Hibiscus

M&E REPORT CULTURAL MEDIATION TRAINING

Published by Hibiscus Initiatives

Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA, United Kingdom

First published 2023

© Hibiscus Initiatives

hibiscusinitiatives.org.uk

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This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee or prior permission for teaching purposes, but not for resale. For copying in any other circumstances, prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher, and a fee may be payable.

Project Manager: Silvia Berastegui

Consultant: Sara Ianovitz

Graphic design: Prospectus

INTRODUCTION

In EU countries, integration and communication policies that have cultural mediation as a tool have proven to be very important for national and local community life and migrant communities. These policies have facilitated the establishment of mutual understanding between people from different cultures, fostering awareness and sensitisation of all parties involved, and have promoted and improved access and quality of care for migrants1.

The idea of cultural mediation is to create a space where people can use their own words to express what they are going through. In this context, the cultural mediator is asked to be much more than an interpreter, rather an expert at finding equivalences between languages and cultures. Cultural mediators promote integration by aiding migrants to enter a new community, language, and cultural norms and practices that are completely different from the ones they are familiar with. Cultural and language barriers can be overcome by introducing cultural mediation

to bridge the understanding gap between institutions and migrants2

With this aim, Hibiscus chose to create and offer tailored training on cultural mediation to different target groups. Hibiscus developed a personalised and flexible cultural mediation training that can be adapted to different audiences. This training was first offered internally to Hibiscus staff to be incorporated into their casework. For some members, this was a refresh of well-known topics, for others, a new approach to their work. In addition, Hibiscus offered training to clients who wanted to become cultural mediators. In this case, the training acted as a change activator for those people who suffered language barriers and integration obstacles in the past to now become facilitators for other migrants. Finally, the training was delivered to external stakeholders, both third sector organisations and services contractors in order to spread knowledge and good practice about cultural mediation within the field of services for migrants.

1 Verrept H. (2019) “What are the roles of intercultural mediators in health care and what is the evidence on their contributions and effectiveness in improving accessibility and quality of care for refugees and migrants in the WHO European Region?” Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.

2 Hibiscus Initiatives. (2021) “Cultural Mediation: An inclusive solution to help reduce the cultural and language barriers experienced by survivors of trafficking” https://hibiscusinitiatives.org.uk/resource/cultural-mediation/

Cultural mediation is a concept that has been developed in Europe since the late 1980s to promote better access to health services for migrants and refugees by enabling communication between medical practitioners and patients.

HIBISCUS CULTURAL MEDIATION

(CM)

TRAINING HAS BEEN DEVELOPED IN 4 AREAS OF WORK:

The role of the cultural mediator (definition, skills, tasks and responsibilities)

Interpreting and communication (case studies, best practices, ethics and code of conduct)

Culture and its role in society (definition and importance)

Trauma and vicarious trauma (trauma- informed approach, professional boundaries)

The training has been designed to be interactive and can be delivered in person or online to suit the audience. It has been enriched with case studies, Hibiscus casework and the sharing of personal and professional experiences by the participants. The training enable participants to:

• Learn about Cultural Mediation and understand the role of the cultural mediator.

• Identify and learn the skills and best practices required for Cultural Mediation.

• Learn how to communicate and work with those with cultural and language needs.

• Understand what culture is and its role in understanding others.

• Manage the Cultural Mediation process.

• Link your own personal experiences with the Cultural Mediation process.

• Acquire awareness of what is trauma and vicarious trauma.

• Acquire a certification on Cultural Mediation.

CULTURAL MEDIATION TRAINING

1 INTERNAL TRAINING for Hibiscus staff

TRAINING PILOT

In November 2021, Hibiscus designed a training on cultural mediation based on the casework carried out with Albanian clients by a specialist Albanian cultural mediation project worker. The training incorporated information from the cultural mediator work, research done by an external consultant on CM training available in Europe, and the experiences and suggestions from women with lived experience who were survivor of trafficking and/or gender-based violence.

14 staff members were trained at that time by the former project worker, and then began to implement cultural mediation in their casework with migrant women in the Community, in Prison and in Immigration Removal Centres. These trained staff members were specialised in working with Muslim women, Latin American women, Roma and Romanian women, and Polish women.

ONE YEAR REVIEW

In December 2022, Hibiscus carried out an internal evaluation of the CM training pilot after a year of its delivery. An external researcher contacted 8 members of staff who participated in the training pilot to analyse and evaluate what was the real impact of it. Of the 8 members, 5 agreed to participate, 1 declined and 2 were unavailable at the time for external reasons. A series of short interviews and surveys were carried out by the external researcher in which staff members were asked to provide feedback anonymously on the training they received a year ago and how it impacted their way of working.

