Breaking Barriers at the Members' Conference!

Even more English UK members expressed an interest in offering free English tuition to refugees when Ciara Devlin and Ilaria Tarulli of our partner charity Breaking Barriers joined our Members' Conference.

As most members know, Breaking Barriers, which helps refugees find meaningful employment in the UK, has taken on the language and reaccreditation programmes developed by RefuAid which have been delivered with the support of many English UK members since 2015.

Addressing the conference, Breaking Barriers' Chief Executive Ciara Devlin urged members to talk to each other about the opportunity. "They'll be able to tell you warts and all what it's like - and there are no warts," she said, adding: "We know there are approximately 400k refugees in the UK today and those numbers have risen sharply in recent years. Employment is one of the most critical ways to integrate, yet refugees are four times more likely to be unemployed."

She said that when RefuAid offered its language and reaccreditation programmes to Breaking Barriers they jumped at the opportunity.

"They wanted them to go to the right organisation, and we could offer enhanced support. It brought clarity to the sector – we believe Breaking Barriers is the go-to employment service and RefuAid is there to provide support. It provided clarity."

RefuAid is now focusing on its successful loan programme, to help clients build new lives, and will continue to help clients access the financial support they need for re-accreditation.

Ilaria Tarulli, head of language programme, said she was delighted that several members approached her during the day to enquire about offering tuition or classes to Breaking Barriers' clients.

Two new centres have joined the programme since the integration with Breaking Barriers and she said there are 137 active language centre partners, as well as 14 universities. Language centres and individual teachers are still needed to meet demand.

Breaking Barriers has a team of specialist advisors who work with clients, understand their goals and help them along the way, providing support into meaningful employment. The charity also partners more than 35 global companies and with local ones across the country, creating employment support, mentoring, training and job opportunities.