SSI and Social Enterprises Sydney join forces to boost social enterprise services
Settlement Services International (SSI) and Social Enterprises Sydney have announced that from July 1 they will join forces to offer social enterprise services.
SSI welcomes Premier Baird’s announcement of travel concessions for asylum seekers
Settlement Services International (SSI) congratulates NSW Premier Mike Baird following his announcement today that the state government will provide travel concessions to asylum seekers from January 1, 2016.
New project will save lives of Australian men
Settlement Services International (SSI) will take part in a world-first research project involving thousands of men that aims to end the embarrassment that stops them from getting help for conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Video: Achieving justice for victims of mass atrocities
SSI's second Speakers' Series event for 2015, Achieving justice for victims of mass atrocities, on May 18, featured special guest speaker the Ambassador-at-Large in the US Office of Global Criminal Justice Department of State, Stephen J Rapp. Watch the full recording of Mr Rapp's presentation and the following Q&A session here.
Communities unite at New Beginnings Festival
About 1000 people celebrated World Refugee Day by enjoying the talents and culture on display at SSI’s New Beginnings Refugee Arts and Culture Festival, on June 20. The festival was billed as a “celebration of hope, unity and new beginnings” on the United Nations’ World Refugee Day to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
UNHCR Partner consultations and NGO Standing Committee in Geneva
SSI and partner organisations are in Geneva at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees consultations with NGOs. Over two weeks, NGOS from around the world will discuss best practice, lobby for support and plan to ease the global refugee crisis. Here are the top posts from the consultations.
Refugee Week: meet mother Faten
Faten, a former refugee who fled to Lebanon from her birth country, Iraq, says that since arriving in Australia she feels like she has been treated as a human for the first time. Faten has two siblings with disability and an elderly mother, who are now receiving treatments they were in desperate need of.
Courage a boon for refugees starting businesses
A Refugee Week event organised by two Sydney immigration lawyers has raised about $9,000 for SSI’s Ignite Small Business Start-ups initiative. The fund-raising event organised by Adriana Mercado and Marina Brizar, of Playfair Visa and Migration Services, featured a photo exhibition of former refugees who now live in Australia, as well as speeches, drinks and canapés.
Former refugee is a CoAct Local Hero
Former refugee Hikmat Shah has been given a ‘CoAct Local Heroes’ award by CoAct Ambassador, Olympic and World Champion, Matthew Cowdrey alongside Federal MP Chris Hayes and nominator SSI representatives at a ceremony today at Parliament House, Canberra.
Refugee Week: meet dancer Hakim
Meet Hakim, dancer and asylum seeker Hakim, 23, left a lot behind when he had to flee Burma, including all of his family and friends. But after arriving in Australia, he picked up something new that is keeping him mentally and physically strong – dancing.
Refugee Week: meet artist Damon Amb
Meet Damon Amb, artist and asylum seeker “I started more than 20 years ago on my dad’s old camera, a manual Konica. I’d save up all my money to buy film and take photos of my surroundings, my people, my life in Iran. At the end of my military service, I did an Advanced Diploma in Photography at Iran’s Jahad Institute. I ended up working as a photographer in an advertising agency.
Refugee Week: “With courage let us all combine”
SSI case manager and humanitarian award winner, Shabeera Zia, had shown how each of us could make an impact on the lives of refugees, CEO Violet Roumeliotis said today. Ms Zia was presented with the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch in Wollongong on June 12.
Refugee Week reminder of refugees’ courage
SSI case manager and humanitarian award winner, Shabeera Zia, had shown how each of us could make an impact on the lives of refugees, CEO Violet Roumeliotis said today. Ms Zia was presented with the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch in Wollongong on June 12.
New refugee and asylum seeker kit
In the lead up to Refugee Week 2015, on Friday June 13, Settlement Services International (SSI) launched its Welcome to Sydney kit, an information resource for its refugee and asylum seeker clients. Thomas Albrecht, UNHCR Regional Representative, launched the kit before an audience of representatives from service providers for new arrivals, government departments, humanitarian settlement providers, SSI refugee clients and Migrant Resource Centre members.
SSI case manager given Refugee Week award
SSI case manager Shabeera Zia has been awarded the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch event in Wollongong today, June 12. The theme for Refugee Week 2015 is ‘With courage let us all combine’, taken from the second verse of Australia’s national anthem.
SSI announces NSW settlement services delivery partnership
Settlement Services International (SSI) today announced it is the lead organisation in a consortium selected to deliver settlement services for refugees and migrants in NSW. This follows yesterday’s announcement by the Department of Social Services of the service providers chosen to deliver the three-year national Settlement Services Program.
Refugee Week award for SSI case manager
SSI case manager Shabeera Zia has been awarded the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch event in Wollongong today, June 12. The theme for Refugee Week 2015 is ‘With courage let us all combine’, taken from the second verse of Australia’s national anthem.
Asylum seekers and communities to benefit from safe haven visas
Settlement Services International (SSI), a leading not-for-profit humanitarian settlement organisation, has welcomed as significant and positive the announcement by the NSW State Government to sign up to the Federal Safe Haven Enterprise Scheme.
From the CEO: We can learn from others
I want to talk about an African woman, a single mother, who has five children and had never set foot outside of her small village until she was forced to flee as a refugee. The humanitarian crisis that gripped her home included all the horrors that are too common to refugees around the world.