Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN)
Trustees' Annual Report
April 2015 - 31 March 2016
1. Reference and Administrative Information:
Charity Name: Manchester Refugee Support Network
Other name which the charity uses: MRSN
Charity registration number: 1109990
Address of principal office: 129 Princess Road, Moss Side, Manchester, M14 4RB
Telephone: 0161 868 0777
Website:
Names of Charity's trustees as at 31st March 2016:
Angel N K KaletaChair
Ibrahim Sirage Ahmedin Vice-Chair
Mike Mpofu Secretary
KidaneGebretatos Treasurer
AddisuTewoldeMember
Chefena Heilemariam Member
The current Board of Trustees was elected at the Annual General Meeting on 20th November 2015 and has served one year of their 2 years’ term. Election is due at next year’s AGM.
Independent Account Examiners:
Community Accountancy Service Limited, The Grange, Pilgrim Drive,
Beswick, Manchester M11 3TQ
Bankers:
NatWest Bank, Chorlton-cum-Hardy Branch, 438 Barlow Moor Road,
Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 0BR
2. Charitable Objects
- To advance education and relieve financial hardship amongst those seeking asylum and those granted refugee status particularly by the provision of legal and other advice.
- To preserve and protect the physical and mental health of those granted refugee status and their dependants.
- To advance the education and training of those granted refugee status and their dependants in need thereof so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within a new community.
- To advance the education of the public in general about the issues relating to refugees and those seeking asylum.
- The provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of those persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances.
3. Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
The organisation is constituted, registered as a charity on 15th June 2005, and is governed under its amended Constitution adopted on 27th May 2011.
Membership
Full Membership of MRSN is open to all properly constituted Refugee Community Organisations (RCO) in Greater Manchester that agree to support the aims of MRSN. Associate Membership of MRSN is open to any adult who is interested in furthering the work of MRSN. Only Full Members have the right to vote at Annual or Special General Meetings.
Each Refugee Community Organisation constitutes a single member of MRSN and nominates a representative to vote on its behalf at any Annual General Meeting or any other Special General Meetings of the membership, including the election of the Management Committee.
Recruitment and Appointment of Management Committee
The Board of Trustees, for the purposes of charity law are known as members of the Management Committee. Under the requirements of the Constitution the members of the Management Committee are elected to serve for a period of two years and are elected at the Annual General Meeting. The trustees are elected from the membership of refugee communities that MRSN serves. The Management Committee seeks to ensure that the needs of the refugee communities are appropriately reflected through the diversity of the trustee body.
New member organisations are sought throughout the network to increase engagement and the diverse candidacy of the Management Committee. To enable an increased pool of experience and skills on the Management Committee, non-voting advisers, and up to 2 co-opted members, can be invited on to the Management Committee and provide additional skills and experience to assist in steering the organisation. During this period, the Management Committee did seek for additional advisers or co-opted members. However, only one co-opted member accepted to commit to the Board.
Trustee Induction and Training
Following their election, new trustees were provided with Governance training covering:
The obligations of Management Committee members and signposting to relevant Charity Commission publications.
Current agenda items for Management Committee meetings.
The main documents and policies which set out the operational framework for the charity, including the Constitution.
The finance and funding of the organisation including the Finance Policy, Strategy and Plan as well as the latest independently audited accounts.
Business Plan and future objectives.
Risk Management
Key risks are identified in our Business Plan. The main risk to MRSN is securing funding for services and, thereby, for the infrastructure of the organisation, and for maintaining a healthy level of reserves. Due to the economic situation, funding levels have been difficult to sustain, but this has been a period of stability with minimum core provision maintained for MRSN following the closure of a range of services over the previous year.
We have re-developed our financial strategy and have successfully reduced our outgoings in comparison to 2 previous financial years, by maintaining all our operations in one office at 129 Princess Road.
In order to diminish financial risk, we use a system of variance recognition in our accounts. This system enables us to detect any favourable or adverse variances of budget from actual figures and then by analysis of their impetus and implications, the financial system can prevent future short-falls.
Organisational Structure
MRSN can have a Management Committee of up to 9 members, plus up to a further 2 co-opted members. The Management Committee usually meet ordinarily every 5 weeks (and when necessary) and is responsible for the strategic direction and the policy of the charity. In 2015-16 the Management Committee consisted of 5 elected representatives and one co-opted member.During the year and in compliance with its delegated duties, the management committee held 21 meetings.
