A week of Multicultural celebration in North Glasgow with African Challenge Scotland
African Challenge Scotland’s Multicultural Empowerment Programme kicked off the Summer in style with a football tournament at Peugeot Ashfield Stadium in early August that launched a week of inspiring and engaging multicultural events.
Part of African Challenge Scotland’s annual events, the one-day football tournament on 5th August was delivered in partnership with ng homes, Glasgow Tigers Speedway, Glasgow Science Centre, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. This year’s annual events were funded by Big Lottery Scotland, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland, CMS Window Systems, West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) and ng homes.
Julien Njouetchoua, Chairperson of African Challenge Scotland said: “African Challenge Scotland prides itself on engaging with people, building futures, thriving, building capacity, transforming aspirations and improving, empowering and inspiring lives. By fulfilling these ambitions that we stand for we concentrate on the crucial issues and have designed creative ways to engage the people we passionately support in our activities. Our annual events activities are requested by the community.”
Other events organised during the week included a community clean up in the Springburn area, a jobs fair including careers advice, a multicultural music festival in Springburn Park and a Youth Sports Day.
Empowerment of Black and Ethnic Minorities Week has successfully run for several years and has proven to be a very effective event to promote healthy lifestyles along with improving education and community cohesion. ng homes look forward to supporting many more African Challenge Scotland events in the coming years.
Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, said: “This year see’s African Challenge Scotland’s annual Multicultural Empowerment Week reach new heights. Sport, environmental issues and employability continue to be strongly represented but the Multicultural Music Festival gives an exciting new dimension to the week of activities. It’s fantastic to see North Glasgow’s African diaspora continue to forge strong links with other communities including the long-standing Scots community that so many now call home, as well as with other vibrant new communities such as the Chinese and Afghan communities. I am proud to be this area’s local MSP and to have African Challenge Scotland based in our constituency.”
Paul Sweeney MP for Glasgow North East and Shadow Under Secretary of State for Scotland said: “Glasgow North East has always had a vibrant and diverse community of new Glaswegians and in more recent years African Challenge Scotland has undertaken very fine work to build the resilience of Scotland’s African diaspora by demonstrating both pride in their cultures and traditions but also by promoting active citizenship in Glasgow”
Robert Tamburrini, ng homes Chief Executive, said: “Our partnership with African Challenge Scotland continues to grow from strength to strength and we are delighted that we are able to work together to make a positive difference to the community in North Glasgow. African Challenge Scotland is a real driving force for change and they provide a wide range of opportunities for people within North Glasgow and beyond. We are proud to support the many initiatives in place which are helping to create an exciting, diverse community where people can flourish and prosper.”
Overall more than two thousand people participated in this week of events, with the North Glasgow community coming together to celebrate our multicultural past, present and future.
New recruit joins African Challenge Scotland & ng homes work experience programme
ng homes has welcomed a new member to the team as part of an ongoing initiative with African Challenge Scotland to support and promote working opportunities for ethnic minorities in Glasgow. The latest recruit follows on from a hugely successful work experience programme in 2016, which was developed in partnership with African Challenge Scotland.
Ruth Marie Hien will undertake a comprehensive three month work experience programme while at the same time completing the Charted Institute of Housing level 2 Certificate in Housing Practice delivered by our Training Partner SHARE. Ruth Marie receive a structured awareness/ training plan which will provide the opportunity to learn about the work of a housing association and to consider housing as a career option. Importantly, during the training period Ruth Marie will have the opportunity to attain a recognised qualification as a tangible outcome of the programme. This would support Ruth Marie in her employment search and enable her to seek employment within the housing sector.
Robert Tamburrini, ng homes Chief Executive said: “This plan builds on the ethos and aims of the original programme implemented in 2016 and reinforces our commitment to providing opportunities for local young people to develop their skills and talents.
This initiative further strengthens our partnership with African Challenge Scotland in supporting social inclusion and community integration. We are proud to work with African Challenge Scotland and play our part in helping to create an exciting, diverse community where people can flourish and prosper and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship in the future.”
In 2016 the Association worked with African Challenge Scotland to develop a work experience programme for young people from the African community in North Glasgow. This provided five young people with the opportunity to complete a one week programme which allowed them to gain valuable experience in the workplace whilst building their confidence.
This programme was widely recognised as being innovative and meaningful for those taking part. Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn raised a Parliamentary Motion in November last year congratulating African Challenge Scotland and ng homes, recognising that such programmes can make a real difference to young people from ethnic minority communities and can increase their prospects of securing employment. A visit to the Scottish Parliament took place in December to recognise the success of the Programme. Bob Doris MSP hosted the visit and arranged a very positive and informative discussion session with representatives from ng homes, African Challenge Scotland and fellow MSP’s taking part.
Tony Sweeney, ng homes Assistant Director (Corporate Services), commented:
"We are delighted to welcome Ruth Marie to ng homes and to support her through the programme. The previous Work Experience Programme was hailed as a great success and it was a positive experience for our staff and the participants. It is great to see the positive impact of initiatives like this and we are committed to working with our partners to create further opportunities for local young people in the future. “
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