The African and Caribbean Support Organisation, through its Board of Trustees and its chair, Livingstone Thompson, condemns most unequivocally the attack on the Polish family in Newtownards. We believe that this attack was unjustified, it’s a hate crime, and we hope that the Police will take the necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.

It reinforces our view that the hate crime legislation should be strengthened, so as to ensure the Police have the necessary powers to bring prosecution in matters like this.

We want to express our deepest sympathy to the family, and we hope that they will have the appropriate recompense for their hurt. This attack on migrant families, we believe, is a threat to the well-being of society which is moving towards diversity. We should ensure that all nationalities can live together in an atmosphere of trust. So, most unequivocally, we condemn this attack.

ACSONI’s Strategy – Stakeholder Survey
Over the past few months, the ACSONI Trustees, Staff and Working Group Chairs have come together to start renewing ACSONI’s strategy for the next 3-years.

Our future direction will build on the remarkable work that has been done to date, whilst also being forward-looking and responsive to the ever-growing needs of our local communities.

As a result, we want our future strategy to be guided by you. This survey provides an initial opportunity to have your voice heard in the process to develop our new strategy.

Before completing this survey, please read this 2-page document summarising where we have got to so far. This is based on a two day workshop held at the end of May 2023 where the Trustees, Staff and Working Group Chairs developed a high-level strategy on a page.

This survey is being conducted by Caplor Horizons, a non-profit organisation who are partnering with us to develop our strategic direction. The results of this survey are anonymous and we encourage you to be open and honest with your feedback.

This survey will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Thank you!

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X7H589X

Dear valued Community Member,

The Trustees and Staff of ACSONI are inviting you to the third in ACSONI’s series of bi-monthly community conversations, which will take place at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA on Friday 30 June 2023, starting at 4:00pm – 6:00pm. The meeting aims to be broad-ranging and inclusive. There will be a focus on the building of our Strategic Working Groups and a presentation on recent evaluation by Captor Horizons. ACSONI therefore invites you to bring forward your questions, concerns, and suggestions.

It will be an opportunity to meet the Trustees and Staff and know in more detail about our programme of work and how it relates to the needs of our community. More importantly, it will be a time when you can help to identify additional issues for priority attention.

Please register for the event via the attached link, this will help us to ensure we cater for everyones needs.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/acsoni-community-dialogue-session-3-tickets-667217815447?aff=oddtdtcreator

Training Provider Needed: Empowering ACSONI Staff and Volunteers for Effective Charity Work

Who we are:

The African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland (ACSONI) is an autonomous community-based organisation formed in 2003. We have a proactive approach towards targeting needs and facilitating a sense of belonging among individuals from Africa, the Caribbean, and other families in Northern Ireland with these linkages. ACSONI works extensively to alleviate the everyday pressures experienced by socially and economically disadvantaged communities. Our work includes dedicated drop-in support services and comprehensive programs that benefit the community. We also contribute to preserving and promoting the African and Caribbean peoples’ identity and cultural heritage through arts, education, cultural programs, and intercultural exchanges that aid in the wider integration process.

The work of the organisation is delivered by:

A team of four staff members (Business Manager, Policy Officer, Finance Officer, and Key Worker).

Volunteers, including six trustees and the chair of five working groups.

Volunteers in working groups, namely: Education, Health, Policy & Human Rights, Women, Culture and Heritage.

Our Needs:

We need to strengthen the capacity of our staff and leading volunteers in diagnosing community needs, developing and delivering programs to meet specific outcomes. Areas that require strengthening include:

Program development and management

Charity funding and financial management

Diversity and inclusion training

Community engagement and strategic communication

Program evaluation and impact assessment

Recruiting and engaging volunteers

Cultivating customer centricity: understanding and responding to the needs of stakeholders and clients

Training Objective:

We are seeking a training provider to lead a training program that will deliver program development and management, community engagement and strategic communication and at least one other area of need listed above.

Award Criteria:

The training program must meet the following criteria:

Commence preferably in June 2023 and be completed within a specific time frame.

Delivered face-to-face.

Provide an evaluation and end-of-training report.

Include a plan to sustain training input.

Cost shall not exceed £4,000.00.

Target Audience:

This training is to be delivered to trustees, staff, and heads of working groups.

Training Methodology:

The training should be delivered through a combination of interactive presentations, group discussions, case studies, and practical exercises. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from experienced trainers in the charity sector and share best practices with each other.

Expected Training Outcomes:

Improved understanding of the charity organisation’s mission and how to achieve its goals.

Enhanced communication skills for fundraising, donor relations, and public outreach.

Improved project management skills for planning, executing, and evaluating charity projects.

Strategies to improve the effectiveness of volunteers in working groups.

Submission Guidelines:

Interested providers are invited to submit proposals to deliver the training by 5 pm on Friday, 14th July 2023. The submissions must include:

An outline of the strategy to deliver the training program within a specific time frame.

