Migrant Action

Empowerment Advocacy Justice

Migrant Action says; THANK YOU and best wishes to all our fabulous student volunteers

by

Over the last 12 months, our organisation has had a fantastic group of student volunteers who have brought a vast range of skills, passions and energy to the organisation and offered their time for the benefit of the organisation.  

Thanks to the volunteers, the organisation has a stronger social media presence and a better communications overall. They have also helped to enhance fundraising and community engagement through crowd fundraising and community outreach.  Our research volunteers have generated important knowledge that would inform future service development to address the problem of deskilling amongst migrants.  

Overall, our volunteers have raised the profile of Migrant Action and contributed significantly to development and progress of the organisation. 

Volunteers speak



Volunteering at Migrant Action was a fun experience that really helped me improve my communication, leadership and event planning skills. I was able to be closely involved in many aspects of the charity from social media to events,  learning a lot about the organisation and issues facing migrants.  

Volunteering was also a great way to improve my confidence as I was given autonomy on exciting projects like setting up the organisations university society – I was able to network with others and create events with my team. As a result of being given freedom to implement my own ideas, I have gained skills in events and social media that I can now apply to work life and interview questions. Meeting with like-minded people every week to discuss how we could positively impact the community was so enjoyable and always felt like a  positive break from university life. (Bailey) 

We would like to say a big THANK YOU! to Maddie, Megan, Paddy, Bailey, Lina, Rohde, Celeste and Alex and we wish you all the very best for the future. 

Happy New Year from Migrant Action

Dear friends of Migrant Action,

In a few hours, we will be saying ‘good-bye’ to 2021 and ‘welcome’ to 2022. Thank you for your solidarity and support helping to strengthen Migrant Action’s advocacy and pursuit for migrants’ rights & justice in an increasingly challenging and complex environment.  The essence of our work is even more relevant now!

Context

BREXIT, the ‘New immigration bill which reinforces the ‘hostile environment’ policy targeting migrants, the Climate crisis, Covid-19, Systemic racism, negative press narratives fuelling anti-migrant sentiments by sections of the media, protracted conflicts, political violence, human rights violations, economic exploitation, and political marginalisation of the global south.   

These developments constitute a disturbing environment for migrant’s rights & justice.  Firstly, it engineers and sustains vulnerability and the precarious conditions that trigger more mobility of migrants across and within countries.   Secondly, it entrenches and exacerbates an infrastructure that undermine migrants’ capacity to access justice, deepen inequality, racial & social injustice and routinely negate migrant rights and dignity.  In essence, such an environment poses an existential threat to the dignity and humanity of migrants.

Our Response

Migrant Action is adapting and responding to this changing and complex context. We have expanded provision and adapted service delivery model to proactively support vulnerable migrants during the pandemic and beyond. We enhanced our delivery of crisis interventions to prevent homelessness & destitution, increased access to immigration advice for people with insecure immigration, increased integration support for new migrants, assisted more EU migrants to regularise their immigration status in the UK after Brexit.   Our advocacy work continues to promote equity of rights and justice for migrants. Essentially, Migrant Action continues to a lifeline and safety net for vulnerable migrants in this challenging environment.

Migrant Action has also strengthened its capacity and resilience in pursuit of transformational social change. The current context demands more urgency to challenge anti-migrant sentiments and policies, tackle structural inequalities, climate change, systemic racism, and social injustice. To this vein, our strategic advocacy through ‘Strengthening Hands’ partnerships to grow migrant ‘voice’, as well as our collaborative research, capacity building and campaign-based activities have been impactful.

Looking to the future

Migrant Action anticipates operating in an even more challenging context as it grapples with the issues undermining rights and justice. However, we have emerged from 2020/21 with more capacity and resilience to respond to present and future challenges working as a team with staff, volunteers, trustees, partners, funders and of course, those we serve- migrants.  Therefore, we look forward to 2022 with greater hope and fierceness commitment to rights and justice for migrants, a fair and humane immigration system and for a more equal, just, and peaceful society in which everyone including migrants can realize their full potential.

Dear friends, your solidarity remains invaluable and integral to our success, even more so, now!

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Fidelis Chebe

Director