An interview with Georgia, Risers Programme Manager

The Risers Programme

A few weeks ago, Breadwinners ended its latest Risers programme for young people seeking asylum, and we caught up with the newest member of the Breadwinners core team, Georgia, to discuss how her first Risers programme went.

If you don’t know us too well, the Risers programme is for young people seeking asylum from 18 to 24 years old; this programme supported 8 young people refugees from different backgrounds to build their self-confidence, and integrate into the UK. 

The programme includes five main focuses: the skills of communication, how to find happiness, how to create your future goals, what training you need for your future career, and how to be a part of the community. To meet these goals, Breadwinners deliver training sessions to help with finance, budgeting, IT, writing CVs and interview skills.

Georgia reflects on the programme

Pictured: Georgia, Risers Programme Mgr

This is where Risers Programme Manager Georgia comes in. Georgia started working with Breadwinners in January and brings enthusiasm, know-how and dedication to the programme in order to make sure it all runs smoothly. This was Georgia’s first cohort of Risers, but the 8th cohort that we’ve hosted at Breadwinners.

Georgia told us how the Risers programme benefits the participants in a very positive way. They improved their communications skills and their English language which supported them to integrate into their community, as most of them only met people who are from their original community. The programme helped them with their self-confidence and gave them work experience working in the UK which can support them to multiply their career opportunities and improve their wellbeing.

The programme also taught Georgia lessons that will stay with her, like the resilience of the young people and the commitment they had from the beginning to the end. She also found it inspiring how they endured the cold weather, as the programme was launched in the winter, and how the young people kept running around in the rain and cold weather. The programme also taught her the importance of planning and organizing to ensure the sessions ran smoothly.

Pictured: Riser Sura smiles behind the Breadwinners stall

Working with the Risers allowed Georgia to have a lasting impact on the lives of the young people. The skills they built on the course will stay with them forever, especially teaching them how they can achieve their goals for the future. Georgia told us about one participant who, at the beginning, was very shy, but she developed a special plan to fix this issue; this was for him to speak with customers daily, increasing the number of customers each time until, at the end of the programme, he spoke with 20 customers in one day.

The Risers programme created bright moments for everyone and allowed the participants to exchange their cultural experiences. Whilst Georgia helped them develop skills like finance, the young people taught Georgia traditional Syrian dancing to enjoy at their graduation party. 

Pictured: Breadwinner Endri (left) and Riser Abdul (right) behind the Snapery stall at Maltby Street Market

Going forwards, Georgia is looking to enroll more young people onto the programme and to plan more social events, which has been difficult during the last year during the pandemic. Georgia also aims to bring in more IT skills and create projects to involve the whole group together, including the other programmes, Breadwinners and Proofers.    

Thank you to Georgia and Lubna for this post.