Training

Training

We’ve spent more than 10 years training thousands of migrants to speak out. Most of our work involves training our members to speak to mainstream media, but we also run creative projects – photography and film-making, for example – and provide training in writing blogs and articles, using social media, and public speaking. 

We equip people with the skills and confidence to tell their story in the most effective way – skills that are also useful in everyday life. We share our knowledge about how the media works, how to understand public attitudes and how to craft a message that cuts through the noise.

We run training for our members across all three regions (London, West Midlands, Glasgow). Get in touch with us if you’d like to get involved. 

Media Labs

At the Migrant Media Lab, we provide group training and one-to-one mentoring sessions led by journalists and media experts. Through the hands-on training, participants develop their skills in being interviewed, writing articles and blog posts, using social media and making videos. 

We offer ongoing follow-up support to Media Lab participants, working with them to get their story into the media or to speak out on their own blogs, on social media or on Migrant Voice platforms.

Meet a Migrant

In 2016, we ran a project where we brought groups of migrants together with journalists to tell their stories. We’re now in the second phase of the Meet a Migrant project, where we’re passing on our learning from phase one – and from 10 years of working with migrants and the media. 

We’re running training days for migrant organisations and community groups across the UK and setting up meetings between our members and news editors to pass on stories from their communities and build relationships that can help influence media culture and the news agenda. On the latter, we’re collaborating with a number of UK universities.

Some of our members across the UK are becoming Migrant Ambassadors. They’re taking part in a project to identify stories in their communities, learn how to pitch these to the media, and work with journalists to get these stories published. 

One-to-one training

We provide regular and ongoing media training to our members on a one-to-one basis, whether it’s those who just want to make their voice heard on an issue affecting them, or whether they want to tell their story as part of one of our bigger campaigns.  

Group training

We regularly run tailored media training sessions for other migrant organisations and migrant communities. For example, in 2019, together with Doctors of the World and Voices of Domestic Workers, we provided training for a group of migrant women who wanted to speak out about their struggles to access healthcare.

We also share our learning through training sessions at events, such as the Refugee Solidarity Summit and the Migrant Business Show.

Creative training projects

Many of our members prefer to tell their stories in creative ways rather than in the mainstream media. We run photography, film-making and other creative projects, designed to engage participants in discussions around migration issues and to be a space where they can bring, share and engage with their own and others’ lived experiences. Participants attend weekly workshops over 2-3 months, discuss topics together, learn technical skills from professionals, and create a series of photographs, a short film or a podcast. 

Through our recent projects, Changing Lenses and Feel at Home, participants explored the possibilities of photography and film-making to tell stories about integration from their own perspectives. We found that these stories can be powerful tools to address complex issues and reach new audiences.  

If you're interested in learning about our past training projects, click on the links below or contact us at [email protected].

• Feel at Home was a video-making project for migrants and Brits exploring ideas around integration, home and belonging. Click here to watch some of the videos on our YouTube channel.
• In Changing Lenses, we brought migrants and Brits together to tell stories of integration using photography. Listen to podcasts by some of our London participants here.
• Through Engaging Pictures, participants learned strategic messaging using images and words to promote a better dialogue around migration.
• In our Talking Pictures project, migrants and Brits developed their skills in photography and writing to build a better understanding of migration.
• Face2Face facilitated dialogue between migrants and members of the host communities in the UK, Czech Republic, Italy and Spain.
• Through Story in a Poem, young migrants and Scots learned to use creative tools to tell their stories and experiences of migration, community and integration. Read some of the poems and listen to podcasts by the participants here.
• Many Voices, One Community was a video-making project to build better understanding of migrants' experiences and contributions to life in Glasgow.
• In Many Faces, One City, migrants and host community participants gained the skills and confidence to tell positive stories of migration to the wider public.

TOP IMAGE: Participants at a Glasgow Media Lab, 2019 (Credit: Karen Gordon)