Resilient Communities South Africa Update

The Building Resilient Refugee Communities project is a multi-year project funded by the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration since September 2018.

Currently the project is in its second year, the project has reached 3768 Somali Refugees in the Western Cape and Gauteng. Our community partner, the Somali Association of South Africa (SASA), implements activities which enable refugees and asylum seekers in the Western Cape and Gauteng to access services and realize their Constitutional rights through adult education classes in English, computer literacy and self-reliance workshops.

The following numbers highlight the number of beneficiaries reach in the project to date:

• Computer literacy: 270 beneficiaries (85 males and 137 females)

• Self-reliance workshops: 593 beneficiaries (404 males and 379 females)

• English language: 583 (265 males and 318 females)

Also, the BRRC project aims to safeguard the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers in the Western Cape and Gauteng from harm through a custom referral system and initiatives dedicated to women, youth and victims of xenophobic violence.

Women’s workshops, after-school support and advocacy activities form the foundation of achieving this aim.

• Women’s Workshops: 491 beneficiaries

• Youth-wing (After-school support): 805 beneficiaries (603 males and 223 females)

• Advocacy: 863 (456 males and 407 females) were accompanied to appointments.

Overall, 1201 beneficiaries have been assisted with queries directly, these often relate to classes, access to services and referrals for support from other partners.

ALPS Resilience is focused on building not only the capacity of our partner but also women-led refugee organization in the coming months.