The URBAN REFUGEES team with the ACC (Afghan Community Center)
Our first pilot project with the Afghan Community Center (ACC) has flown by—and the bittersweet moment of our final meeting has arrived.
During the past six months in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we’ve been working closely with the ACC’s leaders in a series of trainings to amplify their organizational capacity. We’ve seen a tremendous evolution in this organization within the few months we’ve worked together. It’s safe to say that the results have exceeded our expectations! (To read more about our results, click here)
The URBAN REFUGEES team has worked hard with this resourceful community, and we thought the best way to gauge the success of our program was to ask the leaders directly. In this final meeting, we asked them, “In which area do you think the ACC improved since the beginning of the incubator program?”
• Razia:
« Thanks to URBAN REFUGEES, we now have a website. Also, at the beginning, we had very few programs, and now we have many programs for our community. »
• Mahdi:
« The first thing we learned was how to create rules for the organization. Now we understand how to get information and how to share it to reach our goals. This is really the guidance we needed. Thanks for your assistance and help, we will never forget it.»
• Taher:
« We learned how to request support from donors and now we know how to create a strong proposal. This is very important, because we didn’t know anything about how to approach a donor. Before we wanted to reach our goals as individuals, now we want to achieve our goals as a team. People trust us because we manage projects for the community.»
• Ahmed:
« We realized how much we can achieve in a short time.»
• Ali Akbar:
« Now we have more experience, we know how to write emails. We are stronger because we are united and work as a team. This is thanks to URBAN REFUGEES.»
• Haji:
« Now we know how to conduct programs and we have the confidence to communicate with the external world. Before, we were trying to create programs, but didn’t know how to do it. Confidence and trust from the community is key and now people trust us.»
• Sharifi:
« Now we know what the needs of our community are. Before you came, we thought we were doing everything right. Now we know what our pitfalls and areas of improvements are and how to work on them.»
We met so many wonderful people in the Afghan Community; working with them was the best way to get to know them and their stories. There are so many skills and so much promise and passion within the community. We are delighted to have been part of the journey with them. Finally, as any end implies a new beginning, in January we will launch two new programs in Kuala Lumpur with the Burmese and Somali communities!
Please keep an eye out for continued updates! Finally, if you are inspired by this grassroots work in urban refugee communities and wish to support us, please click here.
