Conference roundup from our Birmingham Rethinking Refugee Conference on 13th February 2017

1. Monday 13th February 2017
The Birmingham Repertory Theatre
#rethinkingrefugee
Conference Outcome Report

2. Introduction
F
ollowing a successful event of over 100 people at
our #rethinkingrefugee Conference in Birmingham
on Monday 13th February 2017, a way ahead
was agreed on this urgent matter. We have
already started to take the next steps, but need your
help and support!
Speakers:
Eileen Means (Vice Chair, Ashley Community Housing)
Fuad Mahamed (CEO, Ashley Community Housing)
Richard Thickpenny (Business Development Manager,
Ashley Community Housing)
Professor Monder Ram OBE (Centre for Research in
Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship)
Cllr. Waseem Zaffar MBE (Cabinet Member for
Transparency, Openness & Equality,
Birmingham City Council)
Catherine Sermon (Employment Director,
Business In The Community)
Shilpi Akbar (Assistant Director Employment,
Birmingham City Council)
Saidul Haque (Senior Organiser, Citizens UK)
David Jepson (Director, Himilo Training)
Cllr. Peter Griffiths (Cabinet Member for Housing &
Homes, Birmingham City Council)
The following is a summary of the outcomes of the
discussions and the issues discussed on the day:
Birmingham City of Sanctuary – history of
welcoming refugees
Birmingham is one of the cities in the UK to lead on
the recent refugee crisis. Birmingham City Council
has committed to resettle over 500 Syrian refugees as
part of the Government’s plan to resettle 20,000 Syrian
refugees by 2020. Birmingham is a natural destination
for asylum seekers and refugees given its diversity and
historically warm welcome.
Despite its diversity, Birmingham, like many other
major cities in the UK, has an Integration challenge.
The most recent report by Dame Casey on Integration
highlighted this challenge by stating that our major
cities are like “communities living among communities.”
Given the importance of this matter, the Conference
called for more emphasis to be put on integration as a
driver of prosperity and community cohesion.
Refugees are an asset not liability
We face the most serious refugee crisis in modern
times, with more people displaced since the 2nd World
War. It was agreed that too often the refugee issue
was portrayed as a burden to society and at best, a
humanitarian and charitable issue. A humanitarian
response designed for the short-term too often ends up
administering long-term misery and wasted opportunity
for both refugees and society. Rather than transitioning
from emergency relief to long-term reintegration,
refugee populations too often sadly get trapped
within the system. This benefits nobody. Yet, we have
skill shortages, the challenge of major infrastructure
projects such as HS2 and the need to become
more competitive in the face of Brexit. The existing
paradigm fails to adequately recognise that refugees
have talents, skills, and aspirations that will boost our
economy and enrich our communities. A rethink is
urgently needed.
Key outcomes of the conference:
Setting priorities for action
#rethinkingrefugee
Employment /
Work Experience
Skills
Assessment
Language
Training &
Orientation
Vocational Skills
Figure 1. Sector Focused Training Model