CONCLUSION

4 out of 5 found the CM training very useful, and 1 out of 5 not really useful as this staff member already had Cultural Mediation knowledge.

4 out of 5 applied CM with clients after receiving the training, while 1 out of 5 did not applied CM with clients because they had no knowledge of another culture/language. 4 out of 5 agreed that the training improved the service they offer to clients, while 1 out of 5 disagreed. 3 out of 5 said that a training refresher would be useful, while 2 out of 5 felt confident and affirmed that they do not need it.

Some of the comments and suggestions formulated for the future of CM at Hibiscus were:

“It would be very useful to provide training on cultural mediation for contractors”

“We should utilize more cultural mediation resources within Hibiscus”

“Talk more about cultural mediation and how important it is in daily work. Have a refresher.”

“More training about specific cultures and groups of people that we have as clients now”

“More staff from diverse background to be the first point of contact for clients”.

The feedback was generally positive, with more than 60% of the participants rating the training as good and useful. Some staff members asked for a CM training refresh of the cultural mediation practice and methodology while others requested more information and training on specific cultures and ethnic groups linked to the client population group they work with on a daily basis. These two recommendations should be implemented in the coming months. It appears from the feedback that cultural mediation is crucial for staff dealing with clients from different cultures to overcome language, culture and systemic barriers. In fact, even the staff member who rated the training as not being very useful did not dismiss the need for cultural mediation per se, but simply already felt that she was an expert on the topic. From the interviews, it also emerged that 80% of the staff members interviewed include cultural mediation in their daily work. From this evaluation, the conclusion is that the training pilot provided in November 2021 to Hibiscus staff members improved the service for clients and increased the skills and knowledge of frontline staff.

2 TRAINING FOR WOMEN with lived experience

BACKGROUND

The implementation of cultural mediation improves the support and outcomes for migrants with language and cultural needs. Cultural mediation ensures migrants to be understood and enables external bodies to better support them accessing justice and the support they are entitled to. Migrants feel empowered both in being able to communicate their own story and also in developing the skillset needed to perform cultural mediation. Clients and former clients with lived experience, who have gained knowledge of the UK system, and at the same time came from different countries and cultures, have a more comprehensive understanding of the obstacles that migrants are facing and for that reason are best placed to do the cultural mediation process themselves3.

In other EU countries where cultural mediation has been implemented within the State bodies and system (health sector, education institutions, justice apparatus, governmental organization at different levels – State, regional and local levels), it is usually performed by people with lived experience for people from the same background and culture, because they share similar experiences and they can develop an empathetic approach which is fundamental for cultural mediators4

With this information, Hibiscus designed a training tailored for clients with lived experience to become cultural mediators. The training aimed to enhance the women’s own skills and abilities to become future cultural mediators through the process of understanding what happened to them, talking about their own experiences within the system and reflecting on how they would have liked to be treated and what kind of support they would have liked to receive. The training was based on developing key elements such as empathy, communication and mediation skills, building trust, understanding trauma and boundaries.

GROUP 1 (SEP – DEC 2022)

Group 1 started in September 2022 and it was composed by 8 women survivors of trafficking and/or gender-based violence. The training was divided in 4 in-person sessions at the Women’s Centre and were delivered by the new Cultural Mediation Project Officer; Silvia Berastegui.

Sep 22 - Session 1: What is Cultural Mediation?

Oct 22 - Session 2: Role & Tasks of the Cultural Mediator

Nov 22 - Session 3: Culture – Practise session

Dec 22 - Session 4: Trauma & Vicarious Trauma

In September 2022 the participants responded to an initial questionnaire during the first session:

• Have you ever heard of the concept Cultural Mediation?

Yes No

1 2 3 4 5 0

3 Theodosiou, A and Aspioti, M. (2015) “Research report on intercultural mediation for immigrants in Europe” European Commission. 4 Amato, A and Garwood C. (2011) “Cultural mediators in Italy: A new breed of linguists” Redazione & inTRAlinea Vol.13. University of Bologna

• How well do you understand the role of the Cultural Mediator (1 to 5 score)?

• How likely are you to use the information learned in this training in the future (1 to 5 score)? 5 4 3

• Have you ever used Cultural Mediation?

Yes No

1 of the 8 described the situation saying that she used it previously without knowing what CM was.

From this survey it can be deducted that most of the women participating did not know about Cultural Mediation before starting the training, although for some the word was familiar or thought they could have used it without knowing that it was actually called cultural mediation.

A final questionnaire was submitted anonymously in December 2022 to all the 8 participants.

