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The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
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The Organisation for the Support of the Settled of International Refugees (OSSIR)

Registered

Charity no. 109826 Date registered. 28/02/2024

Public benefits

Our members benefit from the organization of sporting activities as it helps improve their physical fitness, which has a benefit to their overall physical and mental health. Sporting activity also allows our community to come together, helping tackle issues, such as isolation and inactivity. Through organizing our weekly Friday get togethers, we

help our community interact with each other. The individuals who these evenings are targeted at are traditionally from groups who suffer from isolation, through disability, age or language barriers. These evenings allow these people who would otherwise not interact with the wider community, have a weekly evening, benefiting them socially. Belfast unfortunately has little avenues to express cultures outside the traditional Irish/British dimension. Therefore, a benefit of our organization is to provide an opportunity to celebrate the cultures of a wide range of refugee groups. Lastly, our organization benefits the refugee community in Belfast through signposting members of our community to various services. Our community suffers from a lack of understanding of statuary services offered in Northern Ireland, and can often be hindered by language barriers. Therefore, our group is able to provide the benefit of signposting, allowing our community access to services to promote their health, education and finances. Our organization also works closely with the Good Relations Officer within the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, this benefits our community through building positive relationships with statuary services in Northern Ireland. The benefits of the organization can be demonstrated through oral feedback from members of our community. The efforts of the organization are clearly appreciated by the high levels of oral feedback, following every Friday get together. Our group is also keen to document the successes of our activities, and through the pictures taken it is clear that the efforts to tackle isolation, and promote physical/artistic activity are successful. We have future plans to survey our membership and ask for means which we can improve our organization. Through organizing the refugee community, working together, and working with statuary bodies, a potential harm is that we are raising expectations within our community, which due to our relatively low capacity may not be able to deliver. Our charities main beneficiaries are people from a refugee background living within the Belfast area. The refugees come from a wide range of cultures, ages, abilities and social classes. Although an unintended beneficiary may be the general population of Belfast, as through better integrating individuals into Northern Irish society, we improve the cohesion of the Belfast area. The only private benefit which may arise from the charities purposes, is that the Trustees of the charity benefit from the work of the charity, which has a positive impact on our own physical health, mental health, social lives, and to improve our own happiness and ability to interact with statuary bodies.

What your organisation does

Our group achieves its objectives through organizing refugees based in Belfast. Our group organizes physical activities which promotes the health of our members. For example, we have organized football and table-tennis activities. Our group is proactive in organizing social activities for our community, such as a weekly gathering where are members

do activities together, such as chess and cooking. This also helps tackle the issue of isolation which hurts the mental-health of people in our community. Our group is also proactive in organizing events to promote and practice various cultures, such as singing songs in various languages e.g. Arabic, Egyptian and Syrian. Our groups leadership also serves as a signposting service, helping members of the refugee community access various statuary services available in Northern Ireland. Therefore, the group serves as a vital service in our community to better integrate members of the refugee community into Northern Irish society. Our group also organizes summer picnics allowing our members to interact with each other outside. This has a positive impact on social interaction and allows members to relax, improving their mental and physical health.

The charity’s classifications

  • The prevention or relief of poverty
  • The advancement of citizenship or community development
  • The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage

Who the charity helps

  • Children (5-13 year olds)
  • Ethnic minorities
  • General public
  • General public
  • General public
  • General public
  • Older people
  • Physical disabilities

How the charity works

  • Advice/advocacy/information
  • Arts
  • Arts
  • Community development

Charitable purposes

An opportunity for the people in our refugee communities and other communities to keep fit, healthy, to be together, and to develop the community culture through our sports, arts and social activities. And also to activate and encourage these refugee communities to overcome poverty or financial hardship by becoming producers, become active in private business, and contribute of the economy where lawful, by conducting educational and training courses on how to manage small economic projects that have an economic return for them and for the public benefit of the people living in Northern Ireland, in so far as is charitable.

Governing document

Constitution

Other name


  • 3 Trustees
  • 0 Employees
  • 0 Volunteers

Contact details

Public address

  • The Organisation Of The Support And Settled Of International Refugees, 9A Oisin House, Victoria Parade, Belfast, BT15 2EP

Trustee board

Trustee
Elfatih Elmahina
Nafesa Elmahina
Ameer Ibrahim

List of regions

  • Belfast City Council