See below for links to videos and learning leaflets in  Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, English, Farsi, French, Kurdish Sorani, Pashto, Spanish, Tigrinya and Urdu.

RCOs spend a lot of time trying to help community members who have problems because they were unaware of UK laws, systems, expectations, rights and responsibilities and norms. This lack of knowledge can lead to tragic consequences, such as parents losing their children into care because they didn’t know the UK’s child safeguarding laws. 

When you arrive in a new country you need to adjust – literally overnight – to these differences. But how do you know? Who will help you avoid crossing unseen boundaries? Since 2014 our members have advocated for national and local strategies to ensure newly arriving refugees and asylum seekers have immediate access to orientation information. 

These Welcome to the UK resources try to fill that information gap. Over 50 of our members, from 23 RCOs and 20 countries of origin across Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and Eastern Europe worked together to produce 3 free video guides to life in the UK. They developed content based on what they wish they had known when they first arrived in the UK. They hope early access to orientation guides can prevent these problems arising. 

There are 3 video guides on Parenting and Schools in the UK, on Looking after your health in the UK, and on Laws and Life in the UK. They are translated into 10 of the most used refugee and asylum seeker languages in the region plus a simplified English version for speakers of minority languages. These guides are designed for sharing in a group learning context with a same language and culture peer facilitating a session, but they can be accessed by individuals any time.

And there are leaflets that capture the key messages of each video, again translated into 10 languages.

Click below for videos and leaflets in your language

• English
• Albanian
• Amharic
• Arabic
• Farsi
• French
• Kurdish (Sorani)
• Pashto
• Spanish
• Tigrinya
• Urdu

If you would like to use scripts and slides to make a powerpoint presentation please contact us at info@refugeevoices.org.uk . Here is one example:

• Parenting in the UK – script and slides in Simplified English

The content of each video covers:

We are grateful to the North East Migration Partnership for commissioning us to produce these resources.

We offer online training to staff and volunteers from any agency who thinks they could use these resources as part of their work.

The resources can be used by anyone, but they could be particularly useful for RCOs, partners in the New Arrivals Pathway programme, drop-ins and other refugee and asylum seeker support organisations, local authority refugee resettlement teams, social workers, early help teams and ethnic minority achievement teams, schools, police, and by Home Office asylum support contractors.

The resources include videos, presentation scripts and powerpoint slides, printable learning leaflets and promotional flyers and posters, all in 10 languages.

Ideally the resources are best used in a peer group learning context, led by a same language and culture facilitator. This can encourage discussion of things that are new, different and sometimes difficult to adjust to. Sessions could be followed up by meetings with related agencies to further explore and learn about the information shared.

If you would like to discuss training for your team please contact info@refugeevoices.org.uk.

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