A New Voice in London

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1 This report summarises the process and outcomes of an action learning project A New Voice in London involving London s hidden communities. Praxis

2 introduction The empowerment process This report summarises the process and outcomes of an action learning project - A New Voice in London, involving London s hidden communities. A New Voice in London is a community empowerment partnership project between Praxis and the London Civic Forum under the National Empowerment Partnership (NEP) Programme. Its aim is to provide a voice to the hidden communities of London, by empowering them to influence decisions that affect their lives. The project is funded by the London Empowerment Partnership (LEP) through London Civic Forum, as regional lead for the National Empowerment Partnership. The London Empowerment Partnership and Praxis are committed to raising the voice of new comers to London, particularly those who are experiencing levels of vulnerability and exploitation. It is believed that these communities should be engaged since they contribute to society and therefore have the right to a voice and influencing decisions. Engagement is part of inclusion and cohesion, and failure to engage certain groups risks polarization in society. In what follows, the report will outline the essence and outcomes of the project. Why hidden communities? There are no reliable data sets on the size of these communities. However, people born abroad make up at least 30% of London s residents, and nearly two-fifths of its working-age population. A recent estimate indicated that since 1998 London had a net gain from inward migration totalling some 800,000 people. The hidden communities of London experience levels of vulnerability and exploitation and are constituted by new migrants from within and outside the EU, asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. London s hidden communities make a significant contribution to London s economic, social and cultural life. They also pose unique challenges to London include demand pressure on public services and infrastructure, effects of diversity with high mobility, issues of integration, and dealing with intergroup tensions and community cohesion. In spite of the size, contribution and challenges associated with these communities, there is little in the way of direct engagement with London s hidden communities, and they remain neglected. Traditional empowerment and community engagement initiatives do not seem to provide access to the voice of these communities. Community empowerment mechanisms targeting hidden communities should be able to take account of their specific nature, the vulnerabilities and disadvantages they faced, and recognize the difficulties in directly engage them in dialogue about relevant policy and decision making processes in London. Praxis endeavoured to employ the Action Learning approach as a method to enable members of the hidden community to have a sense of ownership in the community empowerment process, share their common experiences and allow for engagement and dialogue with policy and decision makers. London enriched The Mayor s strategy for refugee integration in London, Draft, Ian Gordon, Tony Travers & Christine Whitehead. Migration and the London Economy. Seminar background paper, LSE November What is action-learning? Action-Learning is a method of engagement by which groups can come together to create change, not by receiving from external actors but through a facilitated process of reflecting upon current experiences and realities, and transforming them into something new and better. It is composed of five interrelated steps. Agenda setting: engaging community members to determine what their main interests and concerns are, prioritise and identify the themes that constitute the agenda for an action learning event. The agenda informs the selection of institutions for dialogue and programme of an action learning event with the following four sessions. Experience sharing: each participant shares what is happening within her/his day to day live with reference to the key themes of the event. Reflection: examination of the realities which participants encounter and the overall dynamics causing them through images, storytelling, role playing or a presentation. Analysis: understanding of the forces and factors which underlie participants current experience. Dialogue: the process of talking through a problem with people who do have influence and power. Action Planning: reflecting on what participants had learnt, drawing conclusions and setting goals for action. The empowerment process proceeded in two phases: setting the agenda and an action learning event. Preparing to listen Praxis invited a sample of community representatives and activists to a 3 hour facilitated discussion to identify potential themes for the A New Voice in London event. They were recruited using contacts from Praxis own client base and the networks of community, faith and voluntary organisations with initiatives directly or indirectly targeting hidden communities. Out of 19 individuals contacted, seven attended the workshop, including individuals from the Columbian, Brazilian, Ukrainian, Ethiopian, Congolese and Iraqi communities. Following an experience sharing exercise, participants identified the following issues: effects of tightening immigration and work permit rules; changing