Technology has the power to transform the life of refugees and they have much to offer us.
Come along to hear from our speakers about the ways in which tech has helped refugee communities and about the different ways that refugees might be able to help us.
Registration opens from 6:00pm, with the talk kicking off at 6:30pm.
Alexandra Simmons from Time Peace. Time Peace has developed an app to help refugees meet and integrate with their local communities. Alexandra will tell us about the development of their app and how it is being used today.
Alexandra is a social entrepreneur and began her career in Australia working for WPP. Whilst there she worked with global brands such as KFC, Skyscanner, Jagermeister etc.
In 2016, Alexandra got involved in the grassroots humanitarian response in Calais. There she acted as media liaison for one of the aid NGOs working in the refugee camp serving 10,000 displaced people. In 2017 Alexandra became a cofounder of the Not for Profit TimePeace and two other start-ups. Alexandra currently divides her time between these ventures and working as a start-up consultant.
Ann Marie White is from the British Red Cross refugee programme in Belfast.
Ann Marie will give us some background about the position in Northern Ireland today. Ann Marie has some interesting ideas about how employers and individuals can help refugees while they are waiting for their asylum claims to be processed.
We also hope to have someone who will tell us about their experience as a refugee, how they settle in Northern Ireland and found employment here.
At one point there was over 1,200 refugees living in Northern Ireland.
Until their asylum claim is processed they are cannot work and they have to survive on minimal benefits.
Many refugees are highly skilled individuals and they are unable to maintain or develop their skills whilst they wait for their application to be processed.
Refugees are also isolated from our local community. Limited funds and exclusion from work make this problem more acute.
IT could help to address some of these problems.
Details on how to register can be found here.