• Did you find the Cultural Mediation training useful? Yes

• What have you enjoyed the most?

All the participants were very enthusiastic about the sessions of the training. 5 out of 8 appreciated especially the interactive parts and sharing conversations about life experiences; 2 out of 8 mentioned the importance of mutual help and the idea of understanding different cultural backgrounds.

• After the training, how well do you understand the role of a Cultural Mediator (1 to 5 score)?

• What would you change / add / remove from this training?

6 out of 8 said nothing; 2 out of 8 mentioned the need of a more cooperative behaviour between themselves and the other participants.

• Are you interested in co-producing and delivering Cultural Mediation training with Hibiscus for other organisations? Yes No

There was also some individual feedback:

“Thank you so much for delivering the training in a very understandable and enjoyable way. So far, I’ve learned a lot and I’m very keen to become a cultural mediator. Through this training, I’ve understood how important is to give help through the right information. I’m really grateful that I’m part of your class. I look forward to our next session.”

“The session has been very informative and interactive, bringing ideas of different situations. Lovely and impressed can’t wait to be a cultural mediator.”

“We learn how we should help people who are in need or vulnerable. Give them the right information they need. Try to connect them to the right organisation that might help them. We learn how to give them confidence and not judge, build trust with them and show empathy in their circumstances. We also talk about cultural awareness and communication skills. Thank you for being a good teacher”

“My feedback: 1. It is very important to us when you get us involved. 2. I like how you explain to us when training. 3. Love your class it very interesting.”

“Thank you very much for this training. We always have fun activities with you. Thank you for how you treat us, you make us feel good. I like how you never discriminate anyone of us, how you treat us the same.”

CONCLUSION

From the surveys and feedback, it appears that the interactive approach used to deliver the training had very positive effects as it was widely appreciated by the participants. The choice to use and share real life personal experiences stimulated the development of natural empathy. An empathetic approach is fundamental to develop good skills in cultural mediation. 100% of the participants valued the training as useful and rated it as a good or excellent source of information to understand the role of the cultural mediator. 100% of the participants express their intention to implement what they learned in the training in their future work. Finally, almost 90% of the participants are likely to co-produce or help deliver cultural medi-

3

ation training in the future for external stakeholders, demonstrating how people who had experienced language and cultural barriers feel the need to expand the use of cultural mediation.

The recommendation would be to continue with this training to reach more women with lived experience as it has proved to be very useful for them, and to act on the wishes of the women who would like to support deliver CM training and continue to be engaged with the project “I’m not ready emotionally to end this course. It’s been such a pleasure, but I hope we continue doing something similar.”

TAILORED TRAINING SESSIONS

for external organisations & stakeholders

Extending the cultural mediation training to stakeholders and external organisations is functional to create a broader application of cultural mediation to improve the integration of the migrant population in society. Any association, organization, private contractor or stakeholder dealing with and offering services to migrants with language and cultural barriers can benefit from a deeper understanding of the practice of cultural mediation applied to their daily work. In addition, thinking beyond direct practice and casework, extending the advocacy of cultural mediation could also influence government practices and institutional bodies to introduce systemic changes in order to provide better services to migrants.

Hibiscus project on cultural mediation aims to scale up impact by improving knowledge, practice and professional skill through training external organisations that work with migrant populations in a variety of possible settings, including statutory and non-statutory settings. The training can be tailored to the needs of the external organisation and stakeholders’ clients, trying to respond to the language and cultural challenges they face. The training has been presented online and in-person in sessions lasting 2 hours. Each session has been followed by a questionnaire to record the feedback from the participants with the following questions:

Question 1:

How well do you now understand the role of a cultural mediator?

Question 2:

Do you feel confident in supporting clients to access cultural mediation?

Question 3:

How likely are you to use the information learned today?

Question 4:

Did the training meet your expectations?

In Year 2 of the project, Hibiscus trained 3 external organisations and stakeholders; Why me?, Women in Prison (WIP) and Serco.

WHY ME?

The charity “Why me?” delivers and promotes access to restorative justice for everyone affected by crime (https://why-me.org/). They do this by celebrating good practice, highlighting gaps, working with practitioners and decision-makers, and doing research. Why me?’s project work is dedicated to improving access to restorative justice for young people, those who speak English as an additional language, LGBTQ+ people who have experienced hate crime, and survivors of sexual and domestic violence. As Why me? deals with a group population with cultural and language barriers, a deeper knowledge of cultural mediation methodologies and approaches could be very useful to improve the effectiveness of their work.