agendas relating to citizenship, community cohesion, and human rights; fear of detention and deportation; lack of quality legal support; lack of access to reliable information and access to support services; language barriers and lack of access to English language classes; employment restrictions, exploitation and maltreatment by employers; vulnerability to traffickers and illegal employment networks; lack of access to essential service such as health; alienation, increased stereotyping and hate crime. Participants prioritised these issues into three broad themes: human rights and the insecurity of migrants, vulnerability at work, and vulnerability to crime and hate. These were picked up as generative themes for the event. Following on from this discussion, Praxis was tasked with deciding the programme of the action learning event based on these themes and identifying and inviting representatives of statutory and nonstatutory agencies. Accordingly the Government Office for London, the Greater London Authority, the London Refugee Action (LORECA) of London Development Agency, the British Institute of Human Rights, the TUC, the London Probation Service, the London Civic Forum and the Poppy Project were invited. Praxis was able to contact over 85 individuals from its database of service users, as well as from its networks of community, faith and voluntary organisations that work with hidden communities. In total, 25 members of the community attended the event. They were joined by representatives of six invited agencies. Apologies were sent from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the Greater London Authority, who were unable to attend. The action learning event Held on 31 March 2008 at a central London venue, the Event was facilitated by Vaughan Jones, CEO of Praxis, as well as three group facilitators. The True Hearts Theatre Company provided substantial animation under the direction of Max von Duerckheim. The action learning programme opened with group workshop sessions involving participating members of the hidden community in experience sharing and identifying emerging issues. These were later followed with a process of reflection, analysis and dialogue alongside invited policy and decision makers. Group work session. Conducted by group facilitators in small groups of around 8 participants each, the session gave time to each participant to introduce themselves and their concerns stemming from their day to day experiences of the core themes. The facilitators then encouraged open ended questions from other participants. This ensured that all members have a say and real day to day experiences are shared. Once all have spoken, the facilitators sought to sum up the discussion by encouraging all participants to identify emerging themes. Reflection and analysis session. This was animated entirely by the theatre company. The main goal was to stimulate storytelling within the group, and access the emotional or experiential side of migrant world-views. This was then fed into the discussions that followed the performances. The main emphasis was on story-telling and eliciting actual experiences, rather than discovering opinions. Dialogue session. Participant hidden communities were joined by representatives agencies invited in three group dialogue sessions. Each group held a conversation on one of the three themes of the event and the concerns arising from the morning session were shared with policy makers. In turn, the policy makers spoke about the work of their agencies and shared ideas and opportunities with the participants. Action planning. Initially, group members individually identified their learning from the event and the actions they wish to take. Once this has been done, they then shared them with their group. Outcomes were then taken in a concluding session where all participants deliberated together.

3 The new voices Voices from conversation Acted voices There were some significant points of learning in the storytelling and performances which occurred: The stories acted connected with the three themes of the event. Participants were encouraged to tell their stories and chose one of the actors to play her/himself. The story was then re-enacted by the theatre group. Stories told related to themes in the following areas: changed expectations upon arrival in the U.K., fears concerning challenges in finding work, and being required to change in order to adapt to life in the U.K. There was a high level of emotion throughout the performances, as many of the individual experiences resonated with what had been personally experienced by many of the people present and here are extracts of some the stories told. A man told a story of a recent encounter he had with a woman from his home country. He met her at the house of a friend, and she was in a terrible state because her husband had been taken into custody after having lost control of his sanity due to frustration at being unable to find work. The man had been taken away in a straight jacket and was currently in some kind of institution. The storyteller recounted how this experience had filled him with fear, as he was concerned that he may face similar challenges to finding work, even though at home he was a successful and wellconnected person. A man told the story of the way he faced being an immigrant in London. He said he was sometimes discouraged, but that a conversation to his father back home gave him