Can you help us make videos about the asylum process and how asylum support works in the UK in different languages?

‍Background

In April 2022 Refugee Action led a project with partners in the Navigating Asylum Partnership. We conducted interviews with people delivering Asylum Guides and learnt about the barriers to doing it successfully.

We learnt one of the biggest challenges is translation and interpretation. Organisations are experiencing higher volumes of people needing support who speak different languages, or have lots of people who speak the same language but not enough asylum guides to support them all. And it doesn’t help that translation costs are so expensive.

To help solve this problem, we came up with an idea to co-create videos on an easy to use video making platform called Loom about the asylum process and asylum support in the UK in different languages. This would mean that asylum, migrant and refugee organisations across the country could access information easily, no matter what language they speak, from a trusted source.

The information is written and translated into the 19 different languages our partners told us their volunteers speak. Together, we’ve managed to create the videos in 7 languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Pashto and English. These videos have already been watched by over 100 people. 

We are now looking for volunteers to help us create videos in the following languages: Albanian, Amharic, Kurdish Badini, Kurdish Kurmanji, Russian, Swahili, Tigrinya and Urdu. 

How? 

We have created ‘how to use Loom video’ training slides which have been tried and tested by two volunteers. If you are able to help, we will send you this, as well as your slides and script to accompany the video. We will also be on hand via email or phone call if you have any questions or need extra support. 

To make the videos, you will need: 

• A laptop
• Wifi
• A quiet space 
• A printer (this isn’t essential, we can always print and send you the script) 

We estimate this work would take about 3-4 hours and we can give you a £50 voucher as a token of thanks for your time. 

Who?

Do you speak one of the languages we’re looking for? Do you enjoy learning and using different digital tools to do good? Do you have access to a laptop, wifi and a quiet space? Do you have 3-4 hours spare? 

If so, we’d love to hear from you! We also encourage people who are both very technically/digitally confident, and those who would like to learn as we can support you along the way. 

If you’re interested, please contact Tarana at TaranaW@refugee-action.org.uk