Our campaign is now complete. 20 supporters helped us raise £1,628.00
Visit the charity's profile
Organised by KimiyaaSponsor life-changing professional mentoring for a refugee in London. Kimiyaa has already completed 330 hours of mentoring in Munich and we have raised half of the funding for our London launch. We need your help to take us over the finish line!
Closed 15/02/2021
The campaign has now expired but it's not too late to support this charity.
Visit the charity's profileOur first 10 participants come from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Vietnam. They are highly motivated to join the job market. We matched them with 10 London-based professionals.
They are currently receiving professional mentoring in Business, Social Enterprise, Digital Marketing, IT, Film, Accounting, and Coding from our committed and experienced mentors.
Employment is the single biggest obstacle to refugee integration and in helping asylum seekers rebuild their lives. The UK's hostile immigration system barely provides the most basic of support and prevents them from seeking paid work or internships until they are granted Refugee Status.
It's a process that can take years. Even then, they face a job market without contacts or UK experience and a host of further significant barriers.
Mentoring is giving me professional experience in the UK when I had none (Meraf, 28).
We link sponsors, mentors and mentees, allowing professional mentors to be paid for their time or sponsored by their organisations. In turn, our candidates gain access to a much greater range of committed, experienced mentors related to their background, experience and chosen area.
The mentor will tailor 12 sessions of professional skills training over 3 months and act as their guide through this specific work environment. Beyond mentoring, they will setup a future action plan for their mentee, who will continue to work with and be supported by us as a Kimiyaa graduate.
Our London pilot is well underway with eight unique mentorships taking place at offices, co-working places and cafés all over the city. Mentors have already begun to introduce their mentees to colleagues and promote their mentorship within their organisation, paving the way to greater understanding on the part of employers and further opportunities beyond mentoring for our candidates.
Kimiyaa seeks to facilitate over 100 mentorships for its refugee and asylum seeker candidates in its first year of activity.
My mentor opened so many doors for me. He introduced me to his colleagues and found me a paid opportunity after mentoring (Yusuf, 20).
Please do consider Kimiyaa if you have any fundraising ideas or events coming up!
Without permission to work for two years and with very little money, mentoring helped me refocus on the future and my career (Abdul, 31).
The impact of each mentorship and Kimiyaa's continued support for our candidate beyond mentoring is immeasurable.
We are incredibly grateful to all our supporters and warmly invite you to our celebration evening (date and time to be confirmed), where we will introduce you to our fantastic candidates, mentors and team.
Kimiyaa believes individuals seeking asylum shouldn't be defined by stigma or their immigration status. If you, anyone you know or your organisation would be interested in becoming a professional mentor or collaborating with Kimiyaa, please get in touch: andrew@kimiyaa.org
-----
*These figures have been taken from Compas' 2019 Report
Charities pay a small fee for our service. Learn more about fees