a fresh perspective. He told of the difficulties finding a work-experience placement in his field. The placement he eventually found was unsatisfactory because he was put under considerable pressure to lose weight and change his appearance to suit fashion. He eventually gave this job up because of this situation. Following the story telling, the animator moved the group into a more analytical session using a Forum Theatre theatrical method. The audience members were invited to come onstage and join the actors to engage with issues of debate and in problem-solving activities. The audience as a whole agreed to work with a metaphor of the U.K. as a body, with one limb being rejected by the head of the body, even though this limb wished to serve the entire system. The actors shaped themselves as a group into the image of a large body. The woman who was interested in making this point to policy makers came onstage as a limb and approached the actor at the head of the body with her list of grievances, which included discrimination in the workplace, lack of access to employment, and a perceived indifference to the community s problems. We then made one of the actors a voice from the other side, to respond to the woman s grievances. Somebody expressed feeling that London, while indeed a very difficult place to achieve success, is eventually very rewarding, because once one achieves success in London, one can be sure to find success anywhere. Having spent years in the UK, a woman expressed disappointment at the realisation that true equality does not exist anywhere. She had been taught to believe that the UK was a land of opportunity, free of the oppression that existed in her home country, but she now felt differently. Human rights and the insecurity of migrants Concerns and emerging issue Restrictive immigration laws contributing to the social and economic exclusion and marginalisation of asylum seekers and migrants. Race Relations Amendment Act and equal opportunities ethnic monitoring are not working for new communities. Denial of the right to work and destitute life pushing asylum seekers to use false papers for employment and this is leading to their imprisonment and deportation. Women whose legal status is attached to their husbands and experiencing domestic violence are unable to access support from local authorities. Stigma facing trafficked women who are rejected by society. Stereotypes of different minority groups affecting access to support service. Life in limbo with no information about immigration status leading affecting people s mental health, straining their support networks, and forcing them into the margins of society. Removal of failed asylum seekers in relation to breaching the right to family life Poor treatment of failed asylum seekers in detention centres. The application of human rights is rarely put to work at the right time and not all immigration solicitors are aware of human rights laws. Government agencies will only communicate with officially recognised organisations. Vulnerability to crime and hate Extensive Prejudice against most foreigners affecting new communities access to appropriate, reasonably well paid jobs that match their actual qualifications and skills. Racism getting worse and being legally condoned by government as evidenced by new quota systems- constitutionalised racism. Lack of appropriate knowledge on how to find out about agencies or organizations that seek to challenge prejudice and racism. Government rules continually make people very vulnerable to crime, through destitution, poor prospects and no hope. The Roma community are settled across London and do not have an organised voice, while most Roma related NGO s are not led by the Roma themselves Praxis and other organisations need to know about and pursue more real life stories, in order to challenge the legality of current and proposed legislation. Learning and actions Human rights are not about lawyers. Human rights are everybody s business. Education and awareness raising is key and local authorities and community organisations need to know about human rights. Integrate human rights into the participation work being undertaken. Work with active refugee networks. Challenge the UK government reports to international bodies on human rights issues, i.e. produce a collective response, sometimes called shadow reports. Monitor human rights abuses, e.g. case studies, examples of human rights abuses. Organise debates and feed into the consultations on the government s proposed Bill of Rights which will restrict rights to citizens only. Communities to work together on a common agenda, participating in the consultations on the Bill of Rights, and learning and disseminating information about the Human Rights Act. The right to work should apply to all, regardless of immigration status. The asylum system in the UK should be critically reviewed in line with human rights. There should be a move towards inclusiveness. Human rights are about everybody. The government needs to increase its transparency in decision making. Share, tell people about the powerful experience of the action learning day with colleagues. Try to get hold of more of the information we now know. Be willing to be involved in further events, focus groups etc. Try to work together- the different communities of newcomers have a lot in common with each other. Develop, promote and support more grass roots bottom up projects.

