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Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL) supports refugees and asylum seekers in the Borough of Lewisham by providing access to services, advice and experience. Founded in 2006 in response to a lack of local services, the charity has helped hundreds of individuals to help themselves, enabling them to rebuild their lives in the UK. 

AFRIL run a Saturday school providing refugee children aged 4-11 with extra support to improve their literacy and numeracy skills, as well as improving 'soft' skills such as confidence. The school aims to ultimately improve wellbeing. AFRIL are already collecting data demonstrating positive outcomes of the Rainbow Club and approached PBE for advice on how to assess the benefits of the club.

This is the second report we have produced for AFRIL, having previously worked with them to provide recommendations and advice on their data collection. As a follow on to this report, the volunteer team provided advice on feasibility and data requirements, with the eventual aim of assessing the economic benefits of the Rainbow Club.

In both instances, the volunteer team came from Regeneris Consulting. Jay Gamble and Alex Quattrone completed this report, and we would like to thank them both for all their hard work.

The report examines the current data collection provision and provides guidance on areas which may require the gathering of additional data. These centre around establishing the counterfactual and strengthening the link between the targeted outcomes and improved economic outcomes. We hope that AFRIL will be able to implement these recommendations and collect the necessary data to carry out analysis in the future.

Pro Bono Economics was supported by City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of The City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates (1035628), to carry out this project.

10th August 2018