Thursday, June 24, 2010
Student leaders prepare to take action for refugees
STAR students from around the UK gathered for a training weekend on 12-13th June. Check out the photos and download the handouts from workshops, campaign actions and speakers!
Saturday
Two top speakers kicked off the weekend with an insightful overview of refugee law and reflections on the current state of affairs with the new coalition government.
Maurice Wren (Director, Asylum Aid) and Alison Harvey (General Secretary, Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association) offered STAR members their expertise, providing the context for the weekend and STAR’s work as a whole.
Download Alison Harvey’s handout:
‘Refugees in the UK: the role of the STAR Network’
Workshops on STAR’s key activities
There were three workshops in the afternoon:
1. ‘Changing Attitudes about Refugees’ with Zrinka Bralo (Executive Director, Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum).
Zrinka spoke of her experience in journalism and migrant rights campaigning and the possibilities for reaching a wider audience with the truth about refugees and their treatment in the UK.
Download Handout:
Zrinka’s Helpful Links for Changing Attitudes
2. ‘Supporting Refugees through Volunteering’ with Emily Crowley (Volunteering Project Coordinator, STAR National).
Emily described how STAR volunteers fit into the a wider movement supporting refugees and what students can do to build a successful partnership with local organisations.
Download copy of Emily’s presentation:
Supporting Refugees through Volunteering
See Emily’s Sunday workshop below for a full guide.
3. ‘Campaigning Together for Refugees’ with Jonathan Ellis, Refugee Council (Director of Policy and Development).
Jonathan explained the basics of campaigning and how to plan for success, discussing with students how they can contribute to real change.
One, two, three Simple Acts…
STAR members got into 3 groups to take part in Refugee Week ‘Simple Acts’ campaign:
Take a picture of you and your pro-refugee banner
See the beautiful banner students made in the picture below!
Define the word refuge
You can watch the short film made about the meaning of ‘refuge’…
Learn to say a few things in a new language
In the picture below students teach each other key phrases in some new languages.
Film screening: Moving to Mars
We saw a snippet of the documentary about two Burmese families and their journey from a refugee camp in Thailand to the streets of Sheffield.
Watch Moving to Mars online at 4oD
Sunday
STAR spent the early morning looking at how the different parts of the network work together. We celebrated the achievements of this year and looked forward to more success next year.
Downloads:
Workshops on running a STAR group
1. ‘Fab Freshers: Getting and Keeping Members’, with James Fisher (STAR National), got students thinking about what makes their society special and how to organise and student-magnet stall for freshers.
Download STAR’s ‘Guide to Running your STAR group’ for advice:
Running a STAR Group
2. ‘Perfect Projects: Running your Volunteering’, with Emily Crowley (STAR National), looked at the 3 key stages of planning, delivering and evaluating projects as well as a happy volunteering team.
Download STAR’s guidance on volunteering for advice:
Volunteering – Committee training 2010
3. ‘Excellent Events and Fundraising’, with Emma Williams and Kevin Dunbar (STAR National), involved practising planning for a successful event.
Download STAR’s ‘Guide to Organising Events’ for advice:
Organising an Event
Equal Access campaign
Ahmed Shazad was our guest for the afternoon, speaking of his experience of going to university while awaiting his asylum decision and the work he previously did with Brighter Future’s, a self-advocacy group for young asylum seekers.
We then turned to STAR’s Equal Access campaign to improve access to higher education for asylum seekers and refugees. Some STAR groups have already made excellent progress and we’re set to make a big impact next year!
Go to our Equal Access page to download the STAR Campaign Pack
‘Speed-date’ planning
Students planned, moved on, fed back, planned a bit more, commented, moved on… and organically put together solid plans for great events next year!
Ready to go!
We can now all rest over the summer before getting back to university to promote, volunteer and campaign to make a difference to refugees in this country… exactly what we’ve just prepared for.
Posted by James Fisher on 24/06/2010 at 02:15 PM
in National STAR News
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