Sahara Project

Managers's Report:

During the last 18 months there have been a number of exciting developments and challenges within Sahara. It has been an extremely busy period for Sahara. During this period there have been changes within the staff team, and trustees of the Management Board. Sahara welcomed new Trustees to the Board after the last Annual Meeting. New Trustees included; Mrs Betty Saltiel, Mr Ninda Virk, Mrs Nermaljit Samra and Mr Kuldeep Sodhi I am pleased to say Sahara has welcomed their contribution and hopes that they will continue to work with Sahara in providing services to Asian Elders of Coventry.

Changes within the team include the appointment of a part-time Vulnerable Elders Outreach Worker (Mrs H Riat). Who has been appointed for one year, due to time limited funding. Her role is to ensure an effective home visiting/outreach service is provided for elders who are isolated, vulnerable and depressed. We have also appointed a part-time office administrator (Mrs J Mahil) who is responsible for welcoming elders who drop-in, provide telephone support as well as providing administration support for the organisation. Sadly we have had one long-standing member of staff leave after providing over 7 years of advocacy support and help to Elders. We are very sad to lose Mrs Ravinder Dhadda after such a long commitment to the project and know that she will not only be missed by the staff but also by the service users who also had grown so fond of her over the years. I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation of her commitment and contribution to Sahara over the years.

An exciting area of development, which has gone from strength to strength, has been in relation to service user involvement on numerous levels. Sahara has played a key rile in actively pushing the agenda of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) User across the city, within the voluntary and statutory sectors.

The appointment of user development officers within Social Services has greatly benefited the Black and Minority Ethnic users and carer’s across the city. Through the active support of these officers, (Sinda Mahil and Grace Forrester Black Minority Ethnic specific user groups and forums have been established. Sahara has played an active role and worked closely with the officers in the successful establishment of user forums and in providing opportunities for B.M.E specific user consultation events. Specific examples of Black Minority Ethnic user forums include the development of the

BME Health & Social Care Forum (co-chaired by Sahara)
BME Mental Health Forum (co-chaired by Sahara)
BME Elders Forum

These Forums meet regularly to provide a collective voice on the particular needs and issues effecting BME users of Coventry.

Through working in partnership with dedicated colleagues from Social Services and the Primary Care Black Minority Ethnic user involvement has become a reality and is beginning to influence positive change. A significant amount of my time is dedicated to voicing the particular needs, concern and issues effecting Asian Elders at a strategic level.

Through the increased BME user consultation/user involvement work I am beginning to witness a gradual change where by Black Minority Ethnic users are now being placed on the agenda, this is a welcome change and one, which is overdue.

I am pleased to report that Sahara has secured funding for a further 3 years which will enable Sahara to continue to deliver its core services/activities. We are deeply grateful for this continued support by Coventry Social Services and the Coventry Primary Care Trust.

I am also pleased to report that Sahara has secured a part-time outreach worker through the pensions partnership fund. This is a partnership, which consist of the City Council, Sahara and two other voluntary organisations. This multi agency partnership aims to target older people who are hard to reach and particularly isolated to take up the pension credit through a mobile well being service.

It is always a balancing act as a manager of a small voluntary organisation, which has an increasing membership, whilst resources remain very tight. Working part-time as manager presents its own additional pressures, which require absolute focussed dedication and commitment to role even when I’m not at work! Our priority has always been to deliver a quality service which provides the individual with choice, respect and the right to live independently with the support needed at the right time.

The future for Sahara is exciting I hope that the organisation will continue to grow and prosper.

Report by
Ms Rajo Saira
Manager