ANNUAL REVIEW
For the Period from 12.5.10 to 8.6.11
CITY OF SANCTUARY STATUS
Without doubt our most significant achievement in the past year was the unanimous decision on 18th November, by the best attended National Network Meeting to date, to award Bradford official ‘City Of Sanctuary’ status ! This is recognition of what the city “is”, rather than just the efforts of a relatively small number of hard-working individuals within the local C of S group. It recognizes the considerable contributions of many sanctuary seekers to the city, the widespread support across the city for C of S principles, and the amazing array of initiatives – large and small – that ensure that the city is indeed one that ‘welcomes and includes’ people seeking sanctuary. Only two cities had achieved this accolade before us, and only a further two since.
ACTIVITIES
1. Events
• Refugee Week and Bradford Mela. For a second year we were heavily involved in the planning and running of the hugely successful ‘Sanctuary Tent’ over two days at the Mela: hundreds visited the tent and experienced an amazing array of musical and other artistic talent, as well as viewing many displays from partner organisations, enjoying free refreshments and networking. Likewise the Refugee Week Launch and Finale events were hugely successful and raised our profile significantly.
• Actors for Human Rights’ inspiring Asylum Dialogues performance at The Playhouse in July was attended by over 100 and raised a healthy sum from donations
• Celebrating Sanctuary in March celebrated both the individual contributions of sanctuary seekers to the city via inspiring personal stories and live music, and 60 years of refugee contributions to the city, recognising the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Convention
• We gave talks at a number of events, including Bradford University’s One World Week and STAR conference, Rotary Club meeting, Yorkshire Faiths Forum AGM, BIASAN open meeting. Likewise we took our display to all of these, plus the Bradford Peace Fair, Women Asylum Seekers and Refugees Conference, Bradford City Funday and other events. Of particular significance was our involvement in the amazing ‘Bradford Peaceful Together’ celebration organised at very short notice on the day of the EDF demonstration in August.
2. Schools Work.
Together with Julie Wilkinson, a professional storyteller from the Zephaniah Trust and Anna Autiero from Bradford Action for Refugees, Kongosi, Christy and Apeles have done an amazing piece of work with Year 7 children at Grange Technology College. ‘Refugee Voices’ was a drama production, based upon true stories of local refugees, performed by the children themselves. Both their peers, in front of whom they performed, and teachers found the performance very moving. It is planned to take this out to other schools in the coming year. Kongosi has also been busy speaking in other schools locally and receives a very encouraging response wherever she goes.
3. Development Worker
As a result of a successful funding bid to 2:28, it was wonderful to be able to appoint Vie Lusandu on 28th March as part time sessional Development Worker. The post is for an initial twelve months. Already Vie has considerably increased our contacts with supporters and supporting organisations, produced an excellent newsletter, added to the website, worked with local media, researched future funding – and generally been a wonderful person to have onboard. Thank you Vie!
4. Other
• We have had some excellent Media Coverage during the year, including articles in the Telegraph & Argus and on local radio
• As a result of the above, our Resolution of Support signatories now number an incredible 142, representing a diverse range of organisations, businesses and groups across the city. Proof that sympathy and support for sanctuary seekers is widespread across the city
• Our Manifesto was finally completed, following extensive consultation with sanctuary seekers and organisations working with them locally
• We are represented on the multi-agency New Arrivals Operations Group, coordinated by Bradford Council and are actively contributing to the much-delayed New Arrivals Strategy for the District
• We are currently excited to be involved in plans for ‘Positive Bradford’, a hugely exciting event taking place on 28th Sept, showcasing all that is positive about Bradford. Contributions of sanctuary seekers will be a key element
• We are active in the City of Sanctuary movement nationally, attending quarterly National Network Meetings and contributing to consultations on its future development
• In addition to all the above, we are involved in daily networking, information-sharing and resourcing other organisations and individuals. We see putting people together as one of the key purposes of what we do
FUNDING
We were very grateful to receive a generous grant from 2:28 (see above) which has enabled us to employ a sessional Development Worker for twelve months. A timely grant from Lush (soaps) Charity Pot has enabled us to run two events, whilst other very welcome donations have been received from Bradford Anglican Diocese and from the fabulous BIASAN Benefit Gig in February – more of which are planned. That said, the financial report will show that we have little unrestricted funding and there is a critical need to identify and follow up further funding sources.
We continue to be very grateful to Touchstone Methodist Centre for much support-in-kind and considerable goodwill.
FUTURE PLANS
• A key task of the Development Worker is to identify other possible funding opportunities to enable us to put this post on a more stable footing. There are always many more opportunities available to us as a group than we have the capacity to take up: the D.W role is critical here
• We hope to be able to take the Refugee Voices drama into other secondary schools and, with other agencies, to follow up other speaking opportunities
• We will continue to run events – at least two in the coming year – to enable the contributions of sanctuary seekers to be recognized and celebrated, and to create meeting places for people who would not otherwise encounter each other
• We will continue to contribute to the New Arrivals Strategy and ensure that the Bradford envisioned in our manifesto becomes a reality
COMMITTEE
The Committee over the past year has been:
• Will Sutcliffe – Chair
• Kongosi Mussanzi – Vice Chair
• Joe Batt – Secretary
• Ian McIver – Treasurer
• Beatrice Botomani
• Chris Howson
• Christy Bischoff
• Helen Kemp
• Shawna Splawn
• Vie Lusandu
A number of others have regularly attended Committee meetings and made very significant contributions to our work
Will Sutcliffe
Chair
8th June 2011
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FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
Covering the Period from the Launch on 1.1.08 to First AGM 12.5.10
City of Sanctuary is a national movement to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Its goal is to create a network of towns and cities throughout the UK which are proud to be places of safety, and which include people seeking sanctuary fully in the life of their communities. A ‘City of Sanctuary’ is a place where a broad range of local organizations, community groups and faith communities, as well as local government, are publicly committed to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary.