A scheme of delegation is in place for sub-committees and others. The voluntary Manager, Barbara Guest who was part of the team from November 2015 to March 2016 had responsibility for the day to day operational management of the organisation, individual supervision of the staff and also ensuring that the staff continue to develop their skills and working practices to ensure high quality service provision. She has subsequently progressed into a full time job with a different organisation. Some of the above task where informally delegated to the Community Development worker, being the only full time employee during this period. Other duties were carried out by appointed trustees from time to time.
4. Objectives and Activities
MRSN’s core purpose is to:
- build strong and independent refugee community organisations, run by skilled leaders, which help bring about lasting change in the lives of refugees and people seeking asylum
- provide a range of high quality services to refugees, helping them to successfully integrate and participate in society
Drawn from its charitable objects, MRSN has the following key organisational goals:
To support and empower Manchester's refugee communities to establish strong organisations.
To increase public awareness around issues of asylum.
To give refugees and asylum seekers a voice and chance to express themselves and represent the needs and aspirations of their communities.
To reduce levels of stress, unemployment, poverty and isolation for asylum seekers and refugees.
The main areas of charitable activity to achieve the above organisational goals are the provision of:
Community development services to build capacity within refugee community organisations and to support the delivery of the key priorities enshrined in the Refugee Charter for Manchester
Legal advice and support to help people affected by poverty, unemployment, homelessness and immigration status
Volunteer programmes to provide meaningful work experiences and training to refugees and other members of the local community to enhance their employment prospects and to extend the reach of MRSN’s advice and other activities
5. Public Benefit
The main beneficiaries of the work of MRSN are individuals and families from refugee backgrounds and refugee community organisations (RCOs) across Greater Manchester. Individuals from refugee communities benefit directly from our advice services, and through our volunteer programme, and more indirectly through our community development work. The direct benefits of advice and advocacy include the relief of poverty through income maximisation, debt advice, finding accommodation for homeless people, and ensuring that people can get the immigration and asylum advice and services they need.
Our services are all free of charge and benefit people who are poor and some who are destitute. Our community development work benefits not only those directly involved in running the refugee community organisations we work with, but, through enabling those organisations to operate more effectively, this work benefits all the members of those communities.
In all our work we seek to empower people so that they gain understanding and confidence to manage their own lives and affairs and to participate more actively both in their own communities and in wider society. We provide RCOs with training, briefings, opportunities to meet service providers to improve services for people from refugee backgrounds, and support with fundraising to provide services and run activities for their own community members and to ensure the sustainability of their organisations.
6. Achievements and Performance
The achievements and performance of the charity are detailed in the attached Chair’s and service reports.
Chair’s Report
Being a trustee implies taking decisions that will influence peoples’ lives and remaining accountable. This gives an opportunity to us as individuals to offer our time, skills, knowledge and experience to help run this important Network for the good of all our Members, as well as for the good of the many thousands of refugees who benefit from MRSN services each year. I am grateful for the support and expertise of the Management Committee and for the help they have given me during the 1st year of my tenure as Chair of MRSN.
It has been a time of strength, after the unrest of the years passed, and I would like to express my gratitude to the staff and volunteers for their enthusiasm, determination and dedication to make sure fantastic services have continued to be delivered even though with a much smaller budget.
I’d like to stress the impact spending cuts have had on the voluntary sector and the new challenge that Brexit poses to the kind of work we do. However, I also consider this as an opportunity for us to rise to the challenge and examine the assets we have within our communities in order to move from a needs based approach into an assets based one for a better and sustainable MRSN community. I take this opportunity to appreciate the work, perseverance and commitment demonstrated by our former and current staff: James Allen, Belay Kahsay, Bill Longshaw and Sofia Kalu that have ensured the aims of MRSN have continued to be delivered. Their work has guaranteed that refugees facing difficulties with poverty, discrimination, homelessness, unemployment and isolation have continued to find hope and support at MRSN.
