This is a research carried out by Hackney Refugee Forum using over 15 volunteers and through visiting over 45 refugee organisations representing thousands of refugees in Hackney and over 100 refugee individuals. The identified needs of the community are as below;

Language and Communication

Language and communication issues remain at the heart of both the needs of, and services provided to, refugee communities in Hackney. Language barriers lead to so many misunderstandings: to put it simply, people cannot tell their stories, which could help overcome so many problems.  Therefore the availability of advocacy services or interpreting services is a major issue in our Borough.

The lack of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes in Hackney is the other main problem in addressing the language needs of refugee groups in Hackney. Long waiting lists for ESOL education at The Community College, (which is the main provider along with the Learning Trust in Hackney) clearly show the necessity of better consultation with groups like HRF and the organisation of more tailor made ESOL education in the Borough.

Knowledge and Understanding

A lack of understanding and knowledge about the UK system occurs at many levels, and this comes from both refugees themselves and service providers in health, education and social care.

Most refugee individuals are not aware of services available to them, so obviously cannot access these services.  This lack of knowledge causes serious and costly problems, for example many refugee individuals cannot call an ambulance or don’t know how an appointment system works.

Newly arrived and non–literate refugees are among the most vulnerable groups in the community, they are often unaware, and cannot use their rights - they need additional support to reach information.

Due to cultural and religious reasons, refugee women need specific help to learn about their entitlements and access services designed to improve their lives.

Additionally, many service providers are unaware or confused about what refugees are entitled to or what refugee status means. This means the service they provide is compromised and they may pass on misleading information.

Housing

Housing was obviously identified as a major concern for both refugees and refugee community organisations (RCOs), although experienced in different ways.

The uncertainties of poor temporary accommodation clearly remain a priority issue for newly arrived Somalis and people from French speaking African countries.

RCOs spend most of their interpreters’ time helping with housing issues of their users. These organisations are ready to collaborate with Hackney Council to find solutions for this burning issue which is causing serious health issues among refugee communities.

Health and Social Care

According to RCOs, GP registration continues to be the most widely reported and recurring issue related to access to health services by refugees. For example, many Congolese refugees said they had tried between seven and ten health practices before finding a place in a health centre, causing severe health problems.

Health information resources and promotion materials are not sufficiently promoted in Hackney to be accessed by hard to reach refugee groups.

The speed at which health and social care legislation changes deeply affects refugee communities, this needs to be translated and explained as soon as possible. Community groups develop their own individual validated methods and measures but without centralised and greater participation with service providers, they can not deliver the services properly.

Education and Training

Training and education needs of refugees in Hackney are highlighted in many reports and meetings. Beginning with the needs of qualified refugees; the report on “Skills for Life in Hackney: Meeting Unmet Need” says:

    “ Thus, higher-level skills shortages among employers could be filled if highly-qualified refugees were given the         opportunity to study fast track, vocationally relevant ESOL courses with work experiences in a particular industry.”

Most refugees, especially women are economically inactive. It is clear that without ESOL and basic skills training the most vulnerable groups in Hackney cannot easily become economically active.

Furthermore, refugee adults with low literacy and numeracy skills are:

• Up to five times more likely to be unemployed or out of labour market
• More likely to live in a household where both partners are not in paid employment
• More likely to have children who also struggle with literacy and numeracy
• Less likely to be in good physical and mental health
• Less likely to be involved in public life, a community organisation, school governor or vote
• Over represented in prisons and young offenders’ institutions.

Today there is no refugee targeted provision of training, advice, guidance or signposting to help refugees access the education and training available within the Borough.

The education level among female refugees is low. Due to cultural and religious reasons, they have particular needs they have to be addressed to assist them to participate in normal community life, such as childcare, female translators and women-only classes.

A knock-on effect of not addressing training and educational needs of refugees is the growing cultural gap between parents and children. After children start school, problems occur between children and their parents, who are also in need of literacy and numeracy education.

This situation causes serious conflicts between family members; there is not enough mediation support to solve those problems and untrained and uneducated parents can not deal with problems faced by their children.  This often leads to disastrous problems and experiences of domestic violence within refugee families.

Youth and Women Issues

We have found that after children start studying, intellectual and cultural differences within refugee families start to appear. Again, this is because there is not enough training provision available for refugee adults. This causes a loss of parental control within the family.

The result is the growing numbers of incidents of domestic violence against mothers, daughters and sons in families. 80% of mothers in Turkish speaking refugee families in Hackney face domestic violence, according to a survey organised by the Refugee Workers Cultural Association.

Turkish-speaking children are achieving the lowest standards in secondary school in the country, according to The Learning Trust’s statistics in Hackney. Many refugee organisations are busy supplying supplementary classes to address this problem. Much more collaborative work is necessary, specifically in partnership with mainstream service providers and refugee organisations to assist refugee students.

The use of drugs and gang culture amongst refugee youth is unfortunately getting worse in Hackney. Refugee organisations together with community safety departments and mainstream drug mis-use services are trying to deal with these frightening issues. But there is no centralised activity to provide support to young people at risk and their families in Hackney.

Needs of Refugee Community Organisations (RCO)

There is an ongoing and great need within refugee communities for specialist support from organisations specifically trained to deal with the needs of these communities in Hackney.  Most of the RCOs are struggling and face many difficulties.
According to a survey on the premises issues of refugee groups carried out by the HRF in 2006, the most important problem facing refugee groups is premises.

Premises issues:

Most of refugee community organisations have already lost or face the threat of losing their premises because of the knock-on effects of the current regeneration work in Hackney. New developments such as the Olympics and related developments such a new underground station, have seriously increased rent in the area and often landlords prefer to give the buildings to developers to build residential buildings in Hackney.

Refugee community organisations are trying to run their centres in small, unsafe, overpriced and unhealthy conditions.
-   90% of the RCOs surveyed are actively looking for new premises to improve their services and enable them to reach a larger number of people.
-   95% of RCOs are prepared to share a Refugee Centre with other refugee groups because they see the increased value in sharing experiences, skills, facilities and information. This would help them to organise joint training, events, conferences and seminars, sports and cultural activities, advice and guidance sessions. As well as working in partnership to apply for grants and contact mainstream service providers.

Other issues:

Other priority issues for refugee community organisations are:

• fundraising
• providing a consistent, joined-up service together with mainstream service providers is hard to maintain due to a lack of sustainable relations with the mainstream service providers.
• need for organisational development support
• lack of upgraded equipment
• training venues,  facilities and  child care support
• lack of skilled staff and meeting training needs of management committee, staff, volunteers and users.

these organisations rely on support from volunteers to meet the organisational and clients’ need or to organise events, so finding and coordinating volunteers is paramount