Employment opportunities, entrepreneurship and family harmony for refugees through food

Adapting services during the pandemic

Globalmama is a Sheffield social enterprise providing entrepreneurship opportunities and employability training to refugee women and Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities in Sheffield.

Founded and run by East African refugee women, the organisation opens doors for refugees and new migrants, and promotes cohesion amongst different groups of migrants and natives.

Before Covid-19, GlobalMama generated income through a catering social enterprise selling traditional East African food at weddings, events and festivals. The Covid outbreak saw them lose all this business, but they adapted and created a food delivery/takeaway service called Mama Meals.

Empowering young people

Mama Meals enables them to subsidise meals for the vulnerable. It also allowed their people to stay busy and productive during the challenging time with new opportunities and they shared their vibrant culinary heritage with the different communities of Sheffield.

One of the organisation’s aims is to empower young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Globalmama applied for a grant for staff, qualifications and expenses for young East African refugees to undertake an online cooking course and train for hygiene qualifications which would then lead to volunteering opportunities with Mama Meals, giving the young people great work experience.

Their activities were all about helping young people reconnect with their families and their heritage, keeping them off the streets, and improving their employability. Globalmama achieved exactly what they set out to do with the grant with the added joy of delivering 15 sessions instead of 10 because the chef enjoyed the project so much. 5 of the trainees from the Level 1 qualification went on to achieve the level 2 qualification and 10 young people volunteered with Mama Meals.

The cooking sessions would bring them closer to their parents and closer to their culture as they experience a fun and engaging new challenge, culminating in regular meals to share with family.

The food hygiene qualifications would raise the young people’s self esteem, their employability and give them the opportunity to volunteer with the Mama Meals social enterprise.

The young people who continued their volunteering would also get the chance to work paid shifts as well, resulting in a direct increase in employment for them.

The vast majority of the young people supported by Globalmama were the children of East African refugees who face an intersection of obstacles and social barriers, leading them to being very disadvantaged in their daily lives.

The project addressed key issues that these young people face:

• Conflicts with their parents over their cultural differences
• Lack of engaging opportunities
• Unemployment