West District Hockey are working hard to increase the footprint of members and member clubs throughout the district and have identified refugee communities as an ideal group to promote our sport within, and help the refugees by encouraging a healthy lifestyle through a welcoming sport, helping their language skills, and assisting in welcoming them into our communities.
The Scottish Refugee Council have asked West District Hockey for an indication of our plans and strategy for engaging with refugees and asylum seekers. We have highlighted several ideas below but welcome input from all parties to make the list as inclusive and refugee friendly as possible.
We propose clubs who wish to participate in this project agree to consider providing the following.
- A caring environment to welcome the refugees and asylum seekers.
- To Learn about the refugee process, understand any pitfalls, and identify areas of strength and weakness within their environment
- Provide a welcome pack including information on the club, individual contact details, training, match details etc.
- Make the refugees feel a part of your club.
- Partner with trusted organisations that already work within the refugee and asylum seeker community. These organisations can offer access and insight, and may support you to develop accessible activities, help you promote opportunities and encourage people to get involved. Depending on their capacity, they may help share the workload whilst bringing in different experiences and perspectives.
- Keep costs as low as possible– free is best!
- Some families won’t be able to afford kit or equipment, so set sessions up in a way that means people won’t miss out if they don’t have the ‘right’ things.
- Take the offer to the people! Many families won’t feel confident travelling too far, due to time constraints, cost, and the unfamiliarity of new places. Finding venues in the areas they live in should encourages attendance and may help to reach participants quicker.
- Families may wish to join in as a unit, so look at how you can accommodate both siblings and parents. Some parents and siblings who start watching on the side-lines may not need much persuasion to join in. Encourage them where you can
- For many of the families putting food on the table may be difficult. If you can offer nutritious food to participants after their activities, it may make a huge difference to some families and bring a new sponsor to your club.
- Parents may not want their children to be distracted from education; so, explore ways to address this, perhaps include time before or after sessions where they can access club members help with their homework, or have a getting to know you session over a cup of tea when just talking can improve their language capabilities.
- Keep talking to the people taking part and their families, to make sure your delivery continues to meet their needs. Regularly check they are enjoying sessions, ask their opinion on how to improve sessions, and If they stop turning up, ask why and see what you can do to encourage them back.
- Young people see many benefits, by developing their language and sporting skills, meeting new people, and building their self-confidence, in an environment that gives them a true sense of belonging whilst they find their own identities in a new country
- Create partnerships with your local authority and GPs to spread the word throughout the refugee and asylum seekers community that you are a group looking to work within their community for the benefit all.
Mistakes will be made during this process, just as successes will happen. West District as a group need to know to learn from those mistakes and benefit everyone from the successes so please keep Keith Joss, president@westdistricthockey.co.uk and Ally Scott agscott12@gmail.com in the loop.
The Scottish Refugee Council will support our clubs by sharing our interest with their communities and encouraging families to join clubs within their catchment areas, for integration and building social connections.
They would also encourage clubs to join the New Scots Connect Map and Forum too.
The Map
The map provides information about communities and organisations supporting refugees, for example, their location, activities, and how to get in touch with them. The map is on Scottish Refugee Council’s website for anyone to use.
Use this link to add your club to the New Scots Connect Map. Where you can access the map with this link and find information about other groups that are signed up to it – Location – Scottish Refugee Council
The Forum
The members forum enables communities and organisations supporting refugees to work more closely with each other, to share experiences and knowledge, and to access training and funding opportunities.
If you complete this form New Scots Connect Forum, you will gain access to the Forum to receive updates from other groups whilst being able to post your own. Please share this information to other clubs you are friendly with who may be keen on joining this very worthwhile project too.