Hibiscus CM training was performed to 7 Why Me? staff members and they left the following feedback to the questions mentioned (1 to 5 score):

In general, the training was appreciated and the contents were considered as useful and applicable to their work by the participants. The 100% of the participants reported to have understood the role of a cultural mediator at a very good or excellent level, that leads to a high or very high confidence in supporting clients to access cultural mediation for 85,7% of the participants. The same percentage of 85,7% of participants are prone to implement the information learnt during the training in their daily work at Why me?.

Finally, the training went beyond the expectations for the 71,4% of the participants and was good for the 28,6% of them.

There was also some individual feedback:

“I don’t always enjoy interactive sessions because they feel a bit exposing but this was a fantastic example of how interactive sessions can feel safe and comfortable. It was good to have L. there too as somebody who has been on both sides.”

“This was super collaborative and I thought it was really interesting. I think I would have liked to know more about what to do next, how to support people in accessing cultural mediators, and how to make sure that the cultural mediators in the UK are reliable/trustworthy.”

“It was a really interesting session that I was able to get a lot out of. Having input from someone who has direct experience was really insightful. Thank you.”

The most enthusiastic comment was:

“Fantastic session learnt so much and I will look to use it in my own work. Would be great to have a bit more information about how to find cultural mediators if we have service users who are of a different background/language/culture to our staff. Really useful - thank you!”

WIP – WOMEN IN PRISON

WIP – Women in Prison is a national charity that delivers support for women affected by the criminal justice system in prisons, in the community and through our Women’s Centres. They campaign to end the harm caused to women, their families and their communities by imprisonment (https://womeninprison.org.uk/). Women in Prison approached Hibiscus to express their need to train their staff on how to best support their clients who are highly diverse and have specific cultural needs. Hibiscus then prepared a tailored online training, using a methodology developed at Hibiscus on how to deliver specialized online training.

Hibiscus staff delivered 4 online training sessions to WIP, with each session divided into two parts of two hours each, one focused on supporting Black, minoritized and migrant women in the Criminal Justice System, and the other on Cultural Mediation and its good practices.

The sessions took place as follow:

Session 1:

Part 1 May 3rd & Part 2 May 4th (10 participants)

Session 2:

Part 1 May 23rd & Part 2 May 24th (8 participants)

Session 3:

Part 1 July 25th & Part 2 July 26th (14 participants)

Session 4:

Part 1 August 3rd & Part 2 August 4th (13 participants)

The sessions were provided over several months, starting in May 2022 and finishing in August 2022, with a total of 45 participants. The training covered staff members ranging from frontline workers to advisory professionals, policy and Monitoring & Evaluation staff, admin staff, and coordinators and senior managers.

A total of 14 participants to the cultural mediation training answered the questions mentioned (1 to 5 score):

Overall feedback was very positive, with the majority of participants who provided feedback being happy with the knowledge and information received. Participants found the information useful and that the training met their expectations.

Some of the most positive comments were:

“The training has been highly informative and really well put together. I will take away a lot of practices that can be thread into my frontline advocacy work.”

“The case studies captured every angle, gave a real feel, and provided an overview of what an individual might be facing and the support they need.”

“Thank you for the training. It was very interesting.”

Comments were received about a knowledge gap in staff around general understanding of different cultures and religions and how this could be a pretraining step before Hibiscus training. There was also a comment about Women in Prison’s work with a diverse group of British women and how the focus on migrant women left a gap.

These comments were:

“The focus was around Foreign National women, not round different cultures and religion issues and needs.”

“I think for WIP we probably need to look at cultural mediation more widely. We work with a diverse mix of women who are British citizens so that felt a big gap”.

In terms of percentages and score, the overall results are positive, with participants answering the questions with scores on the higher end. More than half of the participants in both parts of the sessions agreed that the training met their expectations, and that they are likely to use the information learned in their future practice. Participants also felt quite confident to better support Black, minoritized and migrant women and also to provide Cultural Mediation to clients after the training.

Serco is a private government contractor that delivers services on behalf of the UK central Government and a range of public sector bodies across Defence, Justice, Immigration, Healthcare and Transport (https://www. serco.com/uk). Serco requested training on cultural mediation for its officers and staff who perform different roles within immigration removal centres. The CM training was performed to 28 participants who had no background or education in cultural mediation so the training was very useful, as staff works with vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking in very sensitive situations.

The training was interactive and face-to-face in order to involve all the participants to share their opinions and viewpoints. The participants were given a feedback questionnaire at the end that included 5 questions (1 to 5 score):

1. How useful was this session in providing practical information on cultural mediation and how to best support minoritized migrants in the immigration system?