Locally the campaign aims to challenge the negative stereotypes and sometimes deliberate misrepresentation of the issue of ‘asylum’ in the public domain. To achieve this, we seek to create opportunities for asylum seekers and refugees to be seen and heard within local communities. Our campaign is not just for ‘hearts and minds’ but aims to see asylum seekers and refugees able to participate much more widely in the life of the city, and for recognition of their gifts, abilities and culture.
ACTIVITIES
In order to achieve the aims of the campaign, we:
• Organise events to provide opportunities for members of the wider public to meet with and hear first hand the experiences of those seeking sanctuary in Bradford.
• Work closely with the local media to achieve positive and accurate coverage of issues relating to asylum seekers and refugees.
• Support and inspire organisations who have signed our ‘Resolution of Support’ to develop their own activities to welcome people seeking sanctuary. We are justifiably proud that to date 120 groups, organisations, faith communities and businesses have signed up – including Bradford Council.
• Work closely with Bradford Refugee Forum, and other local organisations providing services to those seeking sanctuary, in the planning and running of Refugee Week Bradford, the Sanctuary Tent at the Mela and other local initiatives, including the recently established New Communities Music Development project.
• Have helped build stronger links between local groups representing and working amongst asylum seeker and refugees.
• Continue to contribute to the city’s ‘New Arrivals Strategy’. We are a member organisation of the New Arrivals Operations Group (NAOG), which was established in April 2010.
• Have consulted widely over the past year to produce a formal Manifesto. This will be taken to the NAOG.
• Have helped organise the City of Sanctuary movement’s first and very successful Region of Sanctuary conference, held in Bradford in February 2010.
• Promote a poster and sticker campaign, using the national movement’s ‘Asylum Seekers and Refugees Welcome Here’ template. Our aim is to see these officially displayed across the city on many public buildings, places of worship, businesses and vehicles.
• Raise awareness of our aims by taking a City of Sanctuary display to relevant local events, such as the annual Bradford Peace & Crafts Fair and Bradford Anglican Diocesan Day.
• Receive and respond to almost daily requests for advice and information from a diverse range of sources.
• Have assisted with the recent development of a City of Sanctuary Leeds campaign.
• Hold monthly Steering Group meetings.
• Attend regular National (City of Sanctuary) Network Meetings and the annual conference.
EVENTS
On 1st October 2008 over 100 people attended our official Launch, held in the centre of Bradford and opened by the then Lord Mayor Cllr Howard Middleton. Craig Barnett, National C of S Coordinator spoke and a hot meal, music and dancing followed. Many people signed up as supporters and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the event.
In February and October 2009 we held hugely successful ‘Stories of Sanctuary’ events. Despite thick snow on the ground, the February event was attended by 120 people whilst 150 came to October’s. Local asylum seekers and refugees spoke powerfully about their experiences, but also of the many and varied contributions they make to the life of the city. The evenings started with a wonderful hot meal and finished with rousing music from the Zimbabwean Choir, Sister Theresa’s impromptu percussion group and Kurdish dance. The attendance figures for our 3 events in themselves illustrate a growing level of interest in the campaign. Local media interest and coverage has also been good, with several positive articles in the T&A and other publications, and a number of interviews with local radio stations. The second event was also featured in a brilliant short DVD about the national movement, produced in December 2009 by the Media Trust.
In February 2010, we were heavily involved in planning and organising the first ‘Region of Sanctuary’ conference which was held in Bradford. Over 150 people attended from across the Yorkshire and Humber region, primarily from voluntary, statutory, faith and other sectors. The conference was full of energy and enthusiasm about the role City of Sanctuary could play in the region. Our work in Bradford was showcased. Once again Masoumeh produced a magnificent hot meal and Beatrice and the Zimbabwean Choir got many people up and dancing at the end.
FUNDING
The greatest proportion of what we do as a campaign is as a result of the energy, vision and commitment of the Committee members and a number of key supporters.
We have however received generous funding from:
• The Coop Local Members Committee: £1500 start up costs.
• CNet’s Grassroots Grant: £900 to produce a leaflet and hold two events.
• Considerable support in kind from Touchstone Methodist Centre, including a mailing address, contact telephone number, meeting room for our monthly Committee meetings and photocopying.
FUTURE PLANS
• We have applied for funding to employ a sessional part time Development Worker. In particular the worker will enable us to: engage much more effectively with our supporters and the groups and organisations that have signed our Resolution of Support; improve our publicity and media coverage in particular; help with funding applications.
• We are working with Bradford Playhouse and Actors for Human Rights to put on a performance of Asylum Dialogues in early July.
• We are about to receive back from the printer a supply of a City of Sanctuary Bradford leaflet, which will be an effective tool in promoting our message.
• We are working towards formally applying for City of Sanctuary status for Bradford. We hope to do this within 9 months.
COMMITTEE
The Committee over the past 18 months has been:
• Will Sutcliffe – Chair
• Chris Howson – Vice Chair
• Joe Batt – Secretary
• Lorna Mundy – Treasurer
• Helen Kemp
• Kongosi Mussanzi
• Mary Horan
• Karen Mitchell
Mary Horan moved to London late 2009 and Karen Mitchell had to resign due to other work commitments. A number of others have regularly attended Committee meetings and made very significant contributions to our work
Will Sutcliffe
Chair
May 2010
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| annual_report_5.10.doc | 109.5 KB |
| annual_report_6.11.doc | 107 KB |