MRSN has also continued to take a leading role in ensuring the rights of those seeking safety and to organise activities to showcase the talents and contributions that refugees make to British society – we enjoyed a wonderful cross-cultural arts event at the Art Gallery Museum and a incredibly competitive Refugee World Cup football tournament at Albert Park in Salford as part of our Refugee Week celebrations in June 2016.
We are looking at the year ahead with hope as we celebrate the Heritage of 20 years legacy of MRSN’s work and we are confident that together we will find a better way in funding streams and/or other income generating opportunities.
I would like to express our gratitude to Manchester City Council which, through its Equalities Fund, continues to support our vital work to develop strong and independent refugee community organisations – this is our core business and of vital importance, helping us as refugees to continue to assist members of our own communities.
Chorlton High School (drama class) held an event to support the work of MRSN and subsequently delivered a performance at Art Gallery in June during our Refugee Week Launch. This helped raise £450 pound for MRSN. Our Heritage Lottery Project has now concluded and is due for Launch celebration event at the central library on the 3rd of December 2016.
I want to end this note with a big thanks to all our Funders, volunteers (including the MC members) and supporters.
Angel N Klaleta
Chair of MRSN Management Committee
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Introduction
The Community Development Service provides a range of support activities to help realise the following key aims of MRSN:
- To support and empower Manchester’s refugee communities to establish and maintain strong organisations
- To build a strong and vibrant network of refugee community organisations
- To give refugees and those seeking asylum a voice and to empower them to represent the needs and aspirations of their communities
- To reduce levels of stress, unemployment, poverty and isolation for people from refugee communities
- To support people from refugee communities to access services and opportunities on an equal basis
- To improve public awareness of refugee and asylum issues and to increase positive media representation
Funding
The majority of our community development activity in 2015-16 was funded by Manchester City Council through the Equalities Fund. Our activity aimed to deliver on the following Equality and Manchester Board Priorities:
strengthen knowledge, understanding and evidence base about communities to increase community cohesion and design services that meet everyone’s needs
tackle discrimination and narrow the gap between disadvantaged groups to the wider community and between Manchester and the rest of the country
celebrate the diversity of Manchester and increase awareness of the positive contribution that our diverse communities make to the city
contribute to reducing the numbers of people out of work
raise aspirations
promote private sector growth
Activity and Outcomes
Year 3 of our 3 year project successfully promoted and supported the integration of individuals and families from refugee communities in Manchester and celebrated their contributions to the city. We did this by offering tailored packages of advice, support, training and capacity building to assist established and newly-emerging refugee community organisations (RCOs) to develop their own responses and projects to support and empower their own communities. We also provided information updates, developed events to celebrate Refugee Week, and set up regular meetings of the Refugee Network to drive forward our objectives to improve the employment prospects of refugees, improve health and education services, provide a voice for refugees through campaigning, and share refugee arts and culture.
One-to-one support
One-to-one support sessions were delivered to 11 established RCOs and 5 newly-formed organisations during the last year. Sessions included advice regarding governance arrangements and support to draft constitutions, help to identify community needs and develop projects to meet those needs, assistance with funding bids to deliver those new services, support with setting up monitoring and evaluation processes, help with end of grant reports, practical support to open bank accounts and to access information and resources and assistance with developing and drafting policies.
Training and development
A total of 9 training sessions were coordinated and delivered throughout the year, enabling RCOs to develop their skills and knowledge in fundraising, UK education system, project management, governance and starting a business. All our training courses were delivered in partnership with relevant sector experts.
Information
The above activities were supplemented with the provision of information to ensure RCOs are kept up-to-date in terms of legislative, policy and service changes and also to signpost them to other sources of support, funding opportunities, community resources, and employment and training opportunities, which they then distribute to their community members. Over the last year six issues of the MRSN newsletter have been produced and distributed and regular e-bulletins have also been issued.
Feedback ByRCO Members
A focus group was held on 10th June 2015 to specifically answer the questions set out in the equality review user research, with two additional questions asked to try and understand the impact on the end user i.e. MRSN’s community development service works to establish strong and independent refugee community organisations (RCOs) run by skilled leaders and so we also wanted to understand the impact of that work on the individual community members supported by those RCOs as well as on the leaders of those groups
There were 15 participants representing 12 different refugee community organisations (RCOs). They were split into two groups, each with a facilitator and a note-taker, and asked the same set of questions.