4 Voices from conversation Closing session Conclusion Vulnerability at work Concerns and emerging issue Exclusion from the labour market, unfair treatment by employers and excessively high levels of unemployment amongst particular ethnic minority groups, e.g. Romanian people. Stereotypes, negative stigmatisation. Vulnerabilities arising from changes in the regulatory framework, complication associated with the technicality and renewal process, and making visa extension becoming difficult. There is a social justice issue- deporting nurses and care workers is separating families and disrupting children s education. Difficulties in securing qualifications/converting qualifications into something useful in this country The labour market, specifically the unskilled labour market, increasingly becoming tighter and tighter for non-eu and non-commonwealth migrants. The immigration roundups are making people unemployed and businesses are becoming affected. Right to work for asylum seekers. Mayor s strategy for automatic rights after 6 months is a positive move. There are particular issues around the care industries and employment, particularly exploitative employment The annual contractual arrangement for domestic workers is leading to more expensive renewal arrangements Sport and sex go together and in relation to Olympic 2012, migration of sexual worker and associated sexual violence would constitute a major problem, and discussions around this across London should come with specific initiative. Learning and actions Network and develop more connections with communities To work with groups of workers to build their awareness of their employment rights and build their confidence Projects promoting employment support, employment rights and legal advice services. Community language speakers to help support people in understanding the system and accessing services Encouraging private sector to employ migrant communities Take ideas from the event to the equality strands that are being brought together at the moment on a London level. Develop more community empowerment initiatives of this type, build on this event and establish mechanisms to understand peoples individual experiences from themselves. Do research and inform discourse on the Roma community. Representative offered participants to get in touch. In the closing discussions of the thematic groups and the closing session that followed, participants commented on and identified some key themes to come from the event. Some of the main points raised are summarised as follows: It is comforting to see that people from the receiving community are interested in and are doing something regarding the concerns of migrants, and engage with hidden communities. There was consensus that much more similar events are needed if hidden communities are to be empowered to engage in public life. It was clear that there is much information and resources that most people don t know about, and they wanted to find out much more. Everyone was struck by how complex the whole field is, and that there are no simple solutions. Some issues were too sensitive to be aired such as the extent of racism amongst some newcomers themselves towards others, both newcomers and the indigenous population. There is a need to build on existing projects and initiatives and develop the innovative methods of action learning in existing projects focused on community empowerment. There s a need to back up any initiative with appropriate data and statistics There s a need to make sure policy makers hear stories first hand. There is a real need to improve communication with new communities What participants felt about the event The event has been instrumental in learning about the sense of desperation/frustration surrounding migrants rights directly from themselves, reinforcing an understanding about engagement as well as to what extent the stories repeat themselves throughout these communities. It is good to hear that there are lots of other communities with similar issues, and it was wonderful to have people hear my story. I learned how important it is to hear the voices of people and how powerful the action learning method is to get the policy makers understand the plight of the vulnerable and disadvantaged. The forum theatre was very involving and fascinating, it is demonstrated how powerfully drama can communicate the core issues, and how helpful it could be in motivating people to explore issues and identify initiatives for themselves. It s good to hear lots of different perspectives. The event was an opportunity to share experience as failed asylum seekers and to have the opportunity to tell stories of those pushed into petty crime, like the falsification of documents to get employment. Praxis has contributed this Action Learning event to the London Civic Forum and the National Empowerment Network both as an opportunity for new communities to begin to have a voice and to demonstrate the power of this methodology in engaging apparently powerless people actively in London s civic life. The event worked on a number of levels: It was engaging for the participants and gave them a sense of being empowered personally to participate in this society. It enabled direct conversations between people who make decisions and those who are affected by them from a position of equality. It deepened a common understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of current policies at the point of implementation. It visually explained the complexities of the current situation and the interacting issues which create real day-to-day problems for individuals. It gave some immediate guidance to participants as to how they can begin to engage more effectively and more positively with the problems they encounter. It facilitated the formation of important informal networks of those affected by policy changes. It is strongly recommended that these events continue at local borough and regional levels and even nationally, within a committed process of listening and acting together as communities and decision makers. We hope to be able to work with London Civic Forum and others to build a community empowerment programme. The London Community Empowerment Partnership would profit greatly from encouraging such an approach. The intensity of the feelings displayed during the action leaning event highlights the importance of engaging with new communities and the sense of alienation they feel. Praxis believes that there is a significant hidden community in London subject to crime, violence, the abuse of their human rights, endangered by overzealous immigration policing. These communities are increasingly disillusioned, depressed and defeatist. This action learning event demonstrates most powerfully that theirs is a voice for good, reflective of real hope for their community and our city. If only there are people to listen. Praxis May 2008

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