Details of areas to be covered and expected outcomes.

Costs (including provision for a training workbook).

Outline of the training provider’s experience.

 Belfast City Council’s Asylum Advice Belfast service is available to asylum seekers living in Belfast ,offering guidance and support during the asylum journey and providing casework support where required.

 Belfast City Council is delighted to have 3 new staff members with lived experience recently join their team alongside another caseworker already established in the team.

Asylum Advice Belfast team:

1 full time Tigrinya/Amharic Caseworker

1 full time Arabic Caseworker

1 part time Farsi Caseworker (Tuesday 1.30pm- 5pm, Monday & Wednesday 9am-5pm)

1 part time Somali Caseworker (Tuesday 1.30pm-5pm, Monday & Thursday 9am-5pm)

028 90 735 399

Asylum Advice Belfast service phone lines are open Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm, callers will be transferred to a caseworker with their language where available or telephone interpreters will be available for additional language needs. The team are contactable by telephone, Whatsapp and E-Mail. They also accept referrals by e-mail from organisations, you can use their standard Red Cross NI referral form or it may be easier to pass their  contact details on to the individual directly.

Should you have any questions about this service please feel free toemail asylumadvicebelfast@redcross.org.uk. We would be grateful if you could please distribute their posters within your services and share with your contacts.

*To note, this service does not provide legal advice and does not aim to replace Migrant Help services or responsibilities in the Mears Asylum contract.*

Other Red Cross Refugee Support NI Services remain as below, offered across Northern Ireland which can all be accessed through the  main reception line on 028 90 323 055

• Orientation and Integration project continues to provide support to asylum seekers living outside of Belfast.
• Complex casework including destitution support.
• Family Reunion travel assistance and pre &post arrival support
• Ukraine Advice Line and Casework support – 07751745190

Training Provider Needed: Empowering ACSONI Staff and Volunteers for Effective Charity Work

Who we are:

The African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland (ACSONI) is an autonomous community-based organization formed in 2003. We have a proactive approach towards targeting needs and facilitating a sense of belonging among individuals from Africa, the Caribbean, and other families in Northern Ireland with these linkages. ACSONI works extensively to alleviate the everyday pressures experienced by socially and economically disadvantaged communities. Our work includes dedicated drop-in support services and comprehensive programs that benefit the community. We also contribute to preserving and promoting the African and Caribbean peoples’ identity and cultural heritage through arts, education, cultural programs, and intercultural exchanges that aid in the wider integration process.

The work of the organization is delivered by:

A team of four staff members (Business Manager, Policy Officer, Finance Officer, and Key Worker).

Volunteers, including six trustees and the chair of five working groups.

Volunteers in working groups, namely: Education, Health, Policy & Human Rights, Women, Culture and Heritage.

Our Needs:

We need to strengthen the capacity of our staff and leading volunteers in diagnosing community needs, developing and delivering programs to meet specific outcomes. Areas that require strengthening include:

Program development and management

Charity funding and financial management

Diversity and inclusion training

Community engagement and strategic communication

Program evaluation and impact assessment

Recruiting and engaging volunteers

Cultivating customer centricity: understanding and responding to the needs of stakeholders and clients

Training Objective:

We are seeking a training provider to lead a training program that will deliver program development and management, community engagement and strategi communication and at least one other area of need listed above.

Award Criteria:

The training program must meet the following criteria:

Commence preferably in June 2023 and be completed within a specific time frame.

Delivered face-to-face.

Provide an evaluation and end-of-training report.

Include a plan to sustain training input.

Cost shall not exceed £4,000.00.

Target Audience:

This training is to be delivered to trustees, staff, and heads of working groups.

Training Methodology:

The training should be delivered through a combination of interactive presentations, group discussions, case studies, and practical exercises. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from experienced trainers in the charity sector and share best practices with each other.

Expected Training Outcomes:

Improved understanding of the charity organization’s mission and how to achieve its goals.

Enhanced communication skills for fundraising, donor relations, and public outreach.

Improved project management skills for planning, executing, and evaluating charity projects.

Strategies to improve the effectiveness of volunteers in working groups.

Submission Guidelines:

Interested providers are invited to submit proposals to deliver the training by 5 pm on Monday, 29^th May 2023. The submissions must include:

An outline of the strategy to deliver the training program within a specific time frame.

Details of areas to be covered and expected outcomes.

Costs (including provision for a training workbook).

Outline of the training provider’s experience.

Location options.

Please email submissions to businessmanager@acsoni.org

Join us at the DE&I Creative Leadership Conference 2023 being held in the Titanic Hotel, Belfast on 16^th June 2023 to hear from an impressive line-up of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion specialists, who will engage in a stimulating blend of keynote addresses and debates.

Creative Leadership with Good Governance accompanied with Good Practice

New approaches and innovative ideas that have created significant organisational and process improvements. The aim of the conference is to highlight such innovative approaches and to disseminate relevant information and research that underpins them.

