Projects
Over the past five years, GUM has successfully obtained funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to run a number of projects to support its affiliated member groups, and their local members across the Midlands region. The notable projects are:
Capacity Building
Capacity Building Project
This grant enabled us to build the capacity of leaders of the groups affiliated with GUM, and their key volunteers to increase the skills and competencies to do their jobs competently, and help to deliver the mission of their organisations.
Black History
Black History Month Project
In October 2015, GUM organised a black history month celebration to promote the knowledge of black history, culture & heritage, and also to showcase and acknowledge individual achievements and contributions that Black Britons of African origin, past and present have made to British Society. This took the form of exhibitions, talks, and workshops to highlight and bring awareness of the contributions and achievements made by people of African descent who are either born or settled in the UK as British citizens.
Youth Training
Youth Leadership Training Project
In May 2016, GUM in conjunction with Ghana Union Greater Birmingham, and Ghana Union Wolverhampton, who are affiliated group members of GUM, and acting as delivery partners, successfully delivered our youth leadership programme on behalf of GUM. The project ran from September 2016 to March 2017, and successfully trained 35 young people from Birmingham and Wolverhampton as future leaders. At the end of the project, 20 youngsters from Birmingham and its environs, and also 15 youngsters from the Wolverhampton metropolis benefited from the project activities.
Community Awareness
National Lottery Funded COVID-19 Project
The most recent National Lottery grant received in 2020 was for our COVID-19 project, which provided advice and practical support to African and Caribbean communities in the Midlands region to overcome the fear and how to cope with the pandemic. The project was delivered by four delivery partners, namely Ghana Union Greater Birmingham, Ghanaian Residents Association in Northamptonshire, Ghanaian Nurses Association Midlands, and the Ghanaian Social Workers Association Midlands, all based in the Midlands region and are affiliated group members of GUM. They were assigned to deliver talks on three topics each, which were all COVID-related. In total, the delivery partners delivered 12 virtual talks via ZOOM & Facebook from October 2020 to March 2021 with 1,484 people participating in the talks.
Community Awareness
GUM Vaccine Project in Coventry
In May 2021, Ghana Union Midlands [GUM], the regional umbrella body for Ghanaian groups in the Midlands region was awarded a grant by the Coventry City Council for GUM to deliver a vaccine project in Coventry. This, therefore, makes GUM the contract holder and the accountable body for the grant received from the Coventry City Council.
The aims of this project are:
- To bring community awareness and educate ethnic minority groups and local people in Coventry that the coronavirus vaccine is safe.
- To embark on vaccination campaigns to reassure and encourage local people in Coventry to get vaccinated.
The project started in June and runs through till November 2021. GUM engaged four local groups in Coventry, all affiliated with the regional umbrella body [GUM] as Delivery Partners to deliver the project on its behalf. The Delivery Partners are:
- Coventry Ghana Association
- Golden Star Association
- Virtuous Women’s Association
- Unity Men’s Association
However, GUM remained the contract holder and the accountable body to the Coventry City Council for the grant received.
The project activities were delivered by means of:
Telephone & Email Support
Telephone Support
Dedicated telephone lines were established to enable the Delivery Partners’ service users to ring and access information, and also to seek confidential advice and support. The lines were open between 10:00 am – 3:30 pm, Monday to Friday. A common Ghanaian language, spoken by many, was used as the medium of communication to inform and explain things to our service users at the telephone sessions.
Email Support
The Delivery Partners also provided an ongoing online service throughout the project duration for those seeking advice and support by this method.
Our monitoring records at the end of the project show that 295 people benefited from the telephone support given, and 68people sought advice and support by email.
Chaperone support for clients to vaccination Centres
Virtual Talks
The project delivery was complemented by virtual talks on covid and vaccine related topics via ZOOM & Facebook to educate and reassure people of the safeness of the vaccines. The purpose of the virtual talks was to address misinformation using more inclusive forms of communication to dispel myths and build trust. This was to combat and reduce the high rates of vaccine hesitancy among our community. Periodic virtual talks were planned by GUM and delivered by the Delivery Partners during the project duration. In total, 12 virtual talks were delivered. Each Delivery Partner was assigned and delivered three [3] virtual talks on COVID and vaccine-related topics. Our monitoring records at the end of the project shows that in total, 1,686 people were engaged and participated in the virtual talks either via ZOOM or Facebook.
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