The Basis Project is an England-wide service giving one-to-one support to hundreds of refugee community organisations (RCOs) to help them manage, develop and sustain their work.
A partnership project led by Refugee Council and Refugee Action, the Basis Project is funded by the Big Lottery Fund. We are also working closely with funders and other mainstream bodies to increase their understanding of RCOs.
Working with the Basis Project
We are working with RCOs based in England that are constituted (i.e. have a management committee and a written constitution) and have the time and capacity to work on developing their organisation.
Please contact us for more information about working with the Basis Project and the criteria for eligibility.
The background
The Refugee Council and its partner Refugee Action know through our work with RCOs that there is a need for capacity building support. So we are proud to have negotiated five years of funding from BIG to provide the biggest ever service of support in fundraising, project development, financial management and organisational governance to the RCO sector in England.
Eleven Organisational Development Officers are now working in each of the nine English regions to provide one-to-one advisory support and group training to your RCO.
These Organisational Development Officers ensure that support is tailored to really address RCOs' needs, through information products and toolkits, one-to-one support, group training, networking opportunities and seminars.
The Basis Project is also working closely with funders and second-tier service providers, such as the Councils for Voluntary Service, to help improve their understanding of RCOs and increase RCOs' access to funding and mainstream support.
The service is consistent across England and complements existing sources of RCO support.
You can find out more about the Basis Project by contacting us or by reading answers to some frequently asked questions.
- Download a booklet (pdf) about the Basis Project's work so far (published June 2010)
- Download the research report, Realising Potential (pdf), that informed the development of the Basis Project.