The conference will be of interest to senior management, organisations in both Private/Public sectors, HR and recruitment departments and researchers together with those that are much earlier in their careers.

The community in Northern Ireland has changed significantly and our conference will gather to challenge political decision makers, education institutions, health and wellbeing, Housing, and many various organisations to deliver services that reflect the community needs. Delegates attending the conference will:

– gain Diversity, Equity &Inclusion insights to help their organisations to plan ahead

– share good practice and learn from each other’s experience

– connected and network to create diverse opportunities

– prioritise people equity within organisations

Key Topics included: Creative Leadership ideas, Good Governance, Good Practice, Statistics and demographics from research, expert discussion on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Sign up to the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2023-dei-creative-leadership-conference-tickets-502856777157?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

Kind Regards,

JoinHer Team

The other side of hope: Journeys in refugee and immigrant literature

OUR SUBMISSIONS WINDOW

​IS NOW OPEN

until 31st of May 2023

please subscribe to our newsletter for news on our next submissions window and other announcements​

email submissions to:
submissions.otherside@gmail.com
A.M. Heath Literary Agency will offer 1-2-1s to 6 of our vol.3 contributors​​. A.M. Heath was founded in London in 1919.

We admire, respect, and are friends with writers and poets from all walks of life. However, the other side of hope exists to serve, bring together, and celebrate the refugee and immigrant communities worldwide. To help promote and showcase writing from these communities, fiction and poetry are open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only. We accept non-fiction, book reviews, and author interview submissions by everyone on the theme of migration. Please see categories below.

We publish twice a year, one print issue and one online issue.
​
Payment: We offer £100 per published author in the print issue, and £50 per published author in the online issue. Sadly, due to legal constraints from the Home Office, we cannot offer payment to people who are seeking asylum; however, accepted authors who are seeking asylum will receive a £100/£50 online gift card (you choose which one, and we’ll try to get it for you). The authors we publish in print will also receive one complimentary copy of the issue in which their work appears.
We offer £300 and two copies of our print issue for artwork that we will use in our print and online covers. See details below in Submission Guidelines.

Payment method: Please note that we can only pay via PayPal or into UK bank accounts. Due to high international transaction fees, we cannot transfer fees into non-UK bank accounts.

Print Vs Online: All submissions are considered for either the print or the online issue, at the editors’ discretion. Please do not ask us to consider your work for a specific issue.

Response time: It can take us 6 months or more to get back to you. Apologies for slow responses.

Pitches: No, sorry. Please send us complete work only.

Multiple submissions (i.e. poetry and prose): Yes, but it will help us if you send us everything in one email. After sending us your work, please wait for a response before submitting again.

Groupwork poems: We consider poems from refugee/asylum seeker writing groups.

Please send us your work in Word only. No online or PDF files, please.

We welcome works in English, from anywhere in the world, but please see individual categories below for eligibility.

Please submit completed, previously unpublished work only.

Simultaneous submissions: Yes, just let us know if your work was accepted elsewhere. We will be happy for you.

Cover letter: Include your name, short bio, country of origin and (if you have moved) the country you currently live in. Indicate whether your submission has been simultaneously submitted elsewhere.

Translations: No, sorry.
​​​
Copyright: After we publish your work on the other side of hope, all rights revert to our authors. Published authors do not need our permission to reprint, though we appreciate an acknowledgement of first publication.
​
Submission fee: We do not and will never charge submission fees.​
Submissions guidelines
Fiction
Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.
There is no theme; you don’t have to send us work that relates to the refugee or immigrant experience. Up to two short stories or stand-alone chapters from unpublished novels (1,000 to 8,000 words) are welcome. Or you can send us up to five pieces of flash fiction.
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
​When you send us fiction, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (a writer living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this.
Poetry
Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.
There is no theme; you don’t have to send us work that relates to the refugee or immigrant experience. Please send up to four poems in a single file.
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
When you send us poetry, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (a writer living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this. ​
Non-fiction
Open to everyone. Theme: Migration.
We accept narrative non-fiction, short essays, creative ethnography, memoir, criticism, reportage, and travelogue. The suggested word limit is between 2,000 to 5,000 words. Please send us up to two pieces in a single file. Academic submissions are highly discouraged.
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
Book reviews & author interviews
Open to everyone. Theme: Migration.
We accept book reviews on novels, collections of short stories, poetry and non-fiction books (no academic books please), preferably between 500 to 1,000 words. Interviews with authors (up to around 2,000 words) do not have to be about a specific book; they could also be discussions around the writing process.
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
Cover artwork
Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.
We accept illustrations, drawings, photography, comics and anything else that we can use in our print and online covers. Please send us a minimum of five artworks or links to your work. If your artwork is accepted, we will ask you to write two very short pieces on your works, and additional black & white artworks that we will use as dividers in our print issue.
​Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
When you send us your work, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (an artist living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this. ​https://othersideofhope.com/submissions.html#