Image (c) Ambrose Musiyiwa

Looking for ideas and inspiration for Refugee Week 2018? Thinking about getting involved for the first time? The Refugee Week Conference is a day of listening, learning and networking in preparation for the 20th birthday edition of Refugee Week, 18-24 June 2018! Expect inspiring speakers, engaging practical workshops and fabulous perfomances – see programme below.

Note that this event is now fully booked. Do sign up to the Refugee Week mailing list to receive materials after the conference, and join us on Twitter to follow the conversation live on the day.

 

PROGRAMME

 

1000 – 1045 REGISTRATION, TEA/ COFFEE, GENTLE YOGA & MEDITATION 
Yoga with Courtenay Howe

 

SESSION 1: SETTING THE SCENE + PLANS FOR 2018

1045 – 1050 Welcome and Introductions
Maurice Wren, Chair of Refugee Week & CEO of Refugee Council

1050 – 1105 A Collective 20 Word Poem – Fatima Diriye + Laila Sumpton 

1105 – 1115 The State of the World’s Refugees
Laura Padoan, UNHCR UK 

1115 – 1120 20 Years of Refugee Week
Almir Koldzic, Counterpoints Arts

1120 – 1130 Refugee Week: 2017 Highlights, 20 Actions for 2018
Emily Churchill Zaraa, Refugee Week UK Coordinator

1130 – 1137 Taking Refugee Voices to Schools
Kevin Courtney, Join General Secretary of National Education Union

1137 – 1142 Moving Worlds: Films for Refugee Week
Yasmin Fedda, Highlight Arts and Áine O’Brien, Counterpoints Arts

 1142 – 1145 What’s For Lunch
Welcome Kitchen

 

1145 – 1300 CHOICE OF SIX WORKSHOPS (see below)

 

1300 – 1400 LUNCH BY WELCOME KITCHEN + INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES

 

SESSION 2: PERFORMANCES + SHARING

1400 – 1410 Storytelling – Bevin Magama, Refugee Week Wales

1410 – 1417 Memories of Home (Shahre Farang) – Farhad Berahman, Artist

1417 – 1422 Unveiling of 20 Word Poem – Fatima Diriye + Laila Sumpton

1422 – 1430 Opportunity to share Refugee Week Memories, Reflections + Plans – Led by Ambrose Musiyiwa, CivicLeicester   

1430 – 1530 Sharing Learning from Morning Workshops      

 

1530 – 1600 ICE-CREAM & CHAT
Have three conversations. Write/ draw one thing you’re going to take away or would like to share and hang it on the washing line. Fuelled by free ice-cream from Ben & Jerry’s!

 

FINALE: PERFORMANCES + LOOKING FORWARD

1600 – 1615 Musical Performance – I Jah Mo

1615 – 1630 Looking forward to Refugee Week 2018

 

WORKSHOPS

 

1. Understanding your impact & evaluating for success  
This workshop will look at how to assess success and learn from Refugee Week events. This session will be led by Miranda Lewis, Co-Director of m2 (www.m2consultants.uk), who are evaluating Refugee Week 2018, working together with participants on developing creative ways to define and measure the impact of different kinds of events.

 

2. Reaching new audiences

Whether it’s having more refugees at our events or reaching out to local people who’ve never thought much about refugee experiences, we all want to engage with new and diverse audiences and communities. But how do you do this with limited time and resources? Join Emma Blackman from Theatre Delicatessen and Kerry Tuhill from Action Factory Community Arts to brainstorm practical ideas for reaching ‘beyond the bubble’ this Refugee Week.

 

3. Stop press! Engaging the media

Learn how to get your Refugee Week event or story in the local media with this workshop which looks at what journalists want, how to write a press release, how to work with ‘case studies’, advice for radio and TV interviews and more. Led by Niall Mann, Communications Officer at IMiX and the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre and Press Officer for Refugee Week 2018.

 

4. “I much prefer roasted rat”: Engaging children in refugee experiences

Join Hackney Museum, Child Migrant Stories and Maurice Nwokeji, for an exploration of our joined-up approach to delivering sensitive and moving workshops about children’s refugee experience for primary school children using life stories, films and object handling. The session will give an insight into our project, as well as practical tips and flexible resources, that could be used in a variety of settings and with a range of age groups. Led by Josie Stevens (Hackney Museum), Eithne Nightingale (Child Migrant Stories) & Maurice Nwokeji (musician and storyteller).

 

5. Good practice: How to work in collaboration with lived-experience groups hosted by Survivors Speak OUT

The workshop will give participants insights from Survivors Speaks OUT, a torture survivor led activist network made up of men and women asylum applicants and refugees in the UK, on how to work with lived experience groups in public facing initiatives. You’ll work with members of this group to think about how to collaborate together in a sensitive and empowering way and on an equal footing. At the end of the session, you’ll have a clear understanding of the impact of repeated testimony sharing and we hope an alternative perspective on how to work in a meaningful way with lived experience groups.

 

6. Having difficult conversations

HOPE not hate (HNH) research shows that the British public are increasingly polarised on a range of issues. In the workplace and in our communities, we need to create the space for more effective conversations with people who disagree with us, and constructively challenge prejudice in the process. This workshop – facilitated by an experienced HNH organiser – is designed to give participants the confidence and skills to have more effective conversations.

The session includes:

–          Understanding prejudice (conscious and unconscious)

–          Who are we speaking to? Understanding where people sit on issues of migration, identity,

culture and multiculturalism.

–          What works / doesn’t work when having difficult conversations?

–          Learning lessons from US campaigners: Video Example.

–          Empathetic Listening, Inquisitive Questioning and Personal Stories.

Led by Tom Godwin, HOPE not hate