Our Impact

We are working for the empowerment and dignity of refugee and asylum-seeking women. We are working for a future where their voices are heard, where they can improve their self-esteem and self-confidence.

A 5 day service continues

2021-22 was yet another challenging year as the impact of COVID-19 continued, including some restrictions. We were fortunate enough to secure more funding and receive some donations to deliver very successful services. Our collaborative funding with FORWARD helped us to continue our work on Violence Against Women and Girls. We also partnered with Bristol Refugee Rights, Borderlands, Hospitality Network and Project MAMA; together we secured the Bristol Impact Fund 2 from October 2021 for 4 years to develop joined-up and complimentary services for refugees and asylum seekers in Bristol.

Refugee Women of Bristol staff and volunteers continued to deliver holistic support to our members in-person and online. We were able to redesign our work and create tailored support for the needs of individual women. As the pandemic continued, we had some restrictions such as the number of clients that could be at our drop-in centre at any given time. In response, we provided many different services in a Covid-secure way 5 days a week.

How we achieve our mission

Providing access to information on issues such as health, welfare, childcare, education, housing, training, and employment.

Organising social events/outings to give women a chance to build friendship networks

Enabling women to access support from bi-lingual community workers and ensuring written information is translated or interpreted verbally.

Outreach work to increase participation of women in the group from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

Making links with local and national organisations, which will support the work and the development of the organisation.

Delivering leisure and social opportunities.

Developing the Board of Trustees through a programme of support and training so the organisation can be managed effectively.

Provision of free educational opportunities with the support of an on-site free crèche.

Informing service providers about the needs of refugee women through workshops, presentations and by raising RWOB’s profile at community events.

Enabling women to have a say in the development of services that may affect their lives.

Our Women’s Stories

Zumba and Yoga Activities

I am a black African lady. I came to England in 2010. I used to live in London. When I came to Bristol, I heard about RWoB and joined them in 2017. I used to volunteer in the kitchen at the drop-in centre and attended some English classes.

Bereavement and Food Hub

I am from Somalia. My daughter and I came here in 2002 as refugees. My husband joined me in 2007 for a family reunion. We had been married for 30 years and had 6 children together.

Bereavement

I am from Somalia, and I come here 5 years ago to join my husband as a family reunion. I have been married to my husband for 16 years and have no children. I enrolled in RWoB 2 years ago, I wanted to learn English.

Family Reunion

I am an asylum seeker and a single mum with 4 young children, and I joined RWoB in 2019 just before Christmas. Before I joined RWoB, I was struggling with daily communication due to my language barriers.

Our impact this year

120

Vulnerable people a week were contacted by Our Food Hub

22

Online workshops with a wide range of supportive topics were facilitated by our staff

1097

Sessions of support were given by our Community Workers to 126 women

114

Vulnerable women were supported by our Befriend volunteers

£4600

Worth of funding was distributed to vulnerable families