Past Initiatives
Community Award
With the generous support of the Big Lottery, we proudly hosted an Award Ceremony on 28 May 2021.
This virtual event aimed to acknowledge and appreciate individuals, whose hard work has enhanced the quality of life for their fellow Persian-speaking community members.
Contributions made by these individuals – nominated by the public and selected according to the number of nominations were in the areas of health & well-being, science & technology, community & social work; and arts & culture.
Should you wish to nominate a candidate for our 2022 award, please write to info@pouyesh.org.uk by the end of December 2021.
Virtual Charity Fair - 2021
We organised four virtual charity fairs on 02, 16, 30 April; and 14 May 2021 in order to give an opportunity to Iranian and Persian-speaking not-for-profit or cultural organisations to showcase their work, share experiences and work towards closer cooperation in order to improve the services to this community in the challenging times of Covid pandemic.
15 groups and organisations participated in these events, the list of which can be viewed here:
hosting a series of regular webinars to provide information
Our life and work style have changed rapidly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With reliance more on technology, communications have posed new challenges and opportunities as we connect with others differently. We will engage with our community more through webinars, while attempting to explore at the same the impact of this on the outcome of connectivity.
We are currently hosting a series of regular webinars to provide information, advice and support on a range of topics to improve the economic, social and the health of our community. These will continue into the foreseeable future.
Iranian communities in Britain: A research report by SOAS and in collaboration with BICDO
In the autumn of 2014, some preliminary fact-finding and opinion research was conducted about Iranian communities in Britain. It was organised by Professor Annabelle Sreberny (SOAS University of London) and Dr. Reza Gholami (University of Middlesex/Keele) with help from BICDO and financially supported by the British Council. The short report provides some interesting insights into the attitudes and concerns of the participating Iranians, most of whom lived in London, including worries about cultural identity, racism and media stereotyping and the multiple divisions amongst Iranians.
For more information on this report please click on the link below:
Research of Iranian Community (London)
Pouyesh’s aim is to inform, inspire and facilitate the development of the British-Iranian Community, supporting its needs and aspirations. As such research and acquisition of knowledge are central to its activities.
To better understand the Iranian community in Britain, we conducted a needs-focused survey (in 2017) mainly on those living in London. In addition to obtaining information to ’profile’ the participants, the survey intended on establishing their needs and aspirations, with the sole purpose of disseminating this knowledge in relation to the British-Iranian community.
This survey, along with collaborations with SOAS on their recent research, signalled the start of a programme of work by us to build research capacity and to facilitate others in the delivery of effective services based on evidence-based research.
The survey was thus initiated through the distribution and collection of a questionnaire, focused on the problems, needs and requirements of the respondents. The design of the questionnaire was modelled on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, to help establish the range of understanding from basic needs to self-actualization (the state where people can unlock their potential and progress). However, the main aim throughout was to identify gaps in services, addressing such needs and the expectations in a transient and changing society.
The production of this report and its distribution is supported by a National Lottery grant. We are passionate about the learning and the sharing of learning and consider that appropriate ‘dissemination’ is an important element of this aim. The respondents were informed that we would share the findings with other Iranian community organisations in Britain, widely and extensively, while continuing to build collaborations to enable further research.
Iranian Charity Fair
Pouyesh (BICDO at the time) delivered the first Charity Fair of its kind for the Iranian charities in London. The event gave the groups in our community an opportunity to present their work, share their aspirations and highlight the challenges they face. Some were able to recruit volunteers and attract support as a direct result. Crucially, however, the Fair met our targeted themes, ‘Learning & Sharing’ and ‘Celebrating Togetherness’ with the participants sharing their experiences, learning from each other, coming together and celebrating their successes. The event was held at SOAS, hosting 25 organisations and 200 participants. Our aim is to make this an annual event starting from Autumn 2020.