Decent Work and Economic Growth - UN SDGs

ACH’s vision and mission closely aligns to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 goals focus mainly on challenges in developing countries, however, most of these challenges also occur here in the UK. Our work with refugees and migrants aims to support their resettlement through labour market and social integration; fitting in with these interconnected global goals for 2030. To raise awareness of how big and small changes across the globe can impact on these goals, and hopefully share some inspiration from the work that ACH are doing, we have created a blog series around the Sustainable Development Goals that link with our work; no poverty, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities and sustainable cities and communities.

Decent work and economic growth

What is the goal?

To promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.

Why it matters?

One of the most important and sustainable ways for people to get out of poverty and contribute to the economy is to gain decent employment. Society as a whole benefits when more people are in employment as people become more productive, leading to growing economies, the achievement of fair globalisation and reduced poverty.

“According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 5.6% of the global population were unemployed as of 2017. In 2018, the total number of unemployed people remains high - above 192 million - and it is harder to find decent jobs.” – UN SDGs.

This goal is key to creating an inclusive and sustainable world which delivers equal working opportunities for all. To allow this to happen there must be good education available and a continual push on equality in the workplace. ACH works primarily with refugees and two of the main problems we see with refugees arriving into the UK and trying to find work is that 1) their qualifications and skills in their home countries aren’t recognised here in the UK and 2) perceptions of hiring refugees amongst employers are negative and misunderstood. This results in refugees being marginalised and left behind when it comes to the UK job market.

How are we working towards this goal?

Challenging employer perceptions of refugees

Since 2015 we have been campaigning to change the negative perceptions of refugees through our #rethinkingrefugee campaign. Recently, the focus of this campaign has been on employers. Refugees are people who have been forced from their home countries, however, they bring with them skills, qualifications and experiences that should be seen as an asset to businesses. Our Support and Integration team also work tirelessly to help qualified refugees transfer their qualifications into UK equivalents.

We are now working closely with several businesses who are changing their recruitment techniques to allow a more inclusive method of hiring new staff, which opens up more positions for refugees and marginalised communities. We do this by running short courses which are tailored to each employers’ specific needs. These courses give learners a chance to gain industry knowledge, customer service training and interview techniques. At the end of each course, the learners are all given a guaranteed interview with the employer, and from our past experiences, these have been successful with many of the attendees being offered jobs or training with the company. We will continue to work with employers and campaign to change negative perceptions of refugees!

Knowledge sharing

One of our main goals at ACH is to support refugees towards median salary employment, instead of warehousing them into entry levels jobs with little to no career progression. Not only will this mean that refugees can contribute to the UK economy and their local communities, but if they do return to their home countries in the future, they can take the knowledge and skills learnt from this employment to help build up their country’s economy.

This work is not only in the UK, we are also working on a project in Somalia to teach people about setting up Growth Hubs. This training includes information about entrepreneurship and how to start a business. This approach focuses on tackling the problem at the source to allow other countries to grow and educate their future generations.

Migrant and BAME Entrepreneurship

Last year we appointed an Entrepreneurship Facilitator through a partnership with West of England Growth Hub, Engine Shed, University of Bristol and Barton Hill Settlement. The task of this project is to strengthen new and existing BAME businesses in the West of England, as well as working with the established business support ecosystem aiding them to become more inclusive and work with communities who are currently under-represented in Enterprise.

The project so far has been successful and has given BAME entrepreneurs the support and links they need to get their businesses off the ground.

Case study: Local Bristol Business

One of the businesses being support by our Entrepreneurship Facilitator, Lydia, is a refugee female-led Community Interest Company set up in 2016 who specialises in catering by cooking their cultures food. Before they received guidance, the business had come across some barriers such as lack of support, no access to finance and not enough business know-how to scale up their company.

Upon engaging with our entrepreneurship project, they were listened to, encouraged and supported. They then attended the largest street food market in the city to conduct valuable market research, were given guidelines on the legal requirements of running a food business (through the Bristol City Council and Government websites and which are now in place), and given focus, encouragement and direction towards turning a profit for the business.

Their confidence in their own ability is now higher, and they feel able to work towards their dreams and ambitions (earning money from cooking, whilst employing local woman and celebrating their culture through food), knowing they have someone there who can provide them with unbiased and reliable information when they may need it.

Leading by example

As a company actively encouraging businesses to support refugees and provide career progression for all, we must practice what we preach. We are advocates for paying people the living wage and have recently been accredited as a living wage employer. We also employ many first- and second-generation refugees ourselves, with our CEO himself being a refugee from Somalia.

We also employ many women at varying levels in ACH with 56% of our current staff identifying as female. Our staff are one of our main assets and at every opportunity, we encourage CPD through training courses, certifications and career progression internally or externally.

What can you do?

• If you are an employer, you can look at your hiring practices and make changes to create a more inclusive workplace – work with us to diversify your workforce
• Promote equal opportunities for all alongside our #rethinkingrefugee campaign

Find out more about the Sustainable Development Goals here