Northern Refugee Centre

Improving services and opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Development Services Team

0114 241 2777

ChangeUP Project

Between January and September 2006, Northern Refugee Centre and other members of the Yorkshire and Humber Refugee Community Development Worker’s network have been funded by ChangeUP to develop the capacity of the region’s Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) and RCO Fora.

The ChangeUP project has given RCO Fora a chance to share practice, explore ways of engaging effectively with the regional agenda and look at whether there is a need for a regional RCO network. Specifically, the project has enabled:

research into RCO engagement in key regional structures,
the development of a toolkit to enable RCO Fora to work effectively,
a regional conference for RCOs, called Refugee Voices for Change,
a follow-up meeting to the conference to look in more detail at the idea and functions of a possible regional RCO network,
induction and support of refugee representatives on the Regional Strategic Group (RSG), and
a programme of training to build the capacity of RCOs and RCO Fora to achieve their aims.

You can download the main documents produced through the ChangeUP project directly from this webpage.

Downloads

Reports

Refugee Voices for Change Conference Report
Refugee Engagement with Regional Structures Report

Quality Toolkit

A Self-Assessment Toolkit for Refugee Forums

Refugee Voices for Change Conference Presentations:

Regional Strategic Co-ordination
Self-assessment Toolkit for RCO Forums
Refugee Engagement with Regional Structures
Southwark Refugee Communities Forum
Community Cohesion – Local Strategic Partnerships and Compacts

Other related papers

Conference agenda
Conference evaluations
ChangeUP funded capacity building training for RCOs, May – June 06
Yorkshire and Humber Community Development Worker’s Network Terms of Reference

Other useful resources and external websites

LSP Guide 2006 – developed by the Urban Forum and Community Development Foundation. This is available to download from the Urban Forum website at: http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/pdf_files/LSP_Guide_2006.pdf.

Regional Structures guide – this is an introduction to our region and some of the main organisations and decision makers in the region, developed by The Regional Forum. You can download a copy from the Regional Forum website at: http://www.regionalforum.org.uk/publications_resources/knowledgebase/500/530/213.pdf.

The National ChangeUP website is at http://www.changeup.org.uk/

Glossary

RCO	Refugee Community Organisation	A community group where more than half the management committee members have asylum seeker or refugee status.
RSG	Regional Strategic Group	The main, multi-agency, decision-making body which deals with policy and strategy for refugees and asylum seekers in Yorkshire and the Humber. The RSG is co-ordinated by the Yorkshire and Humberside Consortium for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, with funding from the Home Office.
LSP	Local Strategic Partnership	A non-statutory, multi-agency body bringing together the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors and operating within local authority boundaries.
GOYH	Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber	The Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber works with organisations across the region to deliver Government policies and programmes and to contribute a regional perspective in their development. www.goyh.gov.uk
BME	Black and Minority Ethnic	This term refers to groups of people living in the UK who do not identify themselves as White British
	Refugee Agencies	Voluntary sector organisations which aim to assist and empower refugees and asylum seekers, such as Northern Refugee Centre.

Reg. Charity No. 1078816

Co. Limited by Guarantee No. 3872439

Imm. Advice OISC Ref: N200100496