GOOD ORGANISATION

Refugee Action

Vision, Mission & Values

Refugee Action is an independent national charity working with refugees and asylum seekers to build new lives in the UK and become active participants in society. With 27 years’ experience in reception, integration and community development, we provide advice and support in nine regions across England, covering the North West, East Midlands, South West and South Central. Last year we received 43,000 enquiries from refugees and asylum seekers and supported them in over 29,000 advice sessions. In addition to our core advice and support services, we also run projects to meet the needs of specific groups, such as women and unaccompanied children, and respond to particular issues experienced by the people we work with, such as racial harassment and mental health. We are committed to ensuring refugees have a voice and we campaign for their rights and lobby for change at both national and regional levels.

Media Strategy...

For most of us, it is very hard to imagine what it’s like to flee war and persecution, leave behind your home, your career and friends, and start to rebuild your life in a new country. It is this lack of understanding that can often lead to hostility towards newcomers. Films about the refugee experience can help bridge that gap. Whether they’re documentaries or dramas, films provide a window into the reality of refugees’ lives. Every day at Refugee Action we are touched by the extraordinary stories of survival we hear from the refugees we work with. Film can bring the voices of refugees to people that would otherwise not hear them. Through our work with film makers, TV companies and cinemas, we hope that these stories will touch many more people across England and inspire them to reach out to refugees. We currently use film to communicate issues to our supporters (through online short films as with our recent destitution campaign), as part of our outreach workshops with community groups (using film testimony from refugees, for example as part of our Refugee Awareness Project), in training with other service providers (for example through our Refugee Realities project work with police, social workers, etc), and to reach out to new audiences through TV and through public screenings of relevant films. We've also used film to document particular projects, such as Peers, Pride and Prejudice, and also as part of our activities with young refugees to increase their practical skills and amplify their voice. We work closely with production companies in the development of drama and documentaries, from briefing researchers and fact-checking material to providing screenwriters and actors with the chance to meet refugees and shadow our work. This year we used Refugee Week's Simple Acts campaign to promote film as a means to find out more about the refugee experience. As well as working with local cinemas and BFI Southbank to screen a range of films, we encouraged our supporters to organise home screenings to raise awareness amongst friends and family. In the future we’re looking to increase use of short virals and feature-length films for campaigning as this works very well as a supporter engagement tool. Useful links: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0-3lMOB4io www.refugee-action.org.uk/RAP www.simpleacts.org.uk