Grant to Syrian Sisters (360G-OCF-A499826)

Syrian Sisters plans to continue and expand their work over the next year to meet the changing needs of refugee women in Oxford. In the next 12 months they are planning the following projects: Parenting: The group plans to focus on tackling many of the challenges the women face in parenting in the UK and has linked up with ‘In the Loop’ community group and Oxford Early Years to run a project exploring issues such as mental health and children’s behaviour in order to enable women to cope with the changes in their and their children’s lives. Peer Mentoring: With new Syrian families still arriving in Oxford, the group wants to establish a more formal mentoring or ‘buddy’ system so that women who have been here longer are able to share their knowledge and experience with new arrivals. Initial training for mentors will be sought from Refugee Resource. School Holiday Camps: Following a successful Easter Arts Camp in 2018 the group is planning a half-term camp in October with artists from Oxford University's Multaka project, a Christmas party and another Holiday Camp in 2019. Training workshops: Women in the group have expressed the desire for more skills training, in particular in basic IT and driving theory. They already have contacts with trainers and translators who can run these. All these projects depend on having a regular meeting space and a coordinator to organise them. Having these core costs covered will enable the group to implement all of the above.