3. ACH new perspective of refugee
resettlement and integration
Our aim is to explore some new perspectives
concerning the integration and resettlement of
refugees from our grass roots and community based
approach and experience. We must give greater
priority to employment and economic development
opportunities if we are to provide a genuine
integration and a better life to refugees and forced
migrants coming to UK. Conference participants
agreed that early labour market integration for
refugees is the best method for refugee integration,
and this can be achieved through culturally sensitive
support, training and sector focused employment
skills as described in figure 1.
Catherine Sermon from BITC stressed that major
employers do not set out to close opportunities to
refugees, but they do not always see the barriers that
in fact exist.
ACH will work more closely with businesses and public
sector employers and representatives to overcome this
issue. ACH presented its unique model for integration at
the conference. This holistic model has its heart focused
on supporting refugees from arrival to integration
through effective employment and enterprise skills. This
process is illustrated below in figure 2.
Rethinking refugees as entrepreneurs
Birmingham, also known as the “city of a thousand
trades”, proudly grew from a village to provide an
outlet for enterprise 200 years ago. Refugees offer a
chance to continue that narrative as they often have
high entrepreneurship skills and have run successful
businesses in their home countries. We need to
encourage them to start businesses and remove any
potential or actual barriers. ACH is carrying out research
with Birmingham University Business School studying
what the drivers and barriers to migrant and refugee
entrepreneurs are.
In his presentation, Professor Monder Ram made
clear the benefits of refugee entrepreneurship as
a driver of economic growth in the UK. He used
Birmingham as an example of successful refugee
and migrant entrepreneurship potential. Professor
Ram stated that as well as supporting refugee
entrepreneurs, we should learn from them because
“they are doing it for themselves”. Professor Ram
concluded by stating that:
“Diversity and entrepreneurialism shouldn’t be just a
minority business, but a majority imperative.”
Collective impact
Economic, civic and social integration are the three
key principles of our #rethinkingrefugee programme.
Economic empowerment is crucial to integration,
people should be able to contribute to the decision-
making processes which shape their lives, and
accommodation can be used as a basis for building
strong links into the community.
Together, we can change policy by collaborating
to aggregate the collective impact of all those
working with refugees in the city, by agreeing a joint
approach to integration, driving an agenda to bend
available funding to achieve positive change for
refugees, and using our access to traditional and
social media to show the positive impacts on the
local economy and the wider community. Without
a collective approach the opportunities for positive
change will continue to be missed.
Accommodation Support Work Skills
Enterprising
Skills
Move On
Five Stage Innovation Model
Resettlement Stage Integration Stage
Figure 2.

4. Ashley Community Housing, 1st & 2nd Floors, 93 Cape Hill, Smethwick, Birmingham, B66 4SA
0121 565 3384 • info@ashleyhousing.com • www.ashleyhousing.com
Next steps
We are determined to make sure that this wasn’t just a
great conference. Actions speak louder than words. The
following actions came out of the event:
All participants to work together on rethinking refugees
and promoting integration.
“Birmingham welcomes refugees and I look forward to
working with Ashley Housing on a positive programme
for integration.” Cllr. Waseem Zaffar MBE
Birmingham City Council representatives committed to
working with refugees to enter the labour market.
“We are committed to working with refugees to enter
the labour market, through employment and skills
support and links to the Economy Directorate.”
Shilpi Akbar
Business representatives, Birmingham City Council and
stakeholders to work together to improve perceptions of
refugees to employers.
We will be making the Rethinking Refugee Conference
an annual event. We will also organise mini Rethinking
Refugee events in localities and communities of interest
as needed. All can join in the conversation on Twitter
using the hashtag #rethinkingrefugee.
What do you say? Please let us know your views and how you might
engage with our work to ensure far better integration of refugees
within our city and region. Keep the conversation going and talk to us:
info@ashleyhousing.com & @ashleychousing #rethinkingrefugee
What others said about the conference
“What an incredible time at Rethink
Refugee today.” Josh Evans, Bearwood
Action for Refugees
“Thank you Ashley Community Housing
for hosting today’s conference.
Such interesting insights from Richard
Thickpenny and Monder Ram
#rethinkingrefugee.” Pooja Ahluwalia,
Coventry City Council
“Good to be at Ashley Community
Housing with Fuad Mahamed, Saidul
Haque, Monder Ram and Cllr. Waseem
Zaffar – refreshing #rethinkingrefugee
approach.” Neil Jameson, Citizens UK
“Attending the #rethinkingrefugee
conference in Birmingham. Great vibe,
good turnout! Rethinking refugees as
assets, not liabilities!” Ayesha Keller
“At the #rethinkingrefugee conference
Ashley Community Housing at the
Birmingham Rep. Some interesting
speakers.” Human City Institute
“#rethinkingrefugee with Ashley
Community Housing - innovative
integration model based on economic,
civic and social”. Jonny Fowle
“Transforming lives through
comprehensive strategies to tackle the
barriers for integration in UK”
CoSS Citizens UK Birmingham