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When I arrived in the UK from Kenya, I had a 17 month old baby with no support. My husband had to work and I had no family around.
Thankfully I had a good health visitor from Somalia (a locum from London). She gave me advice ‘you just need to find a group of women like you’. She signposted me to the Oxford Women’s Training Scheme. I had a professional job in Kenya and these skills came in handy, there were other migrant women there and I started volunteering for them and helping women fill in forms and things they needed to access services and employment. I had plans to do an MBA but realised that I loved being with my baby and I needed work that fitted around childcare.
I enrolled in an early years correspondence course and secured a placement with a supportive headteacher who then gave me a job as a teaching assistant.
Through my education and experiences, I came to understand the significant impact culture and poverty have on children’s lives. I saw firsthand how building connections could change lives. These insights shaped my career in early years education and outreach work at children’s centers. I went and took a degree in Childhood Studies at Oxford Brookes and later did a Master’s degree.
When I worked in children’s centres, I would attend child support meetings with migrant families. The usual stories of concern about why a child was not flourishing. Families often told me, “I wish someone had told me this before.” Migrant families would often came to the attention of agencies when they were in crisis, often caused by lacking essential information about UK laws and cultural norms. I saw a gap in early support and realised families needed services before reaching a breaking point.
When the children’s centres closed, I moved to work with the Early Intervention Service, but my commitment to helping migrant families persisted.
I co-founded AFiUK with my friend Rachel in 2015 as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Our first funding came from the Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA), which helped us deliver a parenting course , Understanding Your Child’s World, in collaboration with Abingdon and Witney College.
We started as volunteers meeting in a library in Blackbird Leys, where women discussed the differences in parenting between the UK and their countries of origin. The group evolved into a regular women’s group, addressing issues like domestic abuse and mental health. After a Participatory Action Research project, The women wanted a safe space that wasn’t tied to a specific label, so we created WOW (Women of World).
Our work gained recognition from local councils, especially during COVID-19, when the disparities affecting Black and Asian frontline workers became stark. We expanded to support community leaders who operated self-help groups without formal structures or funding. By training community ambassadors, we enabled these leaders to access resources and advocate for their communities effectively.
AFiUK’s approach is strength-based and inclusive. Our flagship program, BOMA (a cross-cultural parenting training course), helps professionals understand the unique needs of migrant families. Another project, in partnership with Oxford Hub, is Parent Advocates which pairs parents with lived experience with those who have challenges in navigating services for their children such as social care or the schooling system. We also built an advisory board comprising experts from Oxford University, healthcare, education, and community leaders, who provide us with governance and guidance.
Today, AFiUK has five part-time staff members and 15 trained community ambassadors who represent us in areas like housing, health, and education. These ambassadors are professionals, promoting AFiUK ethos while addressing issues within their communities.
During COVID-19, AFiUK played a critical role in responding to community needs. At that time central government and other large funders sought to support groups that had seen increased inequalities in health, financial and social outcomes as a result of the pandemic. The then CEO of Oxfordshire Community Foundation, Adrian Sell, approached several community leaders and said that in Oxfordshire they faced a problem. There was government money but there was no infrastructure organisation that was black-led. Several of us initiated Pamoja – Swahili for “together”– an initiative collected voices of 55 local leaders and We published a report that strengthened the collective voice of underrepresented groups.
We are often approached by a wide range of institutions for input - for example both Oxford University has used us for research and Oxford Brookes use as as a placement opportunity for social work students. AFiUK has become a bridge between migrant families and the wider community. By addressing immediate needs and advocating for systemic change, we strive to create a society where every family, regardless of origin, can thrive.
When Anna Thorne approached me about Owned by Oxford (OBO) it seemed that CAG Oxfordshire could maintain a neutral facilitating role. Better to have a collective voice and we are getting more of a buy in. Now, Nigel from Oxfordshire Community Action, myself and Anais from CAG share the leadership of this network. We don’t (yet) have a formal registration but aim for the widest representation. So we are a network/partnership of 10 organisations trying to be democratic - I hold it very delicately.
Many people from migrant backgrounds are doing really great projects for years in the communities but they are doing it on top of their other jobs and burning out. If it was a white person doing the same thing they would feel justified to be paid for it .
So AFiUK puts people on the payroll. Within OBO we are able to support them set up their own businesses rather than just short term projects within other organisations. We support our ambassadors to become astute business people and become self sufficient.
For example we are in the process of helping to register an Afrofitness group as a CIC. We understand that people don’t go to the gym because they cannot afford it. So this project makes this essential service inclusive and affordable. We use our experience to support people with good ideas from within the migrant community. If you are not registered and constituted you are not visible to the world of business or public sector so this is a vital first step.
AFiUK has grown into an essential resource for migrant families, but there is more to be done. Despite Oxfordshire’s wealth of charities, there remains a lack of Black-led organisations addressing systemic issues affecting minority communities.
Physical Spaces
AFiUK operates without a dedicated office or community centre. We envision an African Learning Centre or Diaspora Learning Centre—a physical hub for education, training, and community engagement.
Sustainable Funding and Pay
Many community leaders are unpaid volunteers, burning out as they juggle their roles alongside full-time jobs. White professionals doing similar work in different contexts would likely be paid. AFiUK is beginning to address this by putting people on the payroll, but sustainable funding remains a challenge.
Upstream Support
Current systems often wait for crises to intervene. This reactive approach leaves families unsupported during critical early stages. Public sector organisations need to use data from education, from social care to identify where children are failing and where there are gaps in services and act proactively to prevent poor outcomes for minority communities - rather than simply reacting to crises.
Empowering Communities
We need more communities to train their own ambassadors so we can and support community leaders to establish their own initiatives, building a more self-sufficient network of grassroots organisations.
Be Brave. Cross-Sector Collaboration
Public sector organisations must partner creatively with communities. Trust and collaboration are essential to address systemic inequalities effectively. We call on local authorities, funders, and public organisations to be brave. Take bold steps to engage with grassroots leaders as equal partners, invest in creative solutions, and recognise the value of lived experience in shaping policy and practice.
This case study is part of the 'Community wealth building: big conversations' project. These case studies are in the voice of the people who gave them. They seek to honestly present their successes, as well as the challenges of trying to build a more just, sustainable economy and community. We encourage conversation - so if you want to get in touch and talk more to any of the groups, please do.
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