community development worker with South Lakes Community Learning and Skills, said the Government-funded courses would also help the refugees with their language skills as, for example, maths terms would need to be explained.
She said the project might also ask South Lakes Community Learning and Skills to run other employability and confidence-building courses, focusing on aspects such as health and safety, CV writing and IT skills.
“Working in partnership with the project is very important,” said Helen. “It gives a much more holistic experience in terms of people supporting the refugees to live fulfilling lives in the community.”
Ann Williams, a key worker with Right2Work, said once the participants had acquired better English language and maths skills and possibly employability skills, the project would also aim to signpost them to specific courses to help them reach their job and career goals. The project would pay any costs associated with those training courses and could also fund childcare and travel expenses if necessary.
Meanwhile, Rob has helped one of the participants, who would like to work in a retail environment, to find volunteer work at a local charity shop.
He said: “He will work with a team of four to five volunteers and staff, learn how to use the till and about stocktaking and will be interacting with members of the public. It will be a further opportunity to practice his English and also to learn the vocabulary around the workplace and about how business and employment works in this country.
“It will also be something he can use as a reference when he starts to apply for paid jobs.”
Three of the Kendal participants also attended a ‘Get Wild’ day, which included free arts and crafts-based sessions with a nature theme, held at Green Heart Den in Barrow. The Get Wild days were organised to help to boost participants’ well-being by reducing isolation, encouraging them to meet new people and try new activities, all of which could help break down barriers to employment and training.
The project is funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund and led by Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS) in partnership with four charitable organisations – The Well Communities, Right2Work, Women’s Community Matters and Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advisory Service (CADAS). For more information about the project visit www.gettingcumbriatowork.org.uk or search for Building Better Opportunities Getting Cumbria to Work on Facebook.
