An interview with Amdani Juma of the African Institute for Social Development (AISD) filmed at the Ashbourne Arts Festival in Derbyshire. This interview gives an overview of AISD's work and particularly focuses on collaborative work with other organisations, particularly the Voice of Congalese Women and the University of Derby.
Transcript
Amdani Juma – The African Institute for Social Development
The African Institute for Social Development is based on Nottingham but we operate at a regional level. We promote good health and healthy living. We promote in particular around HIV which is very important for our newly arrived community. We work across the board with African people but especially with asylum seekers and refugees and other migrants. We think we are contributing to making our people healthier and stronger and better able to contribute to the economy of our region and the UK.
There is a really good partnership between the University of Derby and The African Institute for Social Development and Voice of Congolese Women. This partnership came about to strengthen each other also supporting the community. Voice of Congolese Women are working very well to try and bring culture through things like sewing ; they have brought some of the good things we have in Africa to share with people in Derby.
The African Institute for Social Development has been working with Voice of Congolese Women since 2007 in bringing a contribution to the health of the community in this region. And the University of Derby, through Peter Walker, the Community Relations Officer is great as well because he is the one who reaches out to bring in the community.
Today we are in Ashbourne and we have brought health-awareness, the arts and we are going talk about the Congo, Africa in general and the challenged that we face. But also we are going to celebrate what we bring to this country because we have a lot of skills. In our community we need to know ourselves and love ourselves and also give back to this community.
Events are uplifting and help people feel good. When people feel good they engage. When the community and the university come together it doesn’t cost a lot and also it is sustainable. We can achieve things together. It is a win-win-win. I recommend this work to be a national phenomena and I hope that through the Basis Project you can advocate for it.
We need a lot of support, especially from the local authority. We have the solutions and we have a lot of skills that they need. We are here to provide the services to the local authority, the city council and the NHS.
The African Institute for Social Development has been able to run research last year into the need and skills of African people. Four hundred people completed forms and we managed to provide ground-breaking proof that we can work in our community. So we are bringing our community into the mainstream and bridging the gaps between our newly arrived community and our established community. We think this support is needed and is overdue.
