Supporting RCOs to champion the needs and aspirations of refugees in UK.
The Refugee Council’s vision for community engagement and development recognises that:
- Refugee Community Organisations and the people active within them, have unique knowledge, skills and lived experience of issues that affect them, and that those assets should be used to address issues, develop joint solutions and strengthen community resilience and organisational capacity.
- Individuals who carry out leadership roles whether within formal Refugee Community Organisations or at a community level should be empowered to develop appropriate skills and knowledge to work with their communities, to identify their needs and help meet them as far as is possible or to make a good representation in debates aimed at finding solutions to the identified needs.
The Refugee Council’s work with RCOs is designed to enable RCOs to shape the development and implementation of this vision.
This means we are helping RCOs to:
- Gain a stronger voice to express and meet their needs and speak directly to policy and decision makers
- Access support to adapt, evolve and innovate in a more challenging funding environment to sustain their programme activities
- Collaborate and share information, intelligence and best practice to address the issues facing refugee communities across London
Opportunities for RCOs
The Supporting RCOs project gives RCOs a range of ways to get ideas, assistance and resources.
Stay informed with the RCO Connect newsletter
Timely information is essential to the work of refugee community organisations. RCO Connect contains useful funding information, training and networking opportunities, consultations, campaigns and other opportunities to influence policy, strategic planning and services.
Sign up to RCO Connect
Our newsletter for Refugee Community Organisations provides updates on policy, events, training and fundraising opportunities as well as links to resources and job vacancies.
Free training and networking events to strengthen your organisation
We provide free organisational development training to RCOs. This includes fundraising and other forms of income generation, partnership development and collaboration, and measuring and demonstrating impact.
We also organise pan-London events to facilitate debate, share best practice and address common challenges. Involving refugees, RCO leaders, mainstream providers, policy makers and funders, they give RCOs the opportunity to contribute ideas on how best their needs can be met.
Assess the health of your organisation
The organisational self-assessment tool is a quality assurance resource for organisations that want to make sure that they are developing according to best practice. The tool is especially helpful for those that are developing or struggling to sustain their services in a more competitive and demanding funding environment. It also helps identify the best resources and support services available locally and London-wide.
The self-assessment tool is structured around standards in four quality areas:
- Governance
- Managing resources (Finance, Staff, Volunteers)
- User Involvement, Equality and Diversity
- Performance management
Download the RCO self-assessment tool
Get in touch
If you represent an RCO and want to find our more about the support we offer, get in touch using the form below.