Many of black and minority ethnic women are from hard to reach communities without formal qualifications, low confidence who have never been given the opportunities to return to learning. They face barriers such as childcare, language, family members and lack of inspiration.
Asha Neighbourhood Project received funding from the National Lottery: Community Fund to recruit women who have been in the UK less then 10 years for volunteering. As part of their volunteering training they completed a 3 day confidence to volunteer skills course with children at the Northern College to become more confident in dealing with difficult situations and in everyday living and to have more motivation to cope and succeed.
To help them become more confident about volunteering, develop their skills and feel positive about life in general. With particular focus on English and volunteering skills.
The volunteers learned to speak up confidently and to be more assertive. They learned about listening, communication, team work, group discussion, stress and stress management skills.
At the end of the course women have reported back that they have better English skills, confidence to speak out, speak up and confidence in communication skills
Danielle, a mother of six said:
“I want to be the best role model for my children. My confidence in writing, speaking and listening has improved a lot.”
Another volunteer Fatoumata said:
“When Asha project invited me to the residential I grabbed the opportunity to take part in the course. I and my 4 children had the best time. We learned how to use nouns, verbs and adjectives.”
This post was written by Tahena Ahmed
We encourage anyone living or working in South Leeds to use this website to tell their news. You can either use the Create an article for South Leeds Life page, or email us at: info@southleedslife.com
