Community Interest Company Refugee Action – Colchester’s three-year funding bid has been put on hold because the funder is prioritising those suffering as a result of COVID-19. 'It was like a strike to the face,' said director and senior case worker Maria Wilby. 'We were half-way through the process when an email arrived saying the funder was prioritising work with vulnerable clients.'
'Our work has expanded and multiplied in different ways due to COVID-19. Refugee and asylum seeking families’ needs have not gone away, they have become greater,' said volunteer co-ordinator Elizabeth Curry.
Loraine Masiya Mponela, chairperson for Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group (CARAG), said refugee support groups often do not benefit from COVID-19 funding. She explained that while there had recently been an increase in COVID-19 resilience funds, most funders are looking for registered charities. 'Grassroots migrant organisations like ours are constituted as community groups which mean we are excluded from such funding,' she said.
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