3. How confident do you feel about working with and supporting minoritized migrants?

2. How well do you now understand the concept of cultural mediation?

4. How important do you think it is to provide a cultural mediation approach to people with language and cultural needs?

5. How likely are you to use the information learnt today in your work?

The overall feedback from this training was very positive from all participants. Question number four was added to this survey and it highlights the perception of need of Cultural Mediation for migrant people with language and cultural barriers. The comments and suggestions received were 100% positive, in particular, the interactive activities were highly appreciated and praised. Some participants mentioned that they would like to receive regular refresher to raise more awareness in the future.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

The overall aim of this project is to improve understanding of the needs of survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence to create adequate and sustainable policies and support systems, to increase their access to justice and support services and to recognize language and cultural barriers for survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence in the political landscape.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

To achieve these goals, it has been necessary to elaborate a training course on cultural mediation, adapting it to different audiences and beneficiaries.

To increase engagement and raising awareness, the cultural mediation training has been well performed to many different groups: internal staff members at Hibiscus, former clients intended to become future cultural mediators, and staff from external organisations who works with migrant populations.

All the feedbacks collected from the participants showed rates from positive to very positive, and sometimes even exceeding the expectations - depending on the perception of the usefulness of the tool of cultural mediation within the daily work and experience. The training has been perceived as very informative and completed, appearing to be necessary to support people that are facing language and cultural barriers. All the participants appreciated the interaction and the experience-based approach, which helped them to understand better the topic and to empathize with clients.

YEAR 2 OF THE PROJECT EXPECTED THESE OUTCOMES:

1. Training in cultural mediation for Hibiscus staff, in order to help staff to acquire knowledge and skills in cultural mediation to improve services and support for Hibiscus clients.

2. Training in cultural mediation to 10 clients, to help elevate clients’ voices and experiences into the design and delivery of the training programme.

3. Training in cultural mediation to 5 external organisations working in either the statutory, non-statutory or NGO sectors working with trafficking survivors and/or migrants across a range of issues.

Regarding the targets of Year 2, outcomes have been achieved with a very positive impact. It can be noted that numbers should be increased in terms of number of clients/women with lived experience and external stakeholders to be involved and trained. More specifically in details as it follows:

1. With regards to outcome n. 1, staff at Hibiscus have been trained with very positive results. All the indicators, like the pre and post training surveys, show that more than 60% of the participants rating the training as very good and useful.

2. With regards to outcome n. 2, 8 clients have been trained. The 100% of the participants valued the training as very useful and rated it as a good or excellent source of information to understand the role of the cultural mediator. The 100% of the participants express their intention to implement what they learned in the training in their future work. Almost 90% of the participants are likely to co-produce or help deliver cultural mediation training in the future for external organisation and stakeholders, demonstrating how people who had experienced language and cultural barriers feel the need to expand the use of cultural mediation. A second group of clients started the training in January 2023 and 6 more clients are expected to be trained by the end of April 2023, making the total number of clients trained to 14.

3. With regards to outcome n. 3, 3 external organisations and stakeholders have been trained, plus the training pilot carried out in year 1, making a total of 4 organisations trained in CM. The overall feedback of this training was very positive. Comments and suggestions received were 100% positive, in particular interactive activities have been highly appreciated. As for outcome n. 2, also for outcome n. 3 more trainings are ongoing, so that other external organisations working in either the statutory, non-statutory or NGO sectors working with trafficking survivors and/or migrants across a range of issues should be trained in the next months.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Considering the theory of change developed for this specific project, the following recommendations should be made for Year 3 of the project: 1 KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS RAISING

• To continue with the cultural mediation training to women with lived experience to become cultural mediators.

• To refresh the cultural mediation training to internal staff at Hibiscus, women with lived experience and external stakeholders and organisations whenever possible.

• To enrich internal Hibiscus staff with experts and cultural mediators from a wide range of cultures, included different religions and ethnic minority communities.

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ADVOCACY AND POLICY CHANGE

• To involve women with lived experience in co-delivering training and participating in other activities related to raising awareness in cultural mediation.

• To expand the number of external stakeholders and organisations trained in cultural mediation working in the statutory, non-statutory or NGO sectors working with trafficking survivors and/ or migrants with language and cultural needs.

• To begin to create a policy landscape with proposals and recommendations on the importance of cultural mediation and the implementation of cultural mediators in many sectors (immigration, education, healthcare, etc) for the UK government to take into consideration.

Published by Hibiscus Initiatives Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA, United Kingdom hibiscusinitiatives.org.uk

020 7697 4120

info@hibiscus.org.uk

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Hibiscus Initiatives Limited is a registered charity no. 1104094 and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no